Miranda Massie is an American lawyer who is the founder and director of the

Climate Museum The Climate Museum is a nonprofit organization in New York City and the first museum dedicated to climate change and climate solutions in the United States. Its mission is "to inspire action on the climate crisis with programming across the arts ...

, the first museum in the US dedicated to climate change.

Early life and education

Massie was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in 1966. She grew up first in

Brooklyn Heights Brooklyn Heights is a residential neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Old Fulton Street near the Brooklyn Bridge on the north, Cadman Plaza West on the east, Atlantic Avenue on the south, ...

, then in New York’s

Hudson River Valley The Hudson Valley (also known as the Hudson River Valley) comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to Yo ...

. Massie earned a French Baccalaureat and attended

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

, where she studied US History and won several honors upon her graduation in 1989. She enrolled in a Ph.D. program in History at the

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences The Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is the graduate school of Yale University. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest graduate school in North America, and was the first North American graduate school to confer a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D ...

, which she left in 1991 with a master's degree. She then lived in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

before pursuing a J.D. degree at

New York University School of Law New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in N ...

Career

Massie moved to

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

to work as a civil rights impact litigator. Her lead counsel roles included the representation of the student intervenors in the

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of Comparative Law (MCL ...

affirmative action case, Grutter v. Bollinger, which resulted in a 2003 Supreme Court decision. Massie moved back to

in 2007 to serve as a senior attorney in the

environmental justice Environmental justice is a social movement to address the unfair exposure of poor and marginalized communities to harms from hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses.Schlosberg, David. (2007) ''Defining Environmental Justic ...

unit at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI), focusing on children's exposure to toxins in public schools. She became Legal Director at NYLPI, overseeing the firm's work in the areas of environmental, health, and disability equity and also served a period as NYLPI's Interim Executive Director. Increasingly concerned about

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

, in 2014, Massie left her career as a lawyer to found the

, where she is the director, and has overseen the presentation of several exhibitions and special programs. She is a Public Voices Fellow on the Climate Crisis with the OpEd Project and the Yale Program on Climate Communications, and speaks frequently on climate and culture. Massie’s civil rights impact advocacy and her cultural work on climate have been featured in a variety of print, radio, and television news outlets.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Massie, Miranda Cornell University alumni Directors of museums in the United States Women museum directors 1966 births Living people Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni