Genie Bey

Genie is an engaging environmental professional with a multi-disciplinary background working to advance climate justice. She is theoretically guided by human environment geography and urban political ecology, and methodologically trained in qualitative, quantitative, and geospatial research techniques. 

Genie's expertise includes climate adaptation planning, social and environmental justice, diversity/equity/inclusion, floodplain management, environmental policy, environmental education, coastal hazards, social-ecological resilience, and green infrastructure / nature-based solutions planning. She is an effective communicator, facilitator, and educator with experience engaging stakeholders in the public, private, non-profit, and academic sectors.

Genie is a Program Specialist supporting the Climate Adaptation Partnerships program, formerly known as RISA, within the Climate and Societal Interactions division at the NOAA Climate Program Office. CAP is an applied research and engagement program that expands society’s regional capacity to equitably adapt to climate impacts in the U.S, with an emphasis on frontline communities. Prior to this, Genie served as an Environmental Protection Specialist with the DC Department of Energy & Environment working to reduce flood risk and maximize the equity outcomes of green infrastructure projects in the District. Prior to her work at DOEE, Genie completed a Sea Grant Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship with NOAA's Office of Education. As a Knauss Fellow, Genie led the development of a Community Resilience Education Theory of Change for the Environmental Literacy Program—a program that provides grant funding for education projects that seek to increase community resilience to climate change and other environmental hazards.

Genie completed her Master's degree at California State University in Long Beach, California, where she studied human-environmental geography. Her thesis research examined the potential for utilizing green infrastructure as a means for climate adaptation and cultivating social-ecological resilience in Long Beach, California. This work analyzed disparate vulnerabilities faced by two coastal communities, identified culturally appropriate ecosystem-based adaptation methods to reduce impacts faced by each community, and sought to educate Long Beach residents about climate change and its local impacts. This research brought to light the critical importance of procedural and distributive justice considerations in local climate adaptation planning practices.

Prior to her studies at CSULB, Genie engaged communities in Salt Lake City, Utah in renewable energy initiatives by helping to decrease residential dependency on fossil fuels through her work as an Community Engagement Specialist at 3Degrees Inc. Before this, she worked as the Sustainability Ambassador and Materials Research Associate leading the design of a large-scale green infrastructure project hosted by the University of Utah College of Architecture and Planning for the Marriott Library. Genie graduated with honors from the University of Utah with a B.S. in Environmental and Sustainability Studies, and B.S. in Urban Ecology. Genie is passionate about the intersection of environmental justice and climate adaptation planning, and aims to elevate social equity in the climate policy landscape and conversation.