EnviroThursday Fall 2021
Presentations take place at 12 noon, Olin-Rice Room 250
September 16, 2021
Location: Theater 202
“Animate”
Speaker: Lucas Erickson from On Stage
On Stage will be facilitating discussions based around the play, Animate (September 16 – 26, 2021). The play will be presented at the Como Zoo and produced by Mixed Blood Theatre. Created by Ken LaZebnik and Jack Reuler, Animate was created through a year of listening sessions with zookeepers, animal collection curators, zoo directors, primatologists and zoo detractors. Each scene in the play takes place in a different area in the zoo! The play deals with race and philanthropy, species preservation, conservation, education, etc.
This EnviroThursday is co-sponsored by the Environmental Studies and Theater and Dance Departments.
September 23, 2021
“Defining a 21st Century Relationship for the Metro Mississippi River”
Speaker: Dr. John Anfinson, former Mississippi National River and Recreation Area Superintendent
For the first time since the Twin Cities’ began, we have a chance to reconsider our relationship with the Mississippi River. We can step back from old visions and their concrete and steel embodiment and choose a different relationship and attach new meaning to the river here. In his presentation, Dr. John Anfinson will begin by setting the context for two separate but connected conversations. The first is about St. Anthony Falls and the second about a stretch of river we call the Gorge, the 8.5 mile reach of the Mississippi River from the falls to its confluence with the Minnesota River. Both conversations are being driven by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers desire to leave three locks and dams that no longer serve navigation. Dr. Anfinson will then review the status of the Corps disposition study process and engage participants in a discussion about the future the metro Mississippi River.
September 30, 2021
Location: Smail Gallery
“2021 Smail Gallery Exhibition Opening: Resilience – Looking Towards a Post-Pandemic Future and the Ephemeral Moments Throughout ”
Resilience draws on student visions of resilience in action over the last two years. In this extended gallery curation, we asked students: What’s different now, as we start to imagine a post-pandemic future? What does resilience mean now? In this combined exhibit, images of joy, perseverance, and inspiration found in 2021 will join the images of pain, rage and hope from the historic spring and summer of 2020—all through the eyes of 27 Macalester students scattered across the country throughout the past two years. The exhibition runs through August 31, 2022, in the Smail Gallery on the second floor of Olin-Rice.
Featuring work by Maija Hecht ’22, Shoshuke Noma ’23, Sam Ding ’22, Linnea Henrikson ’22, Kaleb Getu Gezahegn ’24, Elizabeth Sykes ’22, Marty Stoner ’25, Alex Ang ’22, Allegra Berman ’21, Sarah Acheson-Field ’24, Raya Dimitrova ’25, Lucia Amieva-Wang ’24, Tyler Sanchez ’24, Long Nguyen ’21, Pallavi Shoroff ’22, Zarra Marlowe ’21, Vanisa Senesathith ’21, Tenzin Dothar ’21, Priya Baumann ’22, Anya Lindell Paulson ’21, Noah Davidson ’23, Natalie Parsons ’23, Gabriela Diaz ’24, Zahra Jumani ’23, Maya Sobchuk ’22, Celia Johnson ’22, and Christian Martinez ’23.
This project was envisioned by Prof. Roopali Phadke and curated by Priya Baumann ’22, following the curatorial work of Kori Suzuki ’21 with help from Prof. Eric Carroll.
October 7, 2021
Location: JBD Lecture Hall, Campus Center
“Reimagining Restoration: Grasslands Under Global Change”
Speaker: Daniel Hernández, Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies at Carleton College
Grasslands of North America are one of the most threatened ecosystems on Earth, and future grassland management will require us to confront the reality of global environmental changes. Climate change, nutrient deposition, and altered species assemblages are all currently impacting grassland biodiversity and ecosystem function, creating unprecedented challenges in managing these novel ecosystems. Yet, the goal of grassland restoration is often to return these systems to their perceived historic state, with little consideration of the tradeoffs in such an approach. Daniel will use two ecological case studies, California serpentine grasslands and Minnesota tallgrass prairie, to consider the future of grassland management and restoration. Additionally, reimagining ecosystem management will only be successful if we incorporate diverse perspectives into the practice of conservation. To this end, he will discuss his involvement in efforts to increase engagement of underrepresented groups in the field of conservation science.
