Climate change and human impacts on the environment continue to capture headlines with increasing urgency. Despite ongoing debates about whether we’re facing a climate challenge or crisis, major industries now feel pressure to ramp up their environmental protection efforts. Yet it remains unclear if consumers understand what it will cost to really make a difference. Has this urgency changed the behaviors of individuals OR corporations? Should it?
The Climate Council will livestream this American Public Square signature event on youtube’s ClimateGKC Channel Tuesday, May 24th, at 6:00pm Central Time. Channel subscribers will be able to use youtube chat to submit questions to panelists during the event.
https://youtube.com/ClimateGKC
Join American Public Square at Jewell for a program that explores the implications of climate policy on business and industry, and the role consumers play in larger efforts to address environmental concerns.
MODERATOR
- Martin Rosenberg, Energy and Sustainability Sector Journalist and thought leader
PANELISTS
- Chuck Caisley, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs and Chief Customer Officer – Evergy
- Dominique Davison, Founder – DRAW
- James Taylor, President – The Heartland Institute
FACT CHECKER
- Jensen Adams, Energy and Sustainability Officer with the Kansas City Public Library and KCMO Environmental Management Commissioner
ROVING REPORTER
- Madison Hopkins, health care accountability reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner for Local Reporting
Program Panelists
Chuck Caisley is the senior vice president of public affairs, and chief customer officer at Evergy where he leads the energy solutions and public affairs areas with responsibility for the company’s small-scale generation projects, energy products and services platform, energy efficiency and demand response portfolio, community and customer strategy and communications, marketing, economic development, governmental affairs and public relations functions. He joined KCP&L in 2007.
Prior to joining KCP&L, he was president of the Missouri Energy Development Association, the trade association for Missouri’s investor-owned natural gas, water and electric utilities. In 2004, Mr. Caisley served as both the chief of staff and top political advisor to Missouri House Speaker Catherine Hanaway — the first woman Speaker of the Missouri House.
Actively involved in the community, Mr. Caisley serves as chairman of the board of directors of the Kansas City Area Development Council (KCADC). He also is the chairman of the Kansas City Zoo board of directors and a member of the Kansas City Missouri Environmental Protection Committee. In addition, Mr. Caisley currently serves as chairman of the board of directors for Missouri Employers Mutual, a workers’ compensation mutual insurance company located in Columbia, Mo.
He graduated with honors from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelor’s degree in political science. He has also earned a Juris Doctorate degree from St. Louis University School of Law and a Master of Business Administration from Washington University in St. Louis.
Dominique Davison founded DRAW in 2005 with the desire to explore the intersection between research, resourcefulness, and simple, clean forms. Her award-winning practice has been recognized regionally by the Mid-America Regional Council as a leader in sustainability and was named Firm of the Year by the American Institute of Architects Kansas City Chapter in 2014.
She is dedicated to social and environmental equity, and Dominique endeavors to improve people’s lives through inspired, resourceful design. Her commitment to vibrant communities is embodied through her involvement as a founding member of both Women in Design Kansas City and the Ecological Urbanism Series and by her recent service on Kansas City, Missouri’s Environmental Management Commission’s Vacant Lot Task Force. She has also taught design studios at the University of Kansas and University of Missouri Kansas City.
Before relocating to Kansas City in 2004, Dominique honed her design skills in the offices of Pelli Clarke Pelli in New Haven after earning her Master of Architecture at the Yale School of Architecture. She received a Bachelor of Art in Architecture from U.C. Berkeley and launched her career working with Daniel Solomon FAIA.
James Taylor is president of The Heartland Institute.
Taylor is also the former managing editor (2001-2014) of Environment & Climate News, a national monthly publication devoted to sound science and free-market environmentalism. For many years, he wrote a regular column for Forbes, which appeared on the magazine’s Forbes.com website.
Taylor has presented energy and environment analysis on CNN, CNN Headline News, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Channel, MSNBC, PBS News Hour, PBS Frontline, CBS Evening News, ABC World News, and other TV and radio outlets across the country. He has been published in virtually every major newspaper in the country.
He has been a featured presenter at conferences sponsored by such groups as the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Council of State Governments, National Association of Counties, National Foundation of Women Legislators, State Policy Network (SPN), CPAC, Cato Institute, Heritage Foundation, and European Institute for Climate and Energy. Video of Taylor’s presentation at The Heartland Institute’s Eighth International Conference on Climate Change can be found here.
Taylor received his bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College where he studied atmospheric science and majored in government. He received his Juris Doctorate from Syracuse University.
Program Moderator
Martin Rosenberg is a recognized journalist and thought leader in the energy and sustainability sectors.
He currently hosts the Grid Talk podcast for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Voices of Experience initiative – smartgrid.gov/gridtalk.
He has written extensively about energy, technology, finance and international business. His freelance work has appeared in the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle Times, Japan Times, Huffington Post and other publications.
He is the former Director of Content for Informa, where he launched Icons of Infrastructure, a news site covering the public-private sector, and the Energy Times.
He organized and chaired Informa’s Empowering Customers & Cities conference in Chicago in 2015, 2016 and 2017 and its Renewables Rush conference in San Francisco in 2016 and 2017.
He was editor-in-chief of EnergyBiz, a national publication covering the energy industry, for a decade. The magazine was recognized as the best publication covering the “energy/utilities/ engineering” sectors.
He was a business writer at the Kansas City Star, where he was named a Fulbright Fellow and received research support from the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and he worked for newspapers in Oregon.
Program Fact Checker And Roving Reporter
FACT CHECKER
Jensen Adams is the energy and sustainability officer with the Kansas City Public Library and serves with the City of Kansas City, Missouri, Environmental Management Commission by mayoral appointment.
Jensen is a charter member of the American Library Association Council Committee on Sustainability, and active with the International Federation of Library Associations Section on Environment, Sustainability and Libraries. He previously managed energy and sustainability efforts for the Kansas City Public Schools and was the associate executive director of the nonprofit Metropolitan Energy Center.
ROVING REPORTER
Madison Hopkins is the health care accountability reporter focused on the intersection of health policy and people. Her reporting is partially funded by Health Forward Foundation. She was previously an investigative reporter for the Better Government Association in Chicago. In 2022, her work was honored with the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting. Follow her on Twitter @_MJHopkins
