The Fall Cohort Fellows began their US fellowship experience on September 19, 2011 convening in San Francisco, CA.  Meetings were held in San Francisco with the the Energy Foundation and Nature Conservancy.  In addition, one of the Fellows, Dr. Gabrielle Kuiper, arranged for a group dinner with Dr. Saul Griffith, a renewable energy and clean tech inventor/entrepreneur.  

Upon the fellow arrival in New York City, the group received a range of briefings on carbon markets from Dr. Michael Walsh, former CEO of the Chicago Carbon Exchange; and Robert Rabinowitz, Director of Environmental Markets at BRE.

In addition, they received a brief on the alternative energy markets in the US and abroad from Mr. Carter Bales, former principal at McKinsey and Chairman of NewWorld Capital. Andrew Rivkin, NY Times Reporter and creator of DotEarth, and Ralph Blumenthal former NY Times reporter meet with the fellows to discuss press coverage of climate change issues.  Professor John Casey, formerly from Australia, briefed the group on the US nonprofit sector and the growing number of international NGOs.

Additional meetings were held at the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey, New York State Energy Research and Develop Agency (NYSERDA), and the United Nations.  The Fall Cohort Fellows were also able to tour the Empire State Building, the Bank America Platinum LEED Green Building and other cultural sites in NYC.  Notably, Jeff Huang, Managing Director of ICE joined the fellows for dinner, along with Tara Bono, a Summer Cohort Fellow, and several other guests from the NYC cultural and business community.

The fellows then completed a 2 week internship at one of the participating US organizations which included Citizen’s Campaign for the Environment, PANYNJ, Sustainable CUNY, ICE, City of Charleston, and ACEEE. They spent their final week in the US visiting Washington, DC and participating in the US State Department Congress.