Daniel Hernández is an ecosystem ecologist interested in the challenge of restoration and management of grasslands in the face of global change. He is program faculty on the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program at UC Santa Cruz.
This EnviroThursday is co-sponsored by the Environmental Studies and Biology Departments.
October 14, 2021
No EnviroThursday – Check out the International Roundtable
October 21, 2021
No EnviroThursday – Fall Break
October 28, 2019
No EnviroThursday – ES Majors/Minors Lunch
November 4, 2021
“What’s in the Water? Using Molecular and Ecological Approaches to Improve Disease Surveillance”
Speaker: Karena Ha Nguyen, Postdoctoral Fellow with the Fellowships in Research and Science Teaching (FIRST) Program at Emory University in Atlanta, GA
Dr. Karena Nguyen’s talk will focus on her current projects, which aim to elucidate patterns of diurnal variation of environmental water quality indicators in the Chattahoochee River and to characterize the epidemiological impact of human-cattle hybrid schistosomes in Tanzania. In addition to research, she developed and taught “Parasites and Peoples: Can You Worm Your Way Out?”, an upper-level parasitology and disease ecology course, at Morehouse College. She will discuss preliminary data on the impact of using case studies to enhance student self-efficacy and science identity in biology.
Dr. Nguyen works in the the Civitello Lab, whose research spans multiple disciplines, including disease ecology, community ecology and biodiversity, consumer resource ecology, natural resource management, and theory. She is also a part of Levy Lab, which uses environmental microbiology and environmental epidemiology methods to address questions related to water, sanitation, and hygiene.
November 11, 2021
“COP26: Behind the Scenes and Stories”
The United Nations 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) is set to take place in Glasgow, Scotland, from November 1-12. Macalester College is sending a delegation of faculty and staff to COP to observe negotiations and interact with global leaders. This is the official return of the U.S. to the Paris Agreement and there is tremendous pressure on the U.S. to lead this fractious process. Join us to hear from Macalester delegates about their experience.
November 18, 2021
“Earth Body”
Speakers: Prof. Devavani Chatterjea, Biology Department Macalester College, and Donna Sternberg, Choreographer
The dance film Earth Body brings dancers and audiences into sites of disruption – warming ocean, an overflowing recycling center, post-wildfire landscapes. This love song to a feverish, ailing planet calls on us to pay collective, caring attention to our changing climate and begin the hopeful healing we need to survive. This film will be viewed with questions following. Earth Body was co-created by Donna Sternberg and Devavani Chatterjea with dancers Alaya Oni, Moi, Laura Ann Smyth, and Stephanie Cheung, costumer Rosalida Melida, and filmmaker Michael Masucci, with original music by Ari Frankel. Earth Body was selected for showing at the 2021 Toronto International Dance Festival.
Donna Sternberg, founder of Santa Monica, CA -based Donna Sternberg and Dancers (since 1985) has professionally premiered over 90 works since 1975 throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, and Mexico; frequently collaborating with artists of other disciplines including composers, visual artists, poets, actors, and digital media as well as scientists. Devavani Chatterjea is a professor of Biology at Macalester College. An immunologist and environmental health scientist, her research intersects inflammation, chronic pain and environmental exposures. She asks questions and tells stories through science, teaching, poetry, and movement. Donna and Devavani met at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program’s inaugural Science/Arts Residency in July 2014, and have continued to collaborate ever since co-creating dances that investigate patterns and disruptions of health in our individual and collective bodies.
This EnviroThursday is co-sponsored by the Environmental Studies, Biology, and Theater and Dance Departments.