This week’s show gave our listeners insight into the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21), a conference of world leaders under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Our hosts, Harry Rice, Ed Waisanen, Bailey Schneider, and Rebecca Hardin were joined in studio by members of the University of Michigan Climate Change Delegation and the ground control team that’s supporting them at the climate negotiations in Paris. We were also joined by V Epshteyn and Ellen Loubertfrom UM Divest and Invest to hear about some local action that is taking place on the University of Michigan campus and in Ann Arbor.
COP 21 just wrapped up its first week in Le Bourget, Paris and will extend until December 11. The goal of the conference is to reach a legally binding and universal agreement to combat climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming to 2°C above pre-industrial levels. Over 50,000 participants including government leaders, environmental advocates, NGOs, UN agencies, and academics will be in attendance.
The Michigan Team heading to COP 21
The participants are categorized as negotiators or delegates. Ten University of Michigan and faculty members will participate as delegates. The UM delegates are given the duty to report on what happens at the conference and to ensure that the negotiations are transparent. The UM delegation is part of an elite group of universities that can attend the COP conference. You can follow them on twitter. Continue reading Ceci n’est pas une négociation du climat: the COP Paris Climate Talks→
In this first episode of our three part series called “Please, Drink Sustainably,” our guests Kris Spaulding, co-founder of Brewery Vivant, and Brian Tennis, owner and operator of the Michigan Hop Alliance taught hosts Harry Rice, Becca Baylor, Ed Waisanen, and Alex Truelove all about the sustainability innovations in beer production happening right here in the mitten.
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.
*Vamping is to repeat a short, simple passage of music until otherwise instructed.
In today’s show, we focus our chat on the Michigan Mackinac pipeline and recent SNRE grad Katie Browne’s experience on capacity-building projects in Gabon. In addition, we vamped about our favorite non-American foods and non-English languages, and shared a letter from Rebecca Hardin in Hyderabad, India about her sustainability-case teaching experience to scholars from around the world. Continue reading Mackinac Pipeline + Project in Gabon + IHIH Summer Vamping→
Join us on It’s Hot in Here this week to hear about GIS (Geographic Information System) applications in the Environmental Field — Mark Yoders from Quantum Spatial Inc. shared with us details on a variety of GIS projects involving the environment and David Betcher shared specifics on his work with the Great Lakes Communication. We also discussed different GIS technologies, including 3D LiDAR and photogrammetric point clouds, as well as thermal and infrared imagery. All these technologies have revolutionized the ease and precision of large-scale environmental assessments and monitoring, but still rely on field data for verification and expertise across fields to interpret.
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!
Today’s show features Jimmy Chin, renowned North Face team Climber and Photographer, Will Weber, Founder of Journeys International and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, and Benjamin Morse, SNRE MSc. student (2016) and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer.
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.
In September of 2013 (just as the ’13-’14 season of It’s Hot In Here was kicking off) Traverse City-based oil and gas company West Bay Exploration performed seismic tests west of Ann Arbor to map out potential sites for oil extraction. Eight months later, 300 people stood side by side to partake in an informational forum on oil exploration in Scio Township. As West Bay actively seeks out the necessary mineral leases from Scio homeowners in order to drill, concerned residents are uniting to learn about oil leasing and empower fellow homeowners to fully explore their options before turning over drilling rights to the company. Continue reading Michigan Black Gold (Season Finale)→
“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→
