It is our collective responsibility to be stewards of the planet
Call for Code judge, Dr. Julie Pullen shares her thoughts on Call for Code and climate change
As our world continues to be confronted with obstacles stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, remaining under this blanket of social chaos is a force that is progressively doing damage. The threats and impacts of climate change are becoming more apparent as years go on, and in order to halt or reverse these harmful components at the global level, global action is required. The Call for Code team made climate change a focus in the 2020 Call for Code Global Challenge, encouraging problem solvers from around the world to submit tech solutions to take on climate change. With climate change being a pervasive issue across the globe, the Call for Code team is lucky to have experts like Dr. Julie Pullen to evaluate the solutions that have been built around this topic as an eminent judge.
Dr. Pullen is Director of Product at Jupiter Intelligence, a start-up delivering hyper-local projections of weather, water and climate impacts using cloud computing. She is an adjunct research scientist at Columbia’s Earth Institute and serves on National Academy of Sciences panels for climate and earth system prediction, including peer-reviewing the latest National Climate Assessment. Dr. Pullen’s expertise spans climate, weather and hydroscience with a particular focus on high resolution coastal urban prediction for flooding, heatwaves and other perils.
We were able to catch up with Dr. Pullen to hear some of her thoughts on climate change and being a Call for Code judge:
What is the most astounding factoid or stat in your space that people should know about?
The oceans are heating up a crazy amount. Heat waves in the ocean were unheard of until recently. But the frequency of marine heatwaves has doubled since the 1980s, and they occur now in all of the oceans.
What made you want to get involved in Call for Code?
I am keen to see innovations that address the critical challenges our planet and people are facing. And there is such a creative well of skills and ideas in the tech space to draw on. The genius of Call for Code is putting all of these pieces together — by creating the container and the conditions for the magic to happen.
How do you see Tech for Good having the most impact in addressing our most pressing social issues?
Seeking a diversity of problem-framers and problem-solvers is a dynamite way to generate deeply impactful outcomes. I am so excited to see the results put into action. And the synergies and breadth of the people and supporting organizations like The Linux Foundation that are drawn to the Call is very impressive. The ability to rapidly accelerate the development and deployment of solutions is a key feature of the Call for Code initiative and ecosystem.
What are you most looking forward to as you evaluate Call for Code solutions?
I am both a climate scientist and a product manager. So I appreciate the value that comes from developing new products. I am excited to see the creative process applied to problem-framing and solution-finding in these vital areas related to planetary health.
What are some actions you/your team is taking to fight back against the impacts of climate change? What actions would you encourage people around the world to take to combat climate change?
In my work at Jupiter Intelligence we develop asset-level projections of climate risk to help businesses take action and adapt. I also serve on the Board of the non-profit Waterfront Alliance that focuses on helping cities and neighborhoods become more resilient to climate change through blueprints for action, like rise2resilience.org, that emphasize the economic, justice and governance aspects of climate change resilience. The aim is to democratize access to information and planning resources so everyone can become more prepared. I’d encourage you to understand your exposure to climate impacts and those of your community, state, country and beyond. Use it as a prompt to action because it is our collective responsibility to be stewards of the planet. Consider simple actions like shifting your bank and investments towards options that directly reduce the drivers of climate change.
Be sure to attend the Awards Celebration on October 13th to find out the winner of the 2020 Call for Code Global Challenge! Want to make an impact today? Get involved and contribute to an open source project today.
If you liked the story, be sure to give it a clap and follow Call for Code Daily for more tech-for-good stories!
