Strengthening Climate Resilience with Sustainable Infrastructure: An Interview with Jasmine Lyn
As an unprecedented number of natural disasters grow in number and intensity, it is more imperative than ever to construct climate-resilient systems. This means that our society needs to invest in sustainable infrastructure to address the infrastructure deficit in Canada. There are various career pathways that one can take to have a career in sustainable infrastructure to address this deficit. One of those career pathways is that of Jasmine Lyn’s unique career journey.
Jasmine Lyn is a Project Lead at the City of Toronto. She is a passionate environmental engineer and Certified Energy Manager working to implement the City of Toronto's Net Zero Strategy. Jasmine is also a Program Manager with Women in Renewable Energy International and has experience in the clean energy and sustainable building sectors. Her expertise lies in environmental engineering and sustainable development, particularly in the areas of energy management and green building practices. As a Project Lead, she is responsible for overseeing and managing projects related to environmental sustainability and energy efficiency in the city. Jasmine's work is focused on driving positive change and promoting sustainable practices in Toronto. We interviewed Jasmine to gain insight into her motivation for entering the sustainable infrastructure and her career development that has led her into the position that she has now.
Martin Edwini-Bonsu: What inspired you to specialize in environmental engineering as a part of your civil engineering education?
Jasmine Lyn: I’ve always loved and been amazed by nature. Then when I was 12, our grade 7 teacher showed us the film “The Inconvenient Truth” which taught us about climate change, and I was inspired to find a way to help save our planet. Since those days, I’ve tried to learn as much as I can about environmental problems and how to solve them, which led me to study environmental engineering. In my job today, I don’t use the environmental engineering concepts I learned in school such as water treatment or waste management, instead I utilize the ability to think critically and problem-solve and I can learn about new technical concepts in sustainability such as low-carbon heating systems or how renewable energy technologies work.
From your perspective, what benefits have you witnessed from the sustainable infrastructure projects that you worked on?
When you’re working in the sustainability sector, it's really cool to see the outcomes from the work that you do and to know that you’re helping make the planet a better place. Some of the cool sustainability infrastructure projects that I’ve got to work on include installing the first ever public EV chargers in the City of Orillia, conducting GHG-reduction building audits for community centres in Orillia, and completing a study on the electrification of school buses in PEI.
With the public EV charger project, we saw immediate adoption by the community. We didn’t have thousands of users coming to charge their cars right away but we had steady use from a handful of cars that has grown with time. This project showed that the community members have a need for public charging, and this will hopefully encourage others to adopt electric vehicles!
When we did the audits of the community buildings, we discovered ways that we could save energy and money in the buildings while increasing the comfort and enjoyment of the spaces for the public. Lastly, one of the projects that I’m proudest of is completing a study on the benefits and costs of electrifying all the school buses in the province of PEI. The study showed that it was feasible which convinced the government to commit to getting rid of their diesel buses and switching to electric. This switch has huge health benefits for the kids riding the buses through a reduction of harmful pollutants to young lungs.
What aspects of working on sustainable infrastructure projects do you think should be given more attention that most people are not aware of?
Adaptation and resilience (A&R) in infrastructure isn’t being talked about enough or acted upon as much as it should in my opinion. When we talk about adaptation and resilience it means our buildings, roads, water systems and electrical grids need to change to meet the stressful demands of climate change that we know are coming and the demands that are already here. A lot of the flooding we see around Canada and North America today is because we have overdeveloped our land and not factored in enough underground drainage to make up for what the land (trees, soil, waterways) would naturally absorb.
In addition to that amount of drainage, we need to add an extra factor for the heavy and spontaneous rainfall we’re going to see more of as our climate warms. When looking at A & R, we also need to look beyond the “solid” infrastructure and think about the “soft systems” that need to grow to support the equity-deserving groups that are most affected by climate change. For example, when power outages happen, how can those in need get in contact with essential services like adequate shelter, transportation, food banks, and health support? Are there outreach and support systems that they can contact, are there community members looking out for them to make sure vulnerable groups are ok? We need more people to work on developing these responses.
Do you think that certifications are helping in finding a job in sustainable infrastructure? If so, which ones do you believe are the most essential and how do you recommend that other people interested in sustainable infrastructure obtain those certifications?
I think that certifications help in finding a job in sustainable infrastructure, especially to get your foot in the door. A lot of jobs relating to green buildings and sustainability, whether entry-level, mid-tier or upper management, now include requirements for LEED certification in their job descriptions. If you’re interested in sustainability, completing the first level of LEED - the GA (Green Associate) - isn’t too difficult to do, and I highly recommend it as a starting point for landing a job in sustainability. If you’re looking for a starting point for taking the LEED GA, I wrote this article with helpful tips! I don’t recommend the second level of LEED - the AP (Accredited Professional) - to everyone; it is only for those who are designing green buildings or doing really technical green building work.
There’s also a new-ish certification called the “Envision Sustainability Professional (ENV SP)” that a couple of people I know have completed. I haven’t done it myself, but it seems more specific to incorporating sustainable practices into engineering design and/or construction project management for large infrastructure projects… So if that’s where you think your career is headed, then check it out!
What advice would you give to someone interested in pursuing a career in sustainable infrastructure?
Whenever I meet someone who wants to work in sustainability, especially in infrastructure, I get really excited that there are going to be more passionate and enthusiastic people to help us combat climate change. We need as many hands on deck as possible to reduce our impact on the planet! I always say that there’s lots of room for everyone to work in sustainability and we need all skill sets, from engineering to communications, HR, hands-on work and even teaching.
It will take us years to address climate change, so once you start working in the sector, there will always be a job for you as long as you’re open to learning new things and working on different projects. I also recommend to those who want to start working in the field to stay up to date on news about climate change through reading articles or books, listening to news or podcasts and tuning in to new changes from the government relating to the environment. Keeping up to date will come in handy when you start working in the field and will give you a strong starting point for your career success.
Disclaimer: The views shared in this interview belong to Jasmine Lyn, and are not representative of the City of Toronto.
Special thanks to Jasmine for sharing her insights with us on landing a career in sustainable infrastructure. If you are interested in finding a career in the sustainable infrastructure sector, join the Youth Green Jobs Network to find daily green job opportunities! Looking for more resources that will help you land a job in the sustainable infrastructure industry? Follow the Green Career Centre on our social media pages. To learn more about Jasmine’s experience, follow her on LinkedIn.
