This week we are on the phone with Dr. Brian D. Fath, professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Towson University, and a major contributor to the newly published book, Flourishing Within Limits to Growth: Following nature’s way. We are joined in the studio by Joey Zhouyuan Li, a Ph.D student in the School of Environment at Tsinghua University, China, who is currently a visiting scholar at Towson under Professor Fath. We also welcome two new additions to the IHIH team: first-year SNRE master’s students Alex Truelove and Ed Waisanen. Alex recently transitioned to SNRE from a career in music and is studying Sustainable Systems at SNRE. Ed is an Ann Arbor native who has recently returned to Michigan to study Environmental Policy and Planning.
This show brings lively conversation on the challenges of climate change planning, both in Ethiopia and across the diverse governance landscapes of East and North Africa. Tied with the Gala case study on climate adaptation in Ethiopia this podcast explores the complexity of crafting effective and equitable adaptation policy. Specifically, we ask how national adaptation plans are made? By and for whom? What are the decision-making criteria? And what could these criteria fail to account for? Bringing together legal, economic, anthropological, and environmental expertise, we take adaptation policy as the starting point for broad-ranging dialogue on climate change impacts, social conflict across ethno-linguistic groups, and national planning as a tool that can either address or worsen marginalization.
On this week’s show, we discussed current environmental news, climate change with Alexandra (Lexi) Brewer(MS ’15), Tu B’shevat (Birthday of Trees) with Nick Bruscatto (MS ’16), and the SNRE Food Olympics with Rebecca Baylor. We also discussed the upcoming and exciting events happening around SNRE and the University of Michigan!
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.
