Climate Justice 101

Laura Marett, RLA, LEED AP, is Director of Landscape Planning at SCAPE. Her practice includes landscape design and systems planning with an emphasis on resiliency. Laura’s work encompasses a range of scales and project types, from the design of public parks, streetscapes and waterfronts to large-scale landscape planning and campus master planning. Laura has particular interest in the design of vibrant urban public spaces through an engaged public process and resilience planning with communities. Laura holds a Master’s in Landscape Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor’s in literature from Harvard College.

Deb Guenther is a design partner at Mithun, an integrated design firm with offices in Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Deb enjoys collaborating with people in public agencies, private entities, non-profit groups and with community members to co-create experiences and places that are a meaningful part of everyday life. Nationally recognized for her leadership on green infrastructure and ecosystem service issues, she was awarded the American Society of Landscape Architect’s Presidents Medal in 2010. She is a 2021-22 fellow in the Landscape Architecture Foundation Innovation and Leadership program exploring pre-project, relational models of practice with community leaders. .

José Juan Terrasa-Soler is a CLARB Certified landscape architect, environmental scientist, and professor with over 25 years of experience. Originally from Arecibo, Puerto Rico, he holds degrees from Mount Saint Mary’s College (Maryland), The University of Michigan, Yale University, and Harvard University. He has led teams in corporate, governmental, and nonprofit sectors. Currently a Partner at MARVEL, his work focuses on the intersection of ecology and design, including green infrastructure and sustainable urban design. José Juan is also a founding faculty member at Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico's Master of Landscape Architecture program.

José is a truth-teller and landscape architect who believes laughter is powerful preventative medicine. His personal and professional journeys are deeply spiritual, grounded in the understanding that he remains a lifelong student with a deep passion for learning. As Co-founder and Director of MIG’s Native Nation Building Studio, he nurtures the power of co-creation through inclusive, community-driven design and planning that honors cultural identity and placeknowing. Through landscape architecture, José advocates truth and healing as a better path forward, while simultaneously creating space for individual and collective transformation to help us do and be better.

Dr. Cheng is the Director of Stuckeman School and Professor of Landscape Architecture at Penn State University. Previously, Dr. Cheng directed the Hydro-GI Lab and applies a Climate Justicescape framework to identify spatial and systemic injustice associated with climate change impacts in vulnerable communities and to evaluate social-ecological outcomes of green infrastructure design. Dr. Cheng’s work on Climate Justice Design informs planning and design with community-centered natural-based solutions for climate actions and urban resilience. Dr. Cheng serves on the ASLA Environmental Justice PPN as past Co-Chair, Member of Climate Actions Committee and Climate Action Plan Advisory Group, and CELA President. 

Amy Syverson-Shaffer is passionate about connecting people to nature and to each other. Her past work as a landscape architect and in business development frames her collaborative approach to taking on big challenges. Today, she is lending her design acumen and contextual understanding to leading sustainability for the modern craft manufacturer, Landscape Forms. Since 2023, she’s served on the ASLA Biodiversity and Climate Action Committee, working to bridge between key efforts by Landscape Architects and their industry partner community. On any given day, you'll most likely find her working in the garden.