Coffee & Geography Podcast Season 6 Episode 8
The latest release of #CoffeeGeogPod is my chat with Aparna Bamzai‑Dodson, who works with the US Geological Survey (USGS) as Assistant Regional Administrator for the North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center. On paper, her role sounds sprawling: partner engagement, budgeting, funding decisions, coordinating science, and ensuring that what comes out of the system actually supports people managing land, species, and resources. In practice, what struck me most was not the scale of the role, but its clarity of purpose.
Aparna never framed climate adaptation as an abstract ambition. She spoke about it as something that is already embedded in day‑to‑day decision-making, whether people acknowledge it or not. One comment in particular has continued to echo for me: “by not thinking about climate change, you’re still making a decision”. It is a deceptively simple idea, but it exposes how neutrality in environmental decision-making is largely an illusion. Choices are always being made; the question is whether they are intentional and informed.
A central thread in our discussion was Aparna’s framing of “actionable science”. This is not science produced and then handed over hopefully at the end of a process. It is science built with those who will use it, from the very beginning: shaping the questions, agreeing the timescales that matter, deciding what outputs are actually useful, and thinking carefully about how information is presented and accessed. The emphasis throughout was on relevance and usability, rather than volume or technical sophistication for its own sake.
That approach also requires honesty about limits. Aparna spoke explicitly about stakeholder fatigue, something that will be familiar to anyone who has worked in participatory or collaborative spaces. There is a point at which repeated consultation becomes extractive rather than empowering, and scientists have a responsibility not to contribute to that burnout. Listening, in this context, is an ethical practice as much as a methodological one.
Closely linked to this was her insistence on “meeting people where they’re at”. Place matters in adaptation, but so do professional starting points and emotional readiness. Some partners are at the beginning of their climate journey and are unsure where to start; others are deeply embedded in management systems and trying to integrate climate variables into existing legal and planning frameworks. Rather than expecting people to come to scientific spaces, Aparna described going to the places where managers already meet, recognising existing knowledge and constraints rather than overriding them. This quietly respectful approach feels instinctively geographical to me.
One example she shared made this particularly tangible. Cultural artefacts were at risk from future flooding, and the scientific evidence suggested that remaining in place could lead to serious damage. But the science did not dictate the outcome. Instead, it created the conditions for a decision-making process. A tribal partner was presented with the evidence and supported to consider options: protecting the artefacts in situ or relocating them for off-site preservation. The decision was then taken back to the community, discussed, and returned with a clear choice. What mattered here was the agency retained throughout the process. It was a reminder that science, at its best, creates time to think rather than closing conversations down.
We also talked about the complexity of public land management more broadly. Aparna described the overlapping priorities that shape decisions: legal designations, wilderness protections, grazing rights, tourism economies, neighbouring communities, and the constant reality of limited time and funding. The point was that transparent processes and well-framed science can help people make trade-offs deliberately rather than by default.
Because this was Coffee & Geography, the conversation was never only technical. Aparna brought Kashmiri Kaffa, a green tea from her family’s region, carrying history and heritage into the space with her. We talked about games too, as a reminder that people doing demanding, high-stakes work still need ways to decompress. She described loving story-driven open-world games, and also the comfort of low-effort, end-of-day play where the problems are small and solvable. Sometimes she wants to log on and help people; sometimes she wants to log on and fight monsters. Both have their place.
The episode ends with Aparna choosing her word for the “We Are All Geographers” chain, and she settled on joy. Not because climate adaptation is easy or cheerful work, but because there is something deeply sustaining about building relationships, finding pathways forward, and supporting communities to act with intention. I acutely relate to that.
🔗 Aparna’s staff profile at the US Geological Survey (USGS): https://www.usgs.gov/staff-profiles/aparna-bamzai-dodson
🔗 Scientist Spotlight on Aparna: https://www.usgs.gov/programs/climate-adaptation-science-centers/news/scientist-spotlight-finding-yourself-open-world
🔗 USGS Climate Adaptation Science Centers (CASC network): https://www.usgs.gov/programs/climate-adaptation-science-centers
🔗 US National Park Service: https://www.nps.gov/
🔗 Kashmiri “Kahwa / Kaffa” tea background (tea discussed; name varies by spelling): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kahwah
Geogramblings 