Barbara Buffaloe - Sustainability Manager at Columbia, Missouri

Barbara Buffaloe - Sustainability Manager at Columbia, Missouri

Barbara Buffaloe is the city’s first Sustainability Manager. In her role, she is responsible for integrating short- and long-term sustainable comprehensive action plans, resource conservation, and related sustainability programs to advance a more sustainable, vital and well planned future for the city.

Barbara is a co-chair of the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN) Planning Committee, a peer network of local government sustainability officials across the United States and Canada dedicated to creating a healthier environment, economic prosperity, and increased social equity. Buffaloe holds a BS in Environmental Design and a MS in Environment & Behavior from the University of Missouri. She has been a LEED Accredited Professional since 2004 and is a huge fan of breakfast tacos.

Barbara Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss:

  • Climate Action and Adaptation Planning in a red state

  • Maintaining personal sustainability while working on behalf of global sustainability

  • Working collaboratively with other institutions throughout the community

  • Advice and recommendations for sustainability leaders

Barbara's Final Five Responses:

What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers?

Taking time for yourself, making sure that you're thinking about what sort of priority areas that you want to focus on and sticking with them as part of a plan will help you maintain your sanity as well as show the impact of the work that you're doing without getting distracted with all the other squirrels and balls running around.

What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability?

I am most excited about the local action efforts I see among communities. After the president pulled out of Paris Agreement, seeing all these communities, even without sustainability staff members, signing on and saying, "We're still in and we're still committed to making a difference."

What is one book you would recommend sustainability professionals read?

There's actually a good book written by a couple of former sustainability directors called The Guide to Greening Cities, and if you're in sustainability in local government, it has a lot of really good projects and ideas that can help you establish and make impact in your community.

What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work?

I must sound like a broken record and I should be getting royalties on this, but USDN, the Urban Sustainability Directors Network is a wealth of knowledge besides just the peer learning among your peers and other communities, but also their innovation projects have a lot of best practices that you can implement in your own community

Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the work you're leading at Columbia?

You can google my name because there's not a lot of Barbara Buffaloe's out there. And our city website is or else you can find me at Twitter @BarbaraBuffaloe.