Kelly Shenk, Agricultural Advisor, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III Gary Shenk, Hydrologist, USGS at the Chesapeake Bay Program Office People, food and water have an inherently inseparable relationship. Clean water depends on healthy viable farms, and profitable farms depend on clean water. So why is it that farmers and environmentalists often are pitted against […]

Speaker: Betty J. Woodman, Ph.D. Maine Business School, University of Maine What is a “mindset,” and how does it relate to sustainability outcomes? This talk addresses systems-based research into a “sustainability mindset.” Findings illuminate the effects of nonrational motivations and power relations as well as connections between the social, organizational, and environmental challenges we face. […]

Laura N. Rickard, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication & Journalism and UMaine Sustainable Ecological Aquaculture Network (SEANET) As wild fisheries decline, aquaculture – the cultivation of aquatic organisms, such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and seaweed – will provide the majority of the seafood consumed in the U.S. Scientific and technological advances over the past three […]

Matt Liebman, Iowa State University The development of modern, industrial agriculture has been characterized by large reductions in biological diversity, both across landscapes and within farming systems. Loss of biodiversity is particularly evident in the U.S. Corn Belt. Simplification of crop and non-crop vegetation in the Corn Belt has resulted in the production of huge […]

Joseph Zydlewski Professor, Wildlife, Fisheries, & Conservation Biology Assistant Unit Leader, USGS Maine Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit Dams affect fish species in some obvious ways.  These effects, and their proposed solutions, are often simplifications of complex systems that ignore more subtle effects.  This talk will explore six ways in which dams can influence […]

Speaker: David R. Maidment, University of Texas at Austin In August 2016 the National Weather Service launched the new National Water Model, which continually forecasts the flow in 2.7 million stream reaches covering 3.2 million miles of rivers and streams of the continental United States.  From atmosphere to the oceans, from coast to coast, water […]

Timothy Downs Associate Professor of Environmental Science & Policy, Clark University There is much to be gained from taking a much more integrative view of the sustainability challenges of mega-cities like Mexico City, and designing projects accordingly. Three ‘conundrums’ for sustainable development (SD) can be articulated: 1) The Socio-Ecological Complexity Conundrum; 2) The Varying Temporal/Spatial Scales Conundrum; […]

Carly Sponarski, Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology, UMaine Humans are the underlying factor in conflicts concerning how wildlife should be managed (Manfredo, Teel, & Bright, 2003). For management planning to be effective, government agencies require an understanding of how different human populations (i.e., interest groups) (a) interact, (b) value, and (c) are affected by and […]

Damming Decisions: Searching for sustainable solutions in New England rivers Speaker: Sam Roy, Postdoctoral Researcher, Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions and New England Sustainability Consortium Sam will talk about work he and his colleagues have done to explore how decisions to remove, keep, or modify dams in New England can initiate trade […]