By Ted Terry
Ted: What are some of your earliest memories? Did they have an impact on your passion for the environment?
Stephanie: Well first, thank you for asking me to be a part of your first "Ted Talk!" I'm honored. My childhood was interesting in that I grew up both in south Georgia and Washington, D.C.; my dad got elected to Congress when I was a year old, so we shuttled back and forth between his district, which ran all the way from Macon to the Georgia coast, and Washington, D.C. Most of my earliest memories of being involved with the environment are through my father. He passed the legislation that made Cumberland Island a protected national seashore in 1972. I remember landing on the Cumberland Island airstrip with him and visiting Ms. Lucy Ferguson and the Carnegie family and negotiating the deal that resulted in the National Parks Service taking over the island. It’s interesting – I think many of us know that environmental work goes on for decades, and the Cumberland issue certainly demonstrates that now as we try to determine how it can best be preserved as the pristine, amazing place that it is.
Ted: You served as Sustainability Director for the City of Atlanta from 2015-2017, and the inaugural Chief Resilience Officer from 2017-2018. What are some of your proudest accomplishments from those three years?
Stephanie: During my time as Sustainability Director, I'm most proud that Atlanta was named the number one city in square footage committed to the Better Buildings Challenge, and that we've kept the title for three years running. I'm especially proud of that because we beat out Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and so many other cities, mostly western cities, that are leaders in the sustainability space. Atlanta was able to achieve that recognition despite the fact that we don't have a renewable portfolio standard in Georgia, we don't have energy efficiency or renewable energy tax credits or incentives, and we are in a conservative state. I largely attribute that success, along with many other successes, such as having the largest energy-saving contract in the state, with $160 million for energy and water retrofits; the largest municipal solar program in the state; and the largest electric vehicle program in the state, to our strong partnerships with the Sierra Club and so many of our other environmental nonprofit partners. When I became Chief Resilience Officer for City of Atlanta in 2017, my role became much more expansive through the partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation and the Resilience program. That was largely because we were looking more holistically at the shocks and stresses that cities face as they radically increase in population and deal with the impacts of a warming climate. I'd point to our successes under that program as drafting the fastest resilience strategy in the 100 Cities Network (100atl.com). We also began to execute quite a few of the action items within that plan, including Atlanta passing its 100% clean energy strategy. The last thing I did with the City was finish writing that. It came before City Council at the end of June, and there's consensus around the strategy for Atlanta becoming 100 percent clean energy by 2035, which is a very aggressive, but achievable, goal.
Ted: You were recently appointed as a member of the Sierra Club Foundation Board of Directors. Tell us about that.
Stephanie: I'm truly honored to be a part of the board. It is a direct result of the Georgia Chapter's engagement that I was invited to join. It's interesting– with the exception of one board member from Austin, Texas, and one member in Virginia, right outside of Washington, D.C., I'm the only “Deep South” board member. Because of that, I bring a unique perspective in representing a southern, politically conservative environment where we have an investor-owned utility that largely controls our energy marketplace. That perspective is so critical to help the Foundation board understand that achieving a lot of the programming objectives that the national Sierra Club wants to see the chapters accomplish is harder if you're in a conservative environment. But on a positive note, as Al Gore recently said, "If Atlanta, Georgia can commit to 100 percent clean energy, then anyone can!" I think that shows that if we can demonstrate that sustainability can be done in the Deep South, what's your excuse?
Ted: Who is your hero?
Stephanie: Al Gore. I worked on his U.S. Senate campaign as a freshman at Vanderbilt University. He, along with my father (who is also my hero!), motivated me to dedicate my life to the environment.
Ted: What's next for Stephanie Stuckey?
Stephanie: I'm teaching a course on urban resilience and climate change at the University of Georgia’s School of Law starting in January as a visiting professor. I'm also weighing options in the environmental consulting field. Of course, I'll continue to serve on the Sierra Club Foundation Board. I wouldn’t rule out a future run for political office, either!