In its early years, Yale Blue Green worked to understand the breadth and depth of the University’s programs on the environment, and in its 2019 Sustainability Initiative asked Yale to “think more broadly about sustainability especially interdisciplinary scholarship and teaching…This effort needs to reach across disciplines and examine options with a goal of making sustainability a focus of its intellectual and cultural leadership.”  In 2020 we were excited when the University launched a new initiative called Yale Planetary Solutions “that unites leadership and experts across campus, and across disciplines, to advance solutions to the greatest environmental challenges facing the planet.”   And we we were glad for the news that Julie Zimmerman was appointed the inaugural Vice Provost for Planetary Solutions in 2023.  Her recent presentation to Yale alumni during the reunions in May 2025 is included below.

YBG supports Planetary Solutions today because it addresses some of the important ideas in the YBG Proposal. It includes interdisciplinary scholarship on the profound environmental issues of our time, focuses on today’s planetary challenges, and includes Yale’s commitments to sustainability. In support of that effort, YBG has organized Yale’s Green Resources to help alumni and members of the community understand the breadth of the University’s efforts on behalf of environmental sustainability.  YBG works with the leadership of the Planetary Solutions program to help organize the Yale symposium during Climate Week NYC in late September.  YBG and Planetary Solutions are now collaborating on a survey of Yale alumni to better understand all the ways they are engaged in environmental sustainability work. To share your input, use the QR code in the attached presentation (Slide 31).