Leaders in Energy recently celebrated another milestone – over 2,700 members in the Leaders in Energy Research, Communications, Policies & Analysis group on LinkedIn.

Whenever this happens, we like to shine the spotlight on our members to show the diversity of talents and backgrounds that are joining our group – either virtually from wherever our members are located around the world, or those who have joined us at our monthly networking events in the Washington, DC area. Today, let’s welcome Adam Joel Kinnear, a student from Northern Ireland.

Here’s what he had to say.

I am final year undergraduate at Ulster University, Northern Ireland, studying for a honours degree in Environmental Health.

Northern Ireland (NI), is infamously associated with a turbulent political history. The wounds of the past have resulted in successive governments focusing on growing the economy which has often come at the expense of social justice and even more so, environmental conservation.

While some recent developments have made positive contributions to regenerate our green infrastructure, there is still a lot more to be done.

NI has the lowest land use dedicated to woodland and has contributed the least in reducing our greenhouse gas emissions compared to the rest of the U.K. Climate change poses a serious risk to the global population. In NI, flooding has been identified as the biggest threat to our nation, as a direct result of climate change.

Next year I hope to embark on a 3 year PhD project mapping Belfast (our capital city) to identify areas most at risk of flooding which would benefit from natural flood defences, mainly woodland restoration. This could bring additional benefits such as improved air and water quality, increased biodiversity and aid carbon sequestration potentially reducing our carbon footprint. It may also aid wider, sustainable socioeconomic development.

In addition to my studies, I volunteer as a countryside ranger for the National Trust and this summer hope to organise an outreach programme empowering local communities to take part in litter (garbage) picking campaigns to reduce the impact of our waste on our streets.

I wish to thank the LERCPA for giving me this opportunity to give a bit of my background and to Janine Finnell, Executive Director of Leaders in Energy, for contacting me.

If you have any follow up questions please don’t hesitate to contact me via LinkedIn or through my email: adamjoelkinnear93@gmail.com.

Welcome to the group, Adam. With members in over 100 countries, the LinkedIn group Leaders in Energy Research, Communications, Policies & Analysis continues to attract new members in the clean energy and sustainability fields. In the past we have given the spotlight to Velina Apostolova from Iceland, Steve Williams from Houston, Texas, Whitaker Irvin Jr. from Park City, Utah, and Matthew Shonman and Marilyn Waite in Washington, DC.

As it happens, we heard from Marilyn during the Council on Women in Energy and Environmental Leadership (CWEEL) luncheon panel at February’s Energy and Sustainability Extravaganza at The George Washington University.