How have feats of human engineering interacted with the climate, and how might they help address climate warming in the future? Assistant professor of anthropology Alder Keleman Saxena and assistant professor of mechanical engineering Jennifer Wade will address these and other questions in the virtual conversation “Feral Ecologies, Carbon Removal,” taking place at 1 p.m. MST Wednesday. Keleman Saxena and Wade, the first McAllister Climate Education, Engagement and Design (CEED) fellows at NAU, will present their work and take audience questions.
This talk is hosted exclusively on Zoom and is open to the public.
With support of the CEED program, Keleman Saxena is offering a new course, “Accelerated by Climate Change: Landscape, Infrastructure, and Feral Effects on the Colorado Plateau.” The course, first offered in Spring 2022, incorporates theory, field trips to infrastructure sites near Flagstaff and visits to archives at Cline Library to explore the impact of large-scale environmental interventions in the region. Supported by Keleman Saxena and NAU’s archivist for discovery Sam Meier, students in the course engage with climatic change in the region by examining the manuscripts, photographs, films and sound recordings held by Cline Library Special Collections and Archives, which document the human and natural history of the Colorado Plateau.
Wade is using support from the CEED program to characterize materials that can remove carbon dioxide from the air using moisture. Wade is also developing new ways to teach students and community members about the diversity of climate solutions needed to meet our climate challenge, including decarbonizing the energy sector and direct air capture.
New proposals for the NAU climate award are being accepted now through April 1. The CEED Fellowships are designed to support teaching staff and faculty at NAU in developing collaborative, inclusive scholarship, programming and creative activities in the areas of climate change, climate justice and climate-related science communication. Backed by the McAllister Program on Community, Culture, and Environment, this award is open to all members of the NAU teaching community. Preference will be given to proposals that meaningfully and responsively engage communities of the Colorado Plateau and to scholars from backgrounds historically underrepresented in the sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities. Early career scholars and teaching practitioners without dedicated support for scholarship or programming are especially encouraged to apply.
“Tackling climate change requires an intersectional approach and new ideas from people in all fields,” said Bruce Hungate, chair of the McAllister Program on Community, Culture, and Environment. “Dr. Keleman Saxena and Dr. Wade approach the climate crisis very differently, but with creativity and rigor, and we look forward to proposals from across the NAU community that do the same.”
Details:
Time: Feb 23, 2022 01:00-2:00 PM Arizona
https://nau.zoom.us/j/89551578952?pwd=N0NFODd1dnpKek91T0VCOWdSS1MxZz09
Meeting ID: 895 5157 8952
Password: Climate
