Wednesday: Climate change and the future of cities

chicago skylineNew York University’s Eric Klinenberg, professor of sociology, public policy, and media, culture and communications, presents “Adaptation: Climate Change and the Future of Cities” at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 16, in Room 165 of the Thompson Library on Ohio State’s Columbus campus. His most recent book, Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone, was published in 2012. He is also the author of the award-winning books Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago and Fighting for Air: The Battle to Control America’s Media. Free. Part of the Public Humanities Lecture Series of Ohio State’s Humanities Institute. Details: 614-247-6763.

CFAES prof chosen for national climate change symposium

Gopalakrishnan for GBCFAES’s Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics has a strong presence studying the economic impact of climate change, and that presence has been further demonstrated with the selection of Sathya Gopalakrishnan, an assistant professor working in the field of environmental economics, to participate in an NSF- and NASA-funded symposium for early career scientists focusing on interdisciplinary climate change research. She’s in good company: Only 42 scholars out of 249 applicants were chosen to attend. Read more …

Interview with the rain garden: ‘I do more than just hold water’

rai ngarden videoIt’s likely that a rain garden has never been interviewed on camera before. Until now. A student team from CFAES’s Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering won a competition last spring for their video about rain gardens — what they are, how they work, how they help our water quality. Details and a link to the video here. It’s clearly explained, science-based, fun and funny. Think Bill Nye the Science Guy. The late Steve Irwin. A subtle note of Pee-wee Herman’s Magic Screen. Two thumbs up. The competition took place at the annual meeting of the American Ecological Engineering Society. 

Saturday: A chance to visit Ohio State ATI and learn about what you can study there

Two of the majors at Ohio State ATI, Sustainable Agriculture and Renewable Energy, are all about sustainability. And this Saturday, Oct. 12, you can learn more about them. Experience Ohio State ATI Day, an open house for prospective students, goes from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Wooster. It’s free and simple to sign up online.

Ohio State ATI is CFAES’s two-year degree-granting unit. It offers 31 majors in all, and you can find out more about all of them Saturday.

There’s a previous related post here, and you can visit the two majors’ web pages here and here. 

Two talks this week on sustainability of food systems

CFAES welcomes Christian Peters, Ph.D., Tufts University, an expert on food system sustainability, who speaks this week in Columbus and Wooster:

• Thursday, Oct. 10, 12:30-1:30 p.m., “Capacity for Meeting Food Needs With Local and Regional Production: Tales from the Northeast U.S.” (pdf) at the John Glenn School of Public Affairs on Ohio State’s Columbus campus.

• Friday, Oct. 11, 11:30 a.m.-12:25 p.m., “Modeling the Land Requirements of Diet and Potential Human Carrying Capacity” (pdf), 121 Fisher Auditorium, OARDC, 1680 Madison Ave., Wooster (video link to 244 Kottman Hall, 2021 Coffey Road, Ohio State, Columbus).

Both talks are free and open to the public and to media. Details: 330-263-3810, kleinhenz.1@osu.edu.

Thursday: ‘Building Community Resilience to Climate Change’

Iowa State University Distinguished Professor Cornelia Flora presents “Building Community Resilience to Climate Change: Testing the Adaptation Coalition Framework in Latin America” from 4-5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 3, on Ohio State’s Columbus campus, with a video link to OARDC in Wooster. It’s part of the autumn seminar series of CFAES’s School of Environment and Natural Resources. Free. Details: 614-292-2265.