Joan Feynman Climate Change Fund
(Applications Closed)
Nova Scotia’s rural communities are directly affected by climate change through such factors as sea level rise, storms, weather, disease and species shift, all of which can cause major economic impact. As such, our communities are on the front-lines of Nova Scotia’s efforts to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change and they have a vital role in finding solutions to this enormously difficult and complex issue.
This fund was created in 2019 with a private donor grant in order to ignite creativity, innovation and change through community projects on climate change. During the next 3-5 years RCFNS plans to greatly increase our Feynman Fund granting and to coordinate with other sectors to leverage progress on climate change throughout the province.
We have a deep commitment to diversity and inclusion and will be paying specific attention to marginalized communities and issues of environmental justice. We are seeking matching and challenge funds for the program from large-scale partners, including corporate, provincial, federal sources and high wealth individuals. As well, partners who cannot provide funds at this time are welcome as they provide other important resources such as training, communications, networking, and in-kind support. Our grant focus is specifically in moving from ideas to action on climate change and so projects are in the form of micro grants of $2000 for youth-led projects and $5000 for projects led by adults.
RCFNS is excited to bring more support for community projects on climate change through the Joan Feynman Climate Change Fund. See the Joan Feynman Climate Change Fund guidelines below.
RCFNS volunteers will be doing outreach with communities and will be finding program and project partners. If you know of any individuals or organizations who might like to get involved with this program, please contact us.
For more information on past grants of the Joan Feynman Climate Change Fund, please click here.
Susan Hirshberg, Joan Feynman Climate Change Fund
Joan Feynman (March 31, 1927 – July 21, 2020) was an American astrophysicist. She made contributions to the study of solar wind, particles and fields, sun-Earth relations, and magnetospheric physics. She was particularly known for developing an understanding of the origin of auroras and for uncovering a method for predicting sunspot cycles. However, what she considered her most important work was a 2007 paper where she and her beloved husband Alexander Ruzmaikin showed that the development of human civilization itself was dependent on a relatively stable climate so that agricultural societies would have the chance to develop. Her work with the sun and it’s effect on climate made her keenly aware of the threats to human society from climate change and her great hope in the latter years of her life was that she could contribute in some way towards helping people prepare and cope with this tremendous threat.
Joan was born in Far Rockaway, New York and was the daughter of Lucille and Melville Feynman and the lone sibling of Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman. Throughout their lives Joan and Richard loved to talk about physics and the wonders and beauty of the natural world. While inspired and encouraged by her relationship with Richard, Joan was an internationally highly respected physicist in her own right. She published hundreds of scientific papers and winning NASA’s exceptional achievement medal in 2000. Joan was also a life long champion for equal rights for women and in 1974, she became the first woman to be elected as an officer of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). She organized an AGU committee charged with advancing the fair treatment of women within the geophysics community.
Joan had three children: Matthew, Charles and Susan Hirshberg. Susan, who lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia launched the RCFNS Joan Feynman Climate Change Fund in memory of her mother who passed away in 2020 at the age of 93. The purpose of the fund was to extend her legacy and honour her work not only in climate change but as someone who deeply cared about society and wanted to make a difference. She believed in the power of people to find creative solutions to big problems. We think she would be so proud of all that the climate change fund grantees have accomplished and we look forward to supporting more of them in the future. Hope lives in all of us.