It is 2015 and we are back! To kick off the new year on It’s Hot in Here, our hosts Rebecca Hardin and Sam Molnar discussed Agroecology with Dr. Marney Isaac, Assisant Professor and Canada Research Chair in Agroecosystems & Development at the University of Toronto.
Bio:Dr. Marney Isaac, Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair in Agroecosystems & Development, conducts interdisciplinary research on plant strategies and the nutrient economy of agroecological systems while concurrently charting the human dimension of agroecosystem management. Her research provides mechanistic insights into the ecological principles, nutrient cycles, and plant-soil interactions that govern the structure and function of agricultural landscapes, with particular attention on identification of strategies for environmental services, system resilience and sustainable livelihoods. Her research approach makes use of a diverse set of technical tools and employs various temporal and spatial scales: from mechanistic manipulative trials at the rhizosphere scale to large agroecosystem dynamics. She also supervises an international research program investigating agrarian management networks and environmental governance, with an emphasis on understanding innovation in large social-agroecological systems. She has published widely in environmental science, agronomic and multi-disciplinary journals including Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, Agronomy for Sustainable Development and Ecology and Society.
In addition to agroecology, we followed up with the SNRE MS students after their trip to Peru for the international climate negotiations at the United Nations Conference of Parties (COP20) in Lima, Peru. The SNRE students that we had on the show included second-year graduate students from the School of Natural Resources and Environment COP20 student delegation. We discussed their exciting experiences at one of the most prominent climate talks in the world.
Our show this week maintained a theme of innovation and taking new approaches to protect the environment and manage land. This segment was a wonderful start to the new year and we are excited for all that 2015 has to offer.
“It doesn’t take much reading about current events to find articles detailing the plight of migratory songbirds and butterflies like monarchs. Due to a variety of circumstances, but especially the loss of suitable feeding and breeding habitat, numbers have dropped significantly and there is no reason to believe that that course will be reversed unless we do something about it.
Fortunately, individual property owners can do something about it. Using a variety of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants in your yard will help to provide resting and feeding spots for these critters, even if your yard is small.Continue reading Growing Our Native Knowledge→
This week Dr. Rebecca Hardin takes us on an auditory cruise across continents, academic disciplines, and musical gems like no one else can (NB: we can say that, cause she’s our hero).
Dr. Heather Eves enriches our conversation with insights from her conservation-oriented collaborations across Africa, the US, and Europe. Dr. Eves has worked for over 15 years to build curriculum and build capacity on management overhunting and the bushmeat trade in Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa, most recently with the Bushmeat Free Eastern Africa Network.
If that’s not enough – we feature creative (and sometimes scathing) musical and lyrical commentary on these same issues in African and African Diasporic poetics – from the orchestral stylings of the Central African Republic, Gil-Scott Heron, and Sun-Ra to the “only MC with and MSC,” Naeto C.
It’s a show you will not want to miss.
Inspirired to learn more: Register (for free) for the upcoming UM Science, Technology, Engineering and Math conference here.
Following recent announcements from Unilever and Ferraro stating they would switch to sustainable palm oil sources by 2014, Forest Heroes, a Michigan advocacy group for the protection of Indonesian rainforest, decided it was time to apply extra pressure on Kellogg’s to join their pledge.
Eva Resnick-Day (Forest Heroes organizer, GreenCorps trainee, and two time guest of IHIH) helped organize and lead the rally, and later sat down with Andrea to talk her through the events, Kellogg’s reaction, the subsequent media storm, and what’s up next.
If you’re interested in getting involved in the campaign, or just want to thank Eva for her hard work, please contact her at (eva at greencorps dot org).
