Dan Barry is the Director of Local and State Advocacy, a new program launched by AAAS in 2018. As a service to the growing AAAS membership, coupled with an increase in members’ desire to elevate the evidence-based perspective in local policy deliberations, the Local and State Advocacy program will build, train, and equip cohorts of local and regional scientists in locales across the country, asserting the role of science as a key to positive change.
Prior to joining AAAS, Dan was the Director of ecoAmerica’s Path to Positive Communities Program, where he worked with mayors and other local elected leaders and their key climate staff to develop and promote local community engagement efforts based on enhanced capacity and the deployment of positive, values-oriented communications. Previously, Dan served as the Senior Climate Policy Analyst for the District Department of the Environment’s Office of Policy and Sustainability, where he advanced climate mitigation and preparedness plans for the nation’s capital and created sector-based pledges to advance sustainability efforts. Dan has 30 years of experience working with local, state, and national environmental advocacy organizations, including VPIRG, Rural Vermont, Lake Champlain Committee, Environmental Working Group, CLEAR, Americans for the Environment, Friends of the Earth, Environmental Defense Fund, and Save Our Environment. Dan has also worked on electoral and issues campaigns, and on the Congressional and campaign staff of Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
Dan grew up on a dairy farm in Vermont and lived in Saudi Arabia as a teenager. He earned BA degrees in Philosophy and Sociology from the University of Vermont, and an MS in Environmental Policy and Communications from Green Mountain College.