Environmental Solutions Series Takes Shape
JMIE's exploration into science and policy for 2008-09 takes the form of a distinguished speaker series focusing on water, climate, security and society.
Sam Luoma's career as a public service environmental scientist has brought him from the US Geological Survey to the John Muir Institute of the Environment. He is collaborating with Joyce Gutstein on the fourth year of the Environmental Solutions speaker series. JMIE's writer, Suanne Klahorst, talked with Sam and Joyce about their plans for bringing interdisciplinary perspectives to campus audiences:
What hot topics are you bringing to the series this year?
Sam: The Delta remains a hot topic, just as it was last year, and the policy papers by Jay Lund and Jeff Mount and their colleagues are of great interest to the California water debate. This is an intensely technical issue on so many levels, environmentally, socially and economically. Their papers raised a lot of interest and reframed the discussion about strategies to address the water needs of people, agriculture fish—in particular the threatened species like the Delta smelt that scientists knew very little about just seven years ago. These problems call out for academic expertise to engage in the political dialogue. Lund and his colleagues, for example, used detailed, interdisciplinary comparisons of alternative scenarios and developed some conclusions that policymakers can carry forward. It's great to bring a discussion that is both scientifically informed and politically important back to the campus and to an audience that has been so involved in the complex details of Delta research.
And of course water is interconnected to climate change. We have invited speakers to talk about how melting ice will influence the arctic and the laws of the seas, and about the battles that are arising over security and controls of the arctic's natural resources. This series is a great opportunity for graduate students to think about emerging international policy in response to climate change.
Joyce: Last year we invited representatives from the public and private sectors to discuss preparations their sectors were making for climate change as it is expected to affect California. This year our goal is to widen the discussion to include the social sciences and aspects of society that aren't usually in conversation with academics in environmental resources. We have invited faculty and outside groups to comment on water, security and climate change from the perspectives of sociology, law and anthropology. For instance, in one of the upcoming seminars, we will explore personal carbon trading and the actions that individuals can take.
JMIE will also co-sponsor a spring conference by the Davis Humanities Institute called California, the University, and the Environment. Their idea is to assess the historical impact of our universities on California’s environment and to draw lessons leading to more thoughtful impacts in the future.
Are there speakers and programs that you have a personal interest in?
Sam: I believe that there industry and business can play an important role in environmental solutions if they bring their power and capabilities to bear. The technical challenge is to uncover which businesses are truly investing in environmental solutions and which are not. That means we must better understand what it means to implement, not just talk about, sustainable development. The days of seeing industry as one common enemy to the environment are past. Many in the environmental community now view them as future collaborators. As consumers we also need to make sure that the companies who have the power and desire to improve their environmental practices actually succeed in these endeavors. For February, we invited Elaine Dorward-King, Global Head of Health, Safety, and Environment at Rio Tinto, Plc, one of the largest mining groups in the world. She will speak on the benefits and challenges of taking a leadership position on environmental policy and management in a resource industry. Rio Tinto Group operates in more than 50 countries around the world and dictates environmental standards and practices for more than 100 mining and processing facilities.
Dr. Luoma, how is your new role bringing a new perspective to John Muir Institute programs?
Sam: I have several new responsibilities since coming to the John Muir Institute. One is serving as editor of the 5-year-old e-journal published by the Center for Watershed Sciences. San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science is a regional journal that publishes discoveries of importance to a single geographic ecosystem, whereas international journals focus more on the basic sciences that can be applied by their global readership. Our estuary is very unique, and it is particularly well studied when compared with other estuaries. For example, it is said that this estuary is one of the most invaded estuaries in the world, and that may be, but how can we really know that until other estuaries in the world have been studied to the same extent?
Another of my research interests is participating in a multi-discipline effort on campus to establish a center for green nanotechnology. My background in metals and environmental toxicity has made me aware of the importance of characterizing the environmental implications of these elusive materials. For example, silver nanoparticles are now found in over 300 consumer products, including clothes, shoes and teddy bears. Their purpose is to eliminate bacteria. But silver is a powerful environmental toxin in the wrong circumstances and few methods are available for tracking nano-silver in the environment. I recommended some specific options for tacking this problem in a paper for the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars that was published this year. Together with other campus collaborators, I hope we can leverage our campus strengths in nanotechnology to pursue this interdisciplinary challenge.