Keynote Speaker: Dr. Cristina Eisenberg; Chief Scientist Earthwatch Institute
Biography:
Earth
watch Institute chief scientist Dr. Cristina Eisenberg oversees an interdisciplinary global research program that brings together scientists, citizen scientists, educators, and communities to address global change. She has an MA in Environmental Studies from Prescott College and a PhD in Forestry and Wildlife from Oregon State University.
For the past 12 years her personal research has been in the northern Rocky Mountains of North America, where she works with the Canadian federal government and the Blackfoot Confederacy to investigate how wolves, bison, and fire create ecological resiliency, and how Traditional Ecological Knowledge can inform awareness of these relationships and natural resources management. A Smithsonian research associate and graduate faculty at Oregon State University and Michigan Technological University, she has authored multiple journal articles and books. She is currently at work on a climate change book and on a book for Oregon State University Press about bison conservation in the American West.
Keynote Speech Abstract:
Environmental Science: Using an Interdisciplinary Approach to Innovate Global Solutions
The Earth is changing rapidly. Climate change and a human population that continues to grow exponentially have driven us into the Sixth Extinction. In 2017 the United Nations directed the scientific world to “galvanize action,” to find solutions.
Only an interdisciplinary action-based approach to science can address our planet’s most pressing environmental problems: climate change, deforestation, species extinction, soil degradation, and pollution. Moreover, competition over scarce natural resources triggers and prolongs human conflict; climate change will only worsen matters.
Environmental Science students are uniquely poised to act on this challenge. This means thinking creatively and critically across disciplines to restore ecosystems and empower human communities. Setting our compass as interdisciplinary academic scholars and innovators means acting locally, thinking globally, integrating Western science and technology with Traditional Ecological Knowledge, and drawing deeply from the rich spectrum of disciplines that make up Environmental Sciences to build strong partnerships and gain the insights the world crucially needs. Here I present compelling examples of Environmental Science in action from around the world and discuss next steps as we grow our strengths in this vital transboundary field.
Keynote Speech Videorecording: click here!
