Environmental Studies

Past Events

  • In April 2016 Jennifer Duanne, Vice President for Science at the Santa Fe Institute presented our annual Environmental Studies lecture titled “The Web of Life: Humans as a Part of Complex Ecological Networks.”
  • On March 19, 2015, at 7 pm in Vollum Lecture Hall, Adam Sobel (Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Columbia University) presented our annual Environmental Studies lecture titled "Superstorm Sandy and Climate Change: Predictions and Responses". His recently published book on superstorm Sandy covers the meteorology of the event, the preparation, the response and the implications for the future. 
  • 2014 Environmental Studies Colloquium Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014, 5 pm, Vollum 120.  Come join ES faculty and your fellow ES students for a Colloquium featuring presentations by this past summer's three MESSE Fellows: Adriana Escobedo-Land, Rennie Meyers and Mia Reback. Pizza and beverages will be provided. After presentations by the MESSE fellows, there will time for discussion and Q&A about the ES program.
  • Dipesh Chakrabarty of the University of Chicago will present the Wallace T. MacCaffrey Distinguished Lecture in History on "Climate and Capital: On Conjoined Histories" on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2014 at 5 pm in the Performing Arts Building room 320.

  • Scott Burns of the Portland State University Geology department will present a seminar on "The mystery of terroir - the relationship between geology, soils, climate and wine" on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2015 at 4:15 pm in Bio 19.

  • The Environmental Studies program is sponsoring a presentation by Trip Van Noppen (President, Earthjustice), titled “Citizen Environmental Enforcement and the Future of the Pacific Northwest” on April 23, at 7 p.m. in Vollum lecture hall.  In this lecture, Van Noppen will describe the unique American system of citizen environmental enforcement through the use of public interest litigation and will address the pressing threats to citizens’ ability to use the courts. He will focus on both historic and current examples that shape life in the Pacific Northwest, including old growth forest protection, salmon restoration in the Columbia and Snake River system, plans to export coal and crude oil, and climate change.

  • MESSE summer 2014 fellowships have been awarded: Mia Reback received a MESSE award to support her internship with Portland's Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, and Adriana Escobedo-Land received a MESSE award for her project titled “Identifying soil microbe composition for effective control of cyanobacteria in Oregon nurseries”. Rennie Meyers was awarded the new Paul Siegel ES Summer Research fellowship for her project titled “Economies, Ecologies, and Lifestyles in the Anthropocene: The Aesthetics of Sustainable Design in Bahamian Tourism”.  Information about past fellowship awardees and the application process is available here.

  • The Environmental Studies Committee is hosting informal thesis presentations from this year's Environmental Studies seniors on Wednesday, April 2, 2014 starting at 5pm in Vollum 110.  The event will give our seniors a chance to share their works-in-progress before they disappear into the library and lab for the next month, and for everyone else to see some great examples of what the ES thesis process looks like.

  • Dr. Kinari Webb ’95: "Chainsaws and Stethoscopes: Improbable Connections between Health Care and Conservation"November 19, 2013, 5:00 PM, Psych 105.  Kinari Webb, who earned a BA in biology at Reed, founded Health In Harmony, an innovative and holistic approach to solving issues such as poverty, subpar healthcare, deforestation, lack of education, and endangered species protection. Through conservation incentives in the form of high quality, low cost health care, constant dialogue with the community, and practical livelihood trainings, Kinari is changing the face of global healthcare and conservation. She will speak about the path she has taken from orangutan research to medical school to starting a health clinic and an environmental nonprofit in Indonesian Borneo (Health in Harmony). Cosponsored by the Center for Life Beyond Reed, SEEDS, and premed advising.

  • Michelle Nijhuis '96, Science journalist and contributor to National Geographic Magazine, will be presenting the Biology Dept seminar

  • "Translating science: Writing about research for fun, profit, and the common good", November 1, 2013. 4:10 PM;  B-19.

  • Zygmunt Plater, Professor of Law at Boston College School of Law, will present a talk about the famous 1978 Supreme Court decision considered the most important milestone in the enforcement of the  Endangered Species Act, titled "The Curious Case of the Endangered Snail Darter," Thursday, October 3, 2013 at 7PM in Vollum Lecture Hall. The talk is sponsored by the Walter Krause Economics Lecture Fund and the Reed economics department. Cosponsored by the Animal Law Journal of Lewis & Clark Law School and the Audubon Society of Portland, with special appearances by Portland Audubon’s education birds.

  • Environmental Studies O-week Open House.  Wednesday, August 28, 3:30-4:15pm & 4:15-5:00pm (two identical sessions), Vollum CC110.    Come join ES faculty for an information session about the ES program, the ES major requirements (jr. qual, ES 300 junior seminar, the senior thesis), and other topics of interest (full O-week schedule here).

  • Greenberg Distinguished Scholar Program: William Cronon -  "The Riddle of Sustainability: A Surprisingly Short History of the Future", Wednesday, April 17, 2013.   Vollum Lecture Hall (Pre-lecture reception: Vollum lounge).  “Landscapes of Frontier Change: Narratives of Environmental Change in the Art of the American West”, Thursday, April 18, 2013, Vollum Lecture Hall.  William Cronon, Frederick Jackson Turner and Vilas Research Professor of History, Geography, and Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin–Madison, studies American environmental history and the history of the American West. His research seeks to understand the history of human interactions with the natural world: how we depend on the ecosystems around us to sustain our material lives, how we modify the landscapes in which we live and work, and how our ideas of nature shape our relationships with the world around us.  More about the Greenberg Distinguished Scholar Program here

  • 2013 Environmental Studies Colloquium.  Wednesday, April 10, 2013.   Come join ES faculty and your fellow ES students for our first ES Colloquium.   Pizza and beverages will be provided. The meeting will include a presentation from Prof. Noelwah Netusil about her current research, and a chance to meet with ES faculty and students to discuss the ES program and answer any questions you might have.

  • The meeting will begin with a short presentation by Prof. Noelwah Netusil from the Reed Econ Dept.: "Valuing Water Quality in Johnson Creek, Oregon"  This research is a collaboration with Michael Kincaid (Reed, Math-Econ, '13) and Heejun Chang (Geography Dept, PSU). The second half of the meeting will provide the opportunity to talk with faculty and students about the ES program, course offerings for 2013-14, the ES major requirements (jr. qual, ES 300 junior seminar, the senior thesis), and any other topics of interest.

  • Reed Union--Climate Change: Policy, Advocacy, Science. Wednesday, March 13, 2013, 6:30 p.m., Vollum Lecture Hall. The Reed Union Committee sponsors an evening of discussion on the topic of climate change--specifically its science, the public policy issues related to those changes, ways to prevent further environmental deterioration, and how Reedies can actively address the global warming crisis. Come join the Reed community for an informative evening on the issue to educate one another on how we may contribute to a brighter future for the environment and for all humankind.  There will be brief presentations by a panel of Reed faculty members--Julie Fry (Chemistry), Joshua Howe (History), and Chris Koski (Political Science)--as well as environmental lawyer Bethany Cotton and PSU environmental sciences faculty member Robert Scheller. Keith Karoly (Biology) will moderate the discussion. 

  • Documentary Screening: "Chasing Ice" Tuesday, March 12, 2013 6:30 p.m. Vollum Lecture Hall. The documentary Chasing Ice, follows environmental photographer James Balog and his Extreme Ice Survey team in their efforts to document vanishing glaciers across the Arctic through multi-year time-lapse photography. The documentary includes scenes from a glacier calving event that took place in Greenland, the longest such event ever captured on film.

  • 

    NEW DEADLINE: MESSE summer 2013 fellowship opportunity. The application deadline for the 2013 Mellon Environmental Studies Summer Experience Fellowship has been extended to Monday, March 25, 2013. Get information on how to apply here.

  • Anne-Lise Francois, Associate Professor of English and Comparative Lit. at the University of California at Berkeley will present a talk about her work in ecological literary criticism, titled "'A Petal, for a Paragraph': Rereading Romantic Botany in an Age of Honeybee Die-Off," Thursday, February 28th, 2013 at 4:30-6PM in Psych 105. The talk is sponsored by the Division of Literature and Languages, and is free and open to the public.

  • Lee Fennell, Max Pam Professor of Law and Herbert and Marjorie Fried Research Scholar at the The University of Chicago Law School, will present a talk about land assembly and eminent domain, titled "'Commons, Anticommons, Semicommons," Thursday, February 15th, 2013 at 4:30PM in Psych 105. The talk is sponsored by the the Walter Krause Economics Lecture Fund.

  • Meeting for Environmental Studies majors - Friday, Nov. 30, 2012 from 3:10-4pm in B19:  ES faculty will discuss details about the ES majors and answer your questions. We will also provide information about the 2013 Mellon Environmental Studies Summer Experience Fellowships and present an overview of the ES 300 course (offered for the first time in spring, 2013). Refreshments will be served. If you have questions about the ES majors and cannot attend the meeting, please contact Keith Karoly (ESC chair) or the other faculty on the ESC.

  • The Environmental Studies Program and Josh Howe (visiting assistant professor in History and Environmental Studies), will be hosting Emmy Award winning cinematographer Rick Smith for two talks on the making of nature film. The first, "A Paradox of Cinematic Sight: Nature and Truth in High Speed Digital Cinematography," will be a formal lecture held in Vollum Lecture Hall on Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012 at 6:00pm. The second, "Making Nature into Movies," will be an informal conversation about the vocation of documentary nature film-making, held on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012 at 7:00pm, again in Vollum Lecture Hall. Both lectures are open to all members of the Reed Community and to the public.

  • Connie Chiang, Associate Professor of History and Environmental Studies at Bowdoin College will be on campus to speak about her work: "Winning the War at Manzanar: Enviromental Patriotism and the Japanese American Incarceration," March 22, 2012 at 4:40PM in Psych 105. Free and open to the public.

  • Geneviève Massard-Guilbaud of the Ecole des Hautes-Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris, one of Europe's leading environmental historians, will give a lecture entitled "Constructing Pollution and Industrial Hazards in Nineteenth-Century France." Her talk will examine early efforts by the French State to define, categorize, and regulate pollution and environmentally hazardous activities. The talk will be free and open to the public on Monday Nov. 14th, 2011 @ 4:45 in Psych 105.

  • Wednesday, April 27, 2011: Sasha Kramer ’99 "Ecological Sanitation in Haiti: from Human Rights to Humus" 4:45 p.m., Biology 19 Sasha Kramer ’99 will speak about the organization Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods, SOIL, which she co-founded in 2006. SOIL focuses on transforming waste into resources in Haiti through ecological sanitation, where human waste currently is converted into valuable topsoil. Sasha also will speak about her transition from academia to advocacy to development work and how SOIL's work has changed since the earthquake. The talk will address the importance of integrated approaches to environmental problems with a particular focus on the role of international organizations in global development. Sponsored by the Environmental Studies Committee and by the Walter Krause Economics Lecture Fund.

  • Wednesday, Mar 9, 2011: Special Seminar!! Stewart Brand, PhD (The Long Now Foundation and Global Business Network, CA) will give a talk entitled "Green Biotech, Green Slums, Green Nukes, Green Geoengineering", 7:30-9pm Kaul Auditorium

  • The Environmental Studies Committee will host a gathering for Reed community members with pizza and an informal discussion of Brand's lecture:* 5:30 pm, Thursday, Mar. 10, 2011, Chem lounge (Chem 401). Please RSVP to Tamara Venit-Shelton (tvenit@reed.edu) by Mar. 9 if you will attend. Feel free to pass this invitation along to other enviro-interested students who will be attending Brand's lecture!

  • Environmental Chemistry seminar: Prof. Helen White, Haverford College, "Persistence of Oil in Marine Environments" Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010, 4:15 pm, Phys 123

  • O-Week Environmental Studies Program Information Session. This year, the college inaugurates an interdisciplinary environmental studies (ES) program, which will offer majors in ES-Biology, ES-Chemistry, ES-Economics, ES-History, and ES-Political Science. The Environmental Studies Committee will present details about the program and the majors, followed by an opportunity to talk with the faculty involved in the ES program. Thursday, August 26, 2010, 11:30am-noon, Psych 105

  • The Division of Mathematics and Natural Sciences Lecture: James Collins, Virginia M. Ullman Professor of Natural History and the Environment. School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, "Life in Transition: Origins, Energy, and Adaptation at the Junction of the Life and Physical Sciences." Thursday, September 2, 2010, 7:30PM. Vollum Lecture Hall. Co-sponsored by the Reed Environmental Studies Program. Free and open to the public.

  • AESS Annual Meeting at Lewis and Clark College, June 17 to June 20, 2010.

  • Environment & the Media talk by Andy Revkin @ U Oregon Portland center, Friday May 14, 9 am.

  • Panel discussion about Goldwater (all science) and Udall (environment) Scholarships (applications submitted in student's second or third year at Reed), April 7, 5:30 p.m., Chemistry 301. Panelists: Faculty advisors and current Fellows.

  • Biology seminar: David K. Skelly, PhD (School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Yale Univ.) "Hermaphrodites in your backyard: the landscape ecology of amphibian intersex," March 26, 4:10-5pm, B19

  • Open Meeting with the Environmental Studies Committee, Wednesday, March 24, 2010, 4:30-5:30PM in Eliot 314.

  • Portland Center for Public Humanities presents an Environmental History Forum. March 9, 2010 at 6:30 p.m. Portland State University, Smith Memorial Student Union, Room 238. This event is free and open to the public. A discussion of new issues and directions in environmental history with national scholars in the field. Participants will include: William Cronon (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Author of Changes in the Land; Nature’s Metropolis; Uncommon Ground. Nancy Langston (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Author of Forest Dreams, Forest Nightmares; Where Land and Water Meet; Toxic Bodies. James Feldman (University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh), Author of Storied Wilderness.