Environmental Assessments: Where Conservation Meets Development ft. Kim Milligan (Yukon Government)

Our next episode covers a topic that is so deeply important for businesses and leaders actively pursuing a better future. As someone who has volunteered on the conservation side and worked on the development side (through my time in renewables and green buildings), I have seen this topic play the deciding role. Truly at the intersection of environmental and social protection and economic development is the topic of environmental impact assessment.Our next guest is an expert in the field and shares incredible insights into her work on this episode of The Resilience Report.Kim Milligan has spent the last decade assessing the environmental impact of projects ranging from wind farms to hydro dams to infrastructure projects. Kim currently serves as a Project Manager on Major Projects for the Yukon Government. On this episode, she helps us to better understand this role, how environmental impact assessments have evolved to include social considerations, the differences between environmental protection from province to province to territory, the limitations of renewables given current infrastructure and more.Kim is a brilliant, warm force for good, and I know you’re going to learn a lot from her over the course of this episode!(0:00) Intro(2:54) Kim in her own words(4:46) What are environmental assessments?(5:57) Which projects require environmental assessments?(7:27) When do environmental assessments need to take place?(9:31) Why stakeholder engagement is key(12:16) Who is responsible for an environmental assessment?(13:40) Key hydro projects in the Yukon(15:58) How environmental assessments have evolved since the 60s(18:35) The differences between provinces, territories(21:00) Renewables reality in Yukon(25:14) What it is like teaching environmental assessments at university(27:38) Why starting in consulting might kickstart your career(30:46) The power of one Ranger Rick articleMessage us your thoughts!