Stony Brook University

10/03/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 10/03/2024 13:34

Collaborative for the Earth’s First Town Hall Weighs Environmental Issues Across Disciplines

Lawrence Martin, director emeritus of Stony Brook's Turkana Basin Institute (left), and Carl Safina, endowed professor for nature and humanity, discuss global climate leadership. Photos by J.D. Allen.

Several dozen Stony Brook University faculty and staff channeled their creativity October 2 to look for ways to collaborate and address key questions about climate change.

With easel pads and markers, the Stony Brook Collaborative for the Earth (C4E)hosted its first Town Hall and tasked the professionals - participating from the marine sciences and public health, to the humanities and the Career Center - with exploring ways to foster interdisciplinary environmental research at the university.

"The environmental challenges of tomorrow are not going to be solved by the straightforward application of disciplinary knowledge but rather from the creative synthesis of multiple areas of expertise," said C4E Director Heather Lynch. "These are urgent and complex problems with no easy solutions - and we cannot work effectively unless we are finding ways to work together. This event was a great start to what really is a long conversation on campus."

Sila Gecir, internship manager for world languages and cultural studies in the Career Center, is interested in how Stony Brook's diverse student body can engage with environmental research opportunities.

C4E was established in September 2023 to create a cross-campus community of Stony Brook's academic leaders in areas related to climate change and the environment. Since last fall, Lynch, the IACS endowed chair for ecology and evolution, has organized a suite of interest groupsacross campus on a wide range of topics and hosted events, including a forum on offshore wind powerlast April.

Lynch has also put the microphone into the hands of Stony Brook's scholars and researchers addressing climate change in the podcast "C4E Presents" that she hosts. Later this month, C4E is hosting a field trip for students and faculty from across campus to the Block Island Offshore Wind Farmto see the wind turbines up close. Lynch said she hopes students and faculty will be inspired to bring these experiences back into the classroom to inspire future research and collaboration between disciplines and with outside partners.

The efforts dovetail with Stony Brook's status as an anchor institution of The New York Climate Exchange. C4E is handling coordination for campus-level initiatives and the Exchange.

Kevin Reed, chief climate scientist at the New York Climate Exchange, tasks Stony Brook faculty to brainstorm interdisciplinary environmental research topics.

Kevin Reed, Stony Brook's associate provost for climate and sustainability programming and chief climate scientist at the Exchange, said hiring and programmatic activity in full swing at the Exchange, the university community has a front-row seat to participate in community-based activities to help rapidly develop climate solutions that are sustainable, interdependent and environmentally just.

"There will be opportunities starting towards the end of the year or first thing in the new year in which the New York Climate Exchange will announce opportunities for faculty to propose use of Governor's Island in advance of the building's opening for activating or piloting research and technology incubators and scholarship more broadly," said Reed, acknowledging that facilities on the island are expected to be completed in at least 2028.

Reed said the Exchange is working with C4E and the Provost's Office to set up a field trip in the second half of the spring semester for students, faculty and staff to visit Governor's Island for the day to help jump start those conversations.

C4E is also helping present "Science on Stage: Climate Edition," where Stony Brook University researchers are partnered with professional playwrights to create short plays that promise to inform and engage the audience in climate research. The show starts at 4pm on Monday, October 28, at the Staller Recital Hall. The performance is free and open to the public, but reservations are strongly recommended.

David Taylor, assistant professor and faculty director of the environmental humanities major at Stony Brook, points to his own work producing nonfiction creative works and poetry as examples of ways of sharing knowledge across-disciplines.

"We need climate modelers talking with ecologists and social scientists talking with public health experts, we need to find ways of communicating these ideas effectively through the arts and culture, and we need engineers and urban planners and people with skills in policy and politics," Lynch said. "It was wonderful to see so many people engaged and excited and thinking outside the box on how we at Stony Brook can take our work in climate and environment to the next level."

C4E is hosting two more town halls for students, faculty and staff to participate in shaping future research and educational programming at Stony Brook. Lunch will be provided at each event.

The next town hall dates are: