Join the Gund Institute for Environment at UVM, Oregon State University, and University of California Santa Cruz for an interactive session on how to rapidly and fully embed a recognition of nature into national policy and planning—supporting the central role that natural systems play in economic performance, human health, community resilience, climate solutions, and long-term national security.

With moderation provided by Taylor Ricketts, Jane Lubchenco and Heather Tallis will articulate why a fresh approach is needed and present a framework for an ambitious set of principles and policy changes - actions that would set the stage for a new economy with nature at its core.

Attendees will help generate ideas, using the framework to brainstorm new, high-leverage policies to encourage and enable a new economy. Findings will help inform an evidence-based playbook for nature in national policy to be released late in 2026.

Join us for coffee at 9:30 a.m. The session will run 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. RSVPs encouraged:https://go.uvm.edu/jozme

About Jane Lubchenco: Jane Lubchenco, Valley Professor of Marine Biology at Oregon State University, is a marine ecologist with scientific and policy expertise in the ocean, biodiversity, climate change, and interactions between the environment and human well-being. She co-founded The Nature Record, an assessment of nature and nature’s benefits in the U.S. She has served in the federal government in a variety of roles, including leading the Climate and Environment team at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (2021-2025) and serving as Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

About Heather Tallis: An interdisciplinary scientist and policy advisor, Heather Tallis works to bridge nature, the economy and people's lives. Dr. Tallis partners with governments, businesses, Indigenous communities and others to change the ways we relate to and invest in nature. She co-founded and chairs the Secretariat for The Nature Record and is a Senior Fellow at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

About Taylor Ricketts: Ecologist Taylor Ricketts is Gund Professor at the Rubenstein School and director of UVM’s Gund Institute for Environment. His work centers on the overarching question: How do we meet the needs of people and nature in an increasingly crowded, changing world? Taylor’s research focuses on the economic and health benefits provided to people by forests, wetlands, reefs, and other natural areas. Taylor is co-founder of the Natural Capital Project, a partnership among universities and NGOs to map and value these natural benefits. He has also served as an author and editor for several UN-led efforts to assess global ecosystems and their contributions to human wellbeing.