EnviroThursday Fall 2022
Presentations take place at 12 noon, Olin-Rice Room 250
September 15, 2022
“Nature, Wealth, and Pollution: Redlining Roots and Legacies in the Twin Cities Metro Area”
Speakers: Prof. Anika Bratt, Prof. Hannah Ramer, Prof. Mary Heskel, Ahmed Abdalla Ahmed ’23, and Alexandra Jabbarpour ’23
This EnviroThursday will feature a panel of researchers (both faculty and students) studying the link between nature and the racist policies that prevented home ownership by minoritized communities in Minneapolis and St. Paul as well as the persistent environmental impacts of these practices that are still evident today.
Anika Bratt is the Wallin Postdoctoral Fellow in the Environmental Studies Department at Macalester College. Her expertise is in Aquatic and Urban Ecology. Hannah Ramer is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Environmental Studies Department and Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Minnesota. Her research interests include food systems, urban governance, and environmental justice. Mary Heskel is an Assistant Professor in the Biology Department. Her expertise is in plant ecophysiology, plants and climate change, ecosystem ecology, and terrestrial carbon cycle. Ahmed Abdalla Ahmed and Alexandra Jabbarpour are senior Environmental Studies majors.
September 22, 2022
No EnviroThursday – Study Away session for majors and minors
September 29, 2022
“Narratives of Environment and Sustainability Shaping Environmental Education in Coastal Ecuador”
Speaker: Neela Nandyal, PhD Student, Comparative and International Development Education, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
How is environmental education (EE) conceptualized in a place both rich in biodiversity and prone to natural hazards? What are the local attitudes, values, and practices that shape EE in formal and nonformal spaces? This presentation shares initial findings from a qualitative pilot study conducted in summer 2022 in coastal Ecuador.
Neela Nandyal’s research explores how formal and nonformal education can serve as a key force in the ways that people approach climate change adaptation, disaster risk resilience, and environmental sustainability.
October 6, 2022
Location: Olin-Rice 350
“38th & Chicago, Re-Envisioned: Determining the Future Design of George Floyd Square”
Speaker: Alexander Kado, Transportation Planner, City of Minneapolis
On May 25, 2020, George Perry Floyd Jr. was murdered at the intersection of 38th & Chicago – forever changing the intersection and surrounding community. Since his death, the area has become a gathering space for racial healing and reflection. The City of Minneapolis is conducting a community engagement process to re-envision the intersection and is evaluating how to reconstruct the roadways leading to this area.
Alexander Kado is a transportation planner with the City of Minneapolis and the project manager for the infrastructure re-design of George Floyd Square. He is a Twin Cities native and works to provide equitable transportation infrastructure outcomes.
October 12, 2022
EnviroWednesday – 3:30-4:30 pm – Olin-Rice 250
“Role of Science and Religion in Wildlife Conservation in India”
Speaker: YV Jhala, Dean of the Wildlife Institute of India
This seminar will discuss how scientific interventions and monitoring, coupled with India’s socio-political, religious, and legal commitments to life have bolstered the revival and conservation of endangered species while managing direct odds with the human population of 1.3 billion.
Professor Jhala has researched endangered carnivores, ungulates, and birds in India for the past 30 years. These include Indian wolves, tigers, Asiatic lions, snow leopards, striped hyenas, golden jackals, Indian fox, blackbucks, Great Indian Bustards, and greater one horned rhinoceros. He teaches graduate courses on conservation biology and population ecology. Jhala received his PhD from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, VA, in 1991 and worked with the Smithsonian Institution until 1993 after which he joined the Wildlife Institute of India as a faculty member. Jhala’s research and country scale monitoring of tiger populations for the past 15 years have resulted in major policy and changes in wildlife management practices in India. He has received the Guinness World Records accolade of being the largest terrestrial wildlife survey on the planet. He is currently leading an ambitious project of bringing the cheetah back to India.
This EnviroWednesday is co-sponsored by the Environmental Studies and Biology Departments.
October 13, 2022
No EnviroThursday – Check out the International Roundtable
October 20, 2022
No EnviroThursday – Fall Break
October 27, 2022
No EnviroThursday – ES Majors and Minors Lunch
November 3, 2022
“Challenging Environmental Injustice”
Speaker: Roxxanne O’Brien, Activist-in-Residence at Macalester, 2022-23
In a Question and Answer session with Professor Roopali Phadke, Roxxanne will describe her current environmental justice work and challenges faced by Minneapolis residents in getting the government to act in time.
November 10, 2022
“Working Across Lines: Resisting Extreme Energy Extraction”
Speaker: Corrie Grosse, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University
How are communities uniting against fracking and tar sands to change our energy future?
Drawing on comparative analysis of climate justice coalitions in California and Idaho, this presentation, based on Grosse’s recently published book with the same title, investigates the ways people build effective energy justice coalitions across differences in political views, race and ethnicity, age, and strategic preferences. This presentation will focus on the case of youth climate justice activists in Santa Barbara, California. It highlights four practices that are critical for movement building: focusing on core values of justice, accountability, and integrity; identifying the roots of injustice; cultivating relationships among activists; and welcoming difference. These lessons on how to work together are more relevant than ever.
Corrie Grosse teaches at the intersection of energy, climate crisis, social movements, and social inequalities and takes students to the United Nations climate change negotiations each year. She has conducted research on youth climate justice activism at the United Nations negotiations and with grassroots climate justice activists in Idaho, California, and Minnesota. Her book, Working Across Lines, was published this summer. In 2020, she received the American Sociological Association’s Environmental Sociology Outreach and Practice award for her community engaged research around the Line 3 tar sands pipeline. Her next research project will examine Native-leadership in renewable energy – in other words, the solutions!
November 17, 2022
Location: Olin-Rice 350
“Tackling the Ecological and Environmental Justice Challenge of Algal Blooms”
Speaker: Anika Bratt, Wallin Postdoctoral Fellow, Environmental Studies, Macalester
Despite decades of management, algal blooms are a persistent and escalating environmental problem. Algal blooms lead to low oxygen waters that cannot support life, known as dead zones. Certain types of algae also produce toxins which can cause human health risk. Dr. Bratt will share data on the complex drivers of algal blooms in both urban and agricultural areas as well as the legacies of redlining on spatial variation in water quality and algal blooms in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
This EnviroThursday is co-sponsored by the Environmental Studies and Biology Departments.