Debra Butler
Executive Director, American Society of Adaptation Professionals
Debra M. Butler, Executive Director of ASAP earned her PhD in Environmental Sciences from the University of Massachusetts -Boston. She also holds masters degrees from Brandeis and Harvard Universities. Debra has researched and written extensively on climate displacement, migration and relocation on the Gulf Coast. Much of this work is focused on adaptation and resilience capabilities of indigenous and placed-based communities in the U.S. and Cuba, which are situated within complex ecological systems. Dr. Butler is a committee member and co-author of the consensus study on Community-driven Community-Driven Relocation: Recommendations for the U.S. Gulf Coast Region and Beyond (2024) recently published by the National Academies of Sciences (2024). She currently collaborates with over 40 climate futures initiatives including the Climigration Network, the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, Rising Voices (NCAR), the Sustainable Solutions Lab, the National Medical Association, and TapRoot. As a native of the Gulf coast, a survivor of Hurricane Katrina and the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Debra’s lived experienced and transdisciplinary perspectives intersect through her work ASAP. She is committed to transformational and intentional agency for just and equitable climate futures.
The Salata Institute
The Salata Institute supports interdisciplinary research that leads to real-world action, including high-risk/high-reward projects by researchers already working in the climate area and new endeavors that make it easier for Harvard scholars, who have not worked on climate problems, to do so. Faculty interested in the Climate Research Clusters program should note an upcoming deadline for concepts on April 1, 2024.