E 7.4 - Building a Climate-Ready Future in Colorado and Wyoming featuring Mike Freeman

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Ecosystems For Change

Anika Horn, Social Venturers

75 episodes

2 months ago

Transforming communities is hard work. That may go without saying, but when your job is about helping your neighborhood, city or region thrive, talking about being underpaid, burnt out and frustrated with the slow pace of change is kind of frowned upon. As ecosystem builders, we amplify the work of local makers, doers and innovators by championing their efforts and rallying support around them. And maybe most importantly, we build a culture of trust and collaboration among all stakeholders, so that the doers and innovators among us have equal access to information, talent and resources when they need them. On Ecosystems for Change we'll explore how ecosystem building can help us unleash the full potential of the makers, doers, innovators and visionaries in our communities. And I’ll be talking with my guests about the tactics and practical skills they use in their everyday work and what they do to prevent burning the candle at both ends.

All content for Ecosystems For Change is the property of Anika Horn, Social Venturers and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

E 7.4 - Building a Climate-Ready Future in Colorado and Wyoming featuring Mike Freeman

Ecosystems For Change

55 minutes

5 months ago

E 7.4 - Building a Climate-Ready Future in Colorado and Wyoming featuring Mike Freeman

Colorado and Wyoming are famed for their wide open spaces and incredible landscapes.

They’re also very, very dry.

Changes in rainfall and snowpack are already impacting agriculture, tourism, and the frequency and intensity of wildfires in the western United States. The wicked problem of climate resiliency isn’t one for the future, it’s making itself known in real-time.

Today, we’re headed west to meet our next NSF Engine, the ASCEND Engine in Colorado and Wyoming, in short, the CO-WY Engine, where I’ll be talking to CEO Mike Freeman about the region’s unique resources and how they’re building a community-based commitment to climate resiliency.

Mike Freeman has dedicated the past 15 years to building up the science and technology innovation ecosystems in Colorado and surrounding areas. He brings several decades in public sector leadership, management consulting, non-profit management, and venture capital to his role at the CP-WY Engine.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

How developing environmental technologies underpins community resilience and economic opportunity
Why climate resilience is about more than just the weather
How the CO-WY Engine is building collaborative partnerships with a particularly diverse set of regional stakeholders
Why Mike sees differences among partners as ultimately beneficial to the project
Measuring the success of the program, from more traditional economic terms to devising a framework to capture a community’s climate resiliency

Learn more about Mike Freeman:

Learn more about Anika Horn:

Resources:

The Rainforest: The Secret to Building the Next Silicon Valley, Victor Hwang, Greg Horowitt
Brookings
Heartland Forward
Milken Institute