Fairchild Dining Room, Dana Hall, Colby College

What role can comics and other forms of literary-visual art play in our conversations about the environment? This talk by Thomas Doran, assistant professor, Rhode Island School of Design, explores how comics-art functions as a unique medium for telling stories about how humans and other animals relate to their environments, focusing especially on the form’s […]

Ongoing and future climate change challenges land managers in the region to protect current and future ecosystems. Some species will be able to weather these changes and remain part of the landscape, other species may decline due to increasing stress, and still other species currently found further south may expand their ranges north into Maine. […]

John de Graaf, founder and outreach director of the And Beauty For All campaign, contends that a new focus on natural beauty and human design, restoring ecosystems, and revitalizing communities can help bring polarized Americans together toward greater justice and sustainability. Is he right? Come, judge for yourself, and prepare to be inspired. An Environmental […]

Building materials are responsible for many environmental issues throughout their life cycle, including human illness, pollution, habitat and species loss, and resource depletion. How do you design a building with a low environmental impact that promotes occupant health? Emma Reif, Colby Class of ’16, consultant for Thornton Tomasetti, will explain how the company is partnering […]

Hear from Matt Kearns, Colby Class of ’93, chief marketing officer with Longroad Energy. Over the last 10 years, large-scale wind and solar projects have been built across the U.S. to meet renewable energy goals set by states. In the past, utilities were the only customers for energy from these large scale projects. As the cost of […]

Forests sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, storing it in wood. Northern hardwood forests are an important sink for anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2). These forests can be used as a tool to mitigate CO2 emissions and their effect on our climate. To maximize carbon storage, we must understand how events impact the capacity, stability, […]

Lunch at 11:30, lecture at noon. Sandy Gilbreath is the project coordinator for the Maine Food Strategy, where she provides oversight of the organization’s councils, support for collaborative projects, and engages the project in regional work and outreach. Come learn about the Maine Food Strategy and other organizations that are building networks, increasing stakeholder engagement, […]

The Maine Island Trail is America’s oldest recreational water trail. The trail has grown from an initial 30 islands to include more than 200 properties spanning the entire Maine coast. Come learn from Brian Marcaurelle how this unique recreational resource—built on simple handshakes and maintained by conscientious users—has risen from humble beginnings to become a […]

David Shribman serves as executive editor and vice president of PG Publishing Co., Inc. He joined the Boston Globe after serving as national political correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, covering national politics for the New York Times, writing for the feature and national staffs of the Washington Star, and working in the Washington bureau […]

Sonja Pieck, associate professor of environmental studies at Bates College, researches the struggles over nature in South America and Germany, including the border region between East and West Germany. Shaped for decades by demographic and economic decline, it became an ecological refuge for more than a thousand endangered plant and animal species. When the wall […]

Mike Pulaski, vice president at Thorton Tomasetti Consulting, will discuss the process of how sustainable high-performance buildings come to fruition. Drawing from more than 10 years experience on projects at Colby and from others around the globe, Pulaski will provide insight into how difficult design decisions are made and the rapidly evolving set of analytical […]

Come enjoy fast-paced presentations from environmental studies majors who spent their summers exploring career paths. Host organizations include Oceana, Apex Clean Energy, National Institutes of Health, Hurricane Island Foundation, Wildlife Safari, Energy Crossroads, and Maria Mitchell Center. Lunch is available at 11:30 a.m., and presentations begin at noon.

Ben Neal, visiting assistant professor in environmental studies, will discuss the Seaview Survey and the coral reef ecosystem sensing in a time of global change. Lunch at 11:30, program at noon.

Colby Oak Fellow Jodi Koberinski will discuss the intersection of soils science and socio-politics as a microcosm of a larger conversation about the nature and role of “science” more broadly. Koberinski will also discuss the impact of a lack of biophysical training and understanding among forces for social change.

Loren McClenachan, Elizabeth and Lee Ainslie Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Colby College, discusses marine conservation in Maine and beyond. McClenachan received a prestigious 2013 Sloan Research Fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and is an expert in marine conservation and historical ecology. Lunch at 11:30 a.m., lecture at noon.

Nathan Chan, Colby assistant professor of economics, discusses environmental valuation techniques that aim to compute dollar values for environmental goods and services. Such analysis helps place environmental amenities on equal footing with business concerns and aids decision-makers faced with public policy tradeoffs. Historically, environmental valuation has played a critical role in efforts to curb pollution […]

Beth Ahearn is political director for Maine Conservation Voters. She previously served as an assistant district attorney, staff attorney for Maine Audubon, a guardian ad litem in custody cases, and a lobbyist with Moose Ridge Associates, where her clients included conservation, social-justice, and domestic-violence organizations.