What causes climate change? And what are the effects of climate change? How do communities understand their influence on climate, and climate’s influence on them? Learn the human impact and consequences of climate change for the environment, and our lives.
Prof. Jason E. Smeardon, a Lamont Research Professor at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, provides an accessible overview of the science behind climate change and a clear-eyed assessment of the potential risks ahead.
Register here to attend this virtual event.
Professor Jason E. Smerdon’s research focuses on climate variability and change during the past several millennia and how past climates can help us understand future climate change. He publishes widely in the scientific literature on paleoclimate reconstruction techniques, the dynamics of past climate change and variability, and on assessing climate model simulations of the past and future using paleoclimatic information. In 2013, Smerdon served as a Contributing Author to Assessment Report Five (WG1) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He is co-author (with Ed Mathez) of the textbook Climate Change: The Science of Global Warming and Our Energy Future (Columbia University Press, September 2018). Smerdon received his B.A. in physics from Gustavus Adolphus College and his Ph.D. in applied physics from the University of Michigan.
Climate Change
Living a Clean Life
Natural Science Series
Join members of the Earthplace naturalist team in discussing topics of environmental issues, sustainability, nature or science. This month's book is The Book of Eels: Our Enduring Fascination With the Most Mysterious Creature In the World by Patrik Svensson. This event is scheduled to be at Earthplace, 10 Woodside Lane. Please watch the website for changes.
Reservations are suggested for this in-person event. Copies of the book are available at the patron service desk at the Westport Library.
One of TIME Magazine's "100 Must-Read Books of 2020," The Book of Eels is a memoir and a portrait of the unusual, misunderstood and captivating animal.
Remarkably little is known about the European eel, Anguilla anguilla. So little, in fact, that scientists and philosophers have been obsessed with what has become known as the “eel question”: Where do eels come from? What are they? Are they fish or some other kind of creature altogether? Even today, in an age of advanced science, no one has ever seen eels mating or giving birth, and we still don’t understand what drives them, after living for decades in freshwater, to swim great distances back to the ocean at the end of their lives. Blending memoir and nature writing at its best, Svensson’s journey to understand the eel becomes an exploration of the human condition that delves into overarching issues about our roots and destiny, both as humans and as animals, and, ultimately, how to handle the biggest question of all: death. The result is a gripping and slippery narrative that will surprise and enchant.
View a review from The New York Times.
Community Partner: Earthplace
Authors Drew Pendergrass and Troy Vettese will discuss their radical plan to address climate disaster and their book, Half-Earth Socialism with Kevin Gallagher, host of WPKN's "Digging in the Dirt."
Rather than allow the forces of the free market to destroy the planet, we must strive for a post-capitalist society able to guarantee the good life the entire planet. This plan includes:
• rewild half the Earth to absorb carbon emissions and restore biodiversity
• pursue a rapid transition to renewable energy, paired with drastic cuts in consumption by the world’s wealthiest populations
• enact global veganism to cut down on energy and land use
• inaugurate worldwide socialist planning to efficiently and equitably manage production
• welcome the participation of everyone—even you!
This is a virtual program, please register. Copies of the book are available for purchase.
Drew Pendergrass is a PhD student in Environmental Engineering at Harvard University. His current research uses satellite, aircraft and surface observations of the environment to correct supercomputer models of the atmosphere. His environmental writing has been published in Harper’s, the Guardian, Jacobin, and Current Affairs.
Troy Vettese is an environmental historian and a Max Weber fellow at the European University Institute, where he is affiliated with the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies. He studies the history of environmental economics, energy, and animal life under capitalism. His writing has appeared in Bookforum, New Left Review, The Guardian, n+1 and many more publications.
Kevin Gallagher is a documentary producer & videographer for Audio/Video independent productions and legal video work. Kevin has held many positions at WPKN: Program Director, Fundraising Director and Benefits Director and most recently Long Island Director. Kevin loves live music, our ecology, progressive politics, gourmet cooking, good red wine, detective novels, John Garfield movies and gardening. “Digging In The Dirt” is a ½ hour interview program where Kevin and his guests dig a little deeper into issues surrounding climate change, the environment, farming, gardening and food.
Dinner Distrupted is a series created in partnership with libraries in Fairfield and New Haven County engaging patrons in collective discussions and actions focused on engaging residents to play a more active role in their food system. Imagine a future where the public grounds are a food forests, adding biodiversity to the landscape, which ultimately helps to improve air quality, regenerate the soil, aids with water conservation, and increases public health and wellbeing. Food security is defined as the state of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious foods. What affects food security is policy, zoning, land use, and increasingly, climate change.
