Landscape Architecture 2040: The New ASLA Climate and Biodiversity Action Plan - 1.25 PDH (LA CES/HSW)

Meg Calkins, FASLA, is a Professor of Landscape Architecture at NC State University. She has taught and written about resilient site design and sustainable construction for over twenty-five years. Meg's current book is Details and Materials for Resilient Sites: A Climate Positive Approach. It was published by Routledge in July 2025. Meg is also the author of Materials for Sustainable Sites (2008) and editor of the Sustainable Sites Handbook (2012). Meg served as Chair of the American Society of Landscape Architects 2025 Climate and Biodiversity Action Plan Task Force. She currently serves on the Landscape Architecture Foundation Board of Directors.

Andrew is a design leader at LPA, a national integrated design firm where he advances work at the intersection of built, cultural, and natural systems. His interest lies in how the blending of built and natural environments can enhance a user’s experience and reinforce values of equity, ecology, and curiosity. Andrew is a proven thinker and strategist, speaking at numerous conferences about the value of performative landscapes and human experience. In 2025, served as the Advocacy Lead for LA 2040: Climate and Biodiversity Action Plan and is co-chair of the Advocacy sub-committee of the Climate & Biodiversity Action Committee.

Diane Jones Allen, D. Eng., PLA, FASLA, is Director/Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Texas at Arlington, and Principal Landscape Architect with DesignJones LLC, which received the 2016 American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Community Service Award. Diane is part of one of a cross disciplinary team, that won the 2020 Skidmore Owens and Merrill (SOM Foundation Research Prize, which examined social justice in urban contexts. She was a 2021-2022 fellow for Garden and Landscape Studies at Dumbarton Oaks, where she researched Maroons in coastal Louisiana. She currently serves on the 2025 ASLA’s Climate Task Force.

Mariana is passionate about place-based, sustainable design. In her work as a licensed landscape architect, Mariana seeks to create a vibrant public realm, connect people to the environment, and develop targeted strategies to accomplish the project vision. At SWA, she leads a wide range of projects, from community parks to district-scale urban development and planning around the Bay Area and beyond. Mariana is committed to climate action and advancing sustainability efforts within her project work, professionally, and at a firm-wide level with SWA's Climate Action Plan. She is co-chair of ASLA’s National Climate Subcommittee and is an active ULI member.

For over 20 years Jennifer has worked at the interface of ecology, landscape architecture, & conservation planning, leading projects ranging from regional greenways to state and national parks, institutional and educational campuses, and citywide ecological networks merging landscape ecology, climate resilience, and equity strategies with regenerative design. Her practice engages principles of systems-ecology, resilience, biodiversity, and environmental justice, facilitating dialogue and socio-ecological narratives that engage nature in design. Jennifer has published pieces in Landscape Architecture Magazine, PLACES Journal, theEarthIssue#4, The Nature of Cities, and contributed to the book, The Landscape Approach: From Local Communities to Territorial Systems.