Baroness Bryony Worthington, a British environmental campaigner and member of the U.K. House of Lords, brought her expertise in climate policy and technology to Cal Poly on Oct. 8.
Her lecture, “A Journey in Government and Technology,” was part of the Noyce School of Applied Computing’s Distinguished Speaker Series.
Worthington, who helped draft the U.K.’s landmark 2008 Climate Change Act, the first law to set legally binding emissions targets, shared the path that led her from rural Wales to global climate advocacy.
“I was surrounded by nature, and I kind of had this affinity to natural things. I didn’t study environmental studies. I did English literature at Cambridge.” Worthington said in an interview with Mustang News. “I wasn’t particularly politically motivated. But then I went traveling, and I spent even more time in nature and I became concerned that we weren’t doing enough to conserve wildlife.”
She described the obstacles of pushing environmental legislation, from skepticism over costs to the challenge of imagining alternative solutions.
“The biggest challenge is people’s inability to imagine that things could be done differently,” Worthington said. “Technologies that were very expensive are now coming down in price, and they can outcompete fossil fuels.”
Worthington described “sensitive intervention points” as moments when timely action can shape policy outcomes and offer opportunities for advocates or legislators to step in before decisions are finalized.
Worthington pointed to her work on U.K. electric vehicle legislation as an example. When some groups tried to weaken carbon emissions targets, involvement at the right moment allowed her and her colleagues to keep the bill’s goals ambitious.
“If we hadn’t got involved, the people who wanted to slow it down may have really watered it down more than they were able,” Worthington said.
Worthington is advancing technological solutions to climate problems. She co-founded KilnerTech, a startup using AI to analyze political speech and strengthen public trust. She is also working on clean energy strategies in China, exploring advanced geothermal and modular nuclear reactors to reduce reliance on coal.
“If China decides to do something at scale, they have the capacity to do it quickly, and it would be huge because their emissions way outstrip everybody else’s,” Worthington said.
During her visit, Worthington praised Cal Poly’s approach to teaching and research.
“It really feels grounded. The work studied here directly relates to the real world,” Worthington said, singling out Foaad Khosmood in the computer engineering department for his work on the government transparency data tool Digital Democracy.
Worthington also urged students to stay engaged in governance and collective decision-making.
Her visit offered students a glimpse into technology and environmental advocacy and challenged them to think critically about how they can shape the future.
“It’s easy to disengage, but these governmental processes exist, and we have to pay attention to them, in order to drive change,” Worthington said. “That’s more important than ever.”