David Kay
David has been a member of the Rotary Club of Ithaca, NY USA – District 7180 – since 2025, and currently co-leads his Club’s International Service Committee. He came tohis Clubthrough his work with Rotary International’s partner Mediators Beyond Borders International, and commenced his involvement by helping to bring MBBI-led trainingin Positive Peace Conversations to the District.
In 2026, David retired from Cornell University’s Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment where he now serves as an emeritus faculty member. His work spanned themes including community and economic development, climate change and the environment, constructive conflict management and collaborative decision making, and the social elements of sociotechnical change. Most recently hisresearch and outreach/extension efforthas focused on socioeconomic aspects of climate mitigation (eg. energy transitions, especially community and individual responses to utility scale solar development) and climate adaptation (eg. community and individual responses to increasing flood risk).
Prior to retiring, David was the Critical Issue Lead for Climate and Energy with Cornell Cooperative Extension. He continues to serve nationally as Chair of the National Extension Climate Initiative and is a Senior Fellow with the Climate Democracy Initiative. David hasalso been a member of many municipal and nonprofit boards – frequently serving as Chair – concerned with sustainability, climate change and land use planning issues in NYS. These include terms in various roles, including as President, of the NY Planning Federation; as Chair and member of the City of Ithaca Planning and Development Board, the Tompkins County Planning Advisory Board, and the educational nonprofit associated with the Ecovillage at Ithaca. David was the inaugural Chair of the City of Ithaca’s Sustainability and Climate Justice Commission and maintains a seat on that body.
In addition to his many years of contributions to the Climate Change Project of MBBI, David is atransformative facilitator/mediator with his local Community Dispute Resolution Center and has volunteered with peace building organizations like Braver Angels to helpfacilitate dialogue “across difference”.