TDQ Guest Editor - Wendy Nystrom

Wendy Nystrom is an Environmental Subject Matter Expert and the host of Environmental Social Justice (ESJ), an online webcast that bridges the chasm between environmental and climate experts and the general public. Wendy graduated with an advanced degree in Geology/GeoChemistry from Boston University and supplemented her education in Sustainability from University of California Los Angeles. Although the term “sustainability” has only been widely used in the past 5-7 years, her career has been focused on pollution, environmental risk management, professional liability, and climate change where her combined knowledge in science, technology and risk has provided her with a unique view into companies’ exposures and prevention practices. She transformed her background to focus on communication, education, and outreach in order to lead the understanding of the intersection of climate, social justice, and risk. As an experienced conference speaker and continuing education instructor, Wendy utilized those skills to create and teach “Insurance 101 for Climate Activists”, a 6-class course that focused on pollution, climate change, insurance, and risk management. The course was sponsored by Climate Resolve, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and New York based Resilient Cities Catalyst. She has also been a guest lecturer for UCLA Extension and created and moderated a panel titled “Climate Change and Insurance” for UCLA OpenX.

In 2020 she was appointed as a Commissioner to the Department of Public Works for the City of Beverly Hills and was named Co-Chair of the Citizens Action Committee (CAC) for the development of the Climate Action Adaptation Plan (CAAP). In this role she spearheaded the adoption of 100% renewable energy for the City of Beverly Hills with the Clean Power Alliance (CPA), the removal of plastic utensils from restaurant “take away” packages and is working with neighboring cities and the community to develop and implement Beverly Hills first transit system. This evolved background is what ultimately triggered her desire to focus on sustainability using communication and outreach to focus on advancing existing technologies to reduce our negative externalities and enhance sustainable development as well as social justice (DEI). She has participated in several online courses to enhance her knowledge-base in ESG, energy, waste, and the root cause of our climate emergency: Extreme Heat. Above all, it has been the participation in the webcast that has resulted in the greatest impact. Guests have ranged from Nasdaq, Moodys, Toyota, The Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center to startups and entrepreneurs, who are aggressively working toward new technologies to transform our existing energy and transportation markets.