Youth Climate Lab Regional Realities Series

Between February and April, Youth Climate Lab is hosting webinars on the topic of climate adaptation in partnership with regional climate adaptation centers across the country. This webinar series will explore community-led adaptation efforts with a regional focus, bringing together youth and community members from across so-called Canada to learn how different regions are responding to climate impacts in ways that reflect their local realities.

ClimateWest is pleased to be partnering on the first webinar on February 11. This webinar will introduce climate adaptation and look at the impacts of a changing climate in the Prairie Region. We will learn what adaptation looks like in action through examples of locally-driven solutions, including hearing firsthand from Keneni Debia, a young person working as a Sustainability and Adaptation Consultant with the City of Regina. Throughout this session, diverse perspectives from the region are woven together, highlighting the role of Indigenous knowledges and the importance of equitable adaptation.

Meet the Facilitators

			Asha Nelson is the Project Coordinator at ClimateWest where she manages numerous climate adaptation initiatives and supports the organization’s reconciliation and equity efforts. She brings over a decade of experience in the nonprofit sector, leading projects, programs and research focused on food sovereignty, climate change, and newcomer settlement. Most notably, she played an instrumental role developing an award-winning cooperative food hub from the ground up. She currently serves on a sub committee of the Winnipeg Food Council and most recently, the MB Eco Network.
			Elizabeth Shearer is the Network Coordinator at ClimateWest, where she supports regional and nationwide capacity-building for climate adaptation. With over a decade of experience in the non-profit sector, a background in Environmental Studies and an MBA, she combines strategic planning expertise with a commitment to solutions in the face of a changed and changing climate. Elizabeth has led advocacy efforts, campaigns and strategic planning across multiple sectors and programs within the environmental, post-secondary, and arts and culture sectors.
			Keneni Debia is a Sustainability and Adaptation Consultant with the City of Regina, where she leads the development and implementation of the City’s Resilient Regina Climate Adaptation Strategy and does her best to bring a climate lens to projects and initiatives across the organization. She has worked with the City of Regina for over 7 years in various positions, starting out with an internship with the Roadways Preservation Branch, before moving over to Environmental Services where she worked on piloting and rolling out the City of Regina’s Food and Yard Waste Processing Program and then on managing the contract for the City’s Wastewater Treatment Plant. With a background in environmental systems engineering from the University of Regina, she enjoys combining the technical and problem-solving skills of engineering with the high-level complex challenges of sustainability and climate adaptation. In her free time she loves to travel and crochet.