Earth Day Symposium
Panel, Posters, and Prizes
Location
On Campus
Date & Time
April 21, 2023, 8:00 am – 6:00 pm
Description
UMBC's Seventh Annual Earth Day Symposium is this Friday, brought to you by the Geography and Environmental Systems Department and the Atmospheric Physics Graduate Program! This year's theme is "Synergy in Science". Events include a panel of researchers from the local scientific community, presentations by speakers invited from various departments across UMBC, and a poster session featuring UMBC student research (details in the schedule below).
You can sign up via this link to attend and receive free breakfast and lunch.
GESCOM - Making Art From Recyclables
Earth Week Event
Location
The Commons : Terrace
Date & Time
April 20, 2023, 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Description
Come make arts and crafts for Earth week Thurs April 20th 3-4 PM on the Commons Terrace! You can bring your own recyclables. Some recyclables will be provided as well. This event is hosted by GESCOM and UMBC Crafters.
Seminar: Dr. Lucy R. Hutyra - Forest Structure, Carbon Cycle
Impacts of Urbanization & Landscape Fragmentation
Location
Online
Seminar: Dr. Lucy R. Hutyra - Forest Structure, Carbon Cycle – Online Event
Date & Time
April 19, 2023, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Description
The GES Department cordially invites you to join us for the next seminar of Spring 2023.
Topic: Impacts of Urbanization & Landscape Fragmentation on the Carbon Cycle
Speaker: Dr. Lucy R. Hutyra, Professor of Earth and Environment, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
Email: lrhutyra@bu.edu
Abstract: Forest fragmentation is ubiquitous across urban and rural areas. While there is mounting evidence that forest fragmentation alters the terrestrial carbon cycle, the extent to which differences in ambient growing conditions between urban and rural landscapes mediate forest response to fragmentation and climate remains unexamined. This seminar will explore patterns of landscape change across the Northeastern U.S. and the impacts on forest structure, growth rates, and soil respiration. The effects of fragmentation and urbanization on forest structