Intern Profile: Andrea McCarthy
When it comes to grassroots action, getting the right message to the right people is everything—especially when the right people encompass a mix of industry stakeholders, state legislators, and even fourth grade students.
Greater New Haven Clean Cities Coalition intern, Andrea McCarthy, standing behind the coalition’s booth at the Milford Energy Fair. Photo courtesy of Lee Grannis, Greater New Haven Clean Cities Coalition Coordinator, NREL 37379
That’s why Andrea McCarthy, intern and public outreach champion for the Greater New Haven Clean Cities Coalition (GNHCCC), played a vital role on her team of three. When McCarthy was brought on as New Haven, Connecticut’s intern a couple years ago, she worked to expand the coalition’s Facebook and Twitter reach, helped revamp their website with a simpler, streamlined interface, redesigned the coalition’s newsletter, and helped produce an animated video about propane-fueled school buses (youtu.be/ZCdW6TqF9AQ). To top it all off, she regularly convened an impressive number of state legislators, local businesses, and alternative fuel providers to coordinate on projects and events. Among her day-to-day projects—extending from event coordination to data analysis—McCarthy found public outreach to be the coalition’s most pressing challenge. It was also the most important when it came to boosting local interest in alternative transportation.
She described GNHCCC as a conduit for others to access information on alternative fuels and vehicles. “We’re like an honest broker for our stakeholders,” said McCarthy. “We don’t have any cars or fuels to sell. We just want to share knowledge about what works and what doesn’t work—and how to find the best fit for a fleet’s particular needs.”
Expanding on her communications strategy, which was focused on targeting one small group at a time, McCarthy believes that different people pick up on different aspects of what GNHCCC has to offer. For example, industry groups tend to be interested in the economic benefits of alternative fuels, while residents are concerned about air quality and public health. The reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resonates most with government representatives within the State of Connecticut, who are also working with the coalition to pursue statewide climate initiatives.
“It’s important we get our message out there and keep all of our stakeholders informed about what’s going on so that they get involved,” McCarthy said. “It’s also just as important to share success stories about our stakeholders.”
Among success stories that McCarthy worked to promote was one about the truck hauling company EnviroExpress. The company recently switched to a liquefied natural gas (LNG) fleet, which encouraged another local fleet to convert its own vehicles to LNG. Additionally, the coalition connected Connecticut-based FuelCell Energy with Supreme Industry, a biomass and land clearing company that can produce hydrogen fuel from its organic waste digesters. “We want to make sure that those in our circles, and those who are interested, know about the relevant technology that’s available,” she said.
GNHCCC intern, Andrea McCarthy, in a BMW i3 electric vehicle just after a stakeholder meeting in New Haven, CT. NREL Image Gallery 37378.
On a personal level, one of McCarthy’s biggest priorities is public health. She’s particularly passionate about improvingenvironmental conditions for New Haven kids and residents through the deployment of propane school buses. “New Haven has a variety of neighborhoods and demographics,” said McCarthy. “Propane school buses are a great way to make sure the entire city receives the health benefits of a cleaner fuel, regardless of where you live.”
During the summer of 2015, McCarthy collaborated with a propane fuel distributor to create a public-friendly, accessible video that highlights the benefits that propane school buses can offer over traditional diesel buses. The animated video is narrated by a young girl, who introduces her pencil-sketched friends Bill and Sally as they wait for the bus. She then expands on a number of facts that highlight the benefits of propane, accompanied by images and numbers to accentuate each message. The narrator goes on to break down the cost savings that schools could see by switching to propane, stating that the “400 dollars per bus per year” saved on propane could be spent on more teachers, more supplies, and even more field trips.
“We really tried to make it an approachable, easy video to watch, without an abundance of technical information that would bog down the subject matter and make it difficult to comprehend,” McCarthy said. She added that they shared the video with the Propane Education & Research Council, and the coalition further promoted the video on its website (nhcleancities.org) and social media channels, leading to even more media attention for GNHCCC.
Yet public health and cleaner fuels aren’t the only things that get McCarthy out of bed in the morning. She’s also completing a master’s degree in environmental science at the University of New Haven, where she’s investigating the health of New Haven Harbor’s ecology and the effect of algal blooms on species both big and small. McCarthy, who’s from Indiana and holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Purdue University, said that she came to Connecticut to study marine biology beyond the coast.
“Environmental issues have always been important to me,” she said, adding that when she graduates this year, she hopes to fuse her expertise in ecology research, alternative transportation, technology deployment, and public outreach. “It would be great if I could combine research, consulting, and media. I think the communication of science is really important.” As of late April 2016, McCarthy decided to dedicate her time to the completion of her master’s thesis and has since left the coalition. She is currently looking for new opportunities in the environmental and energy sector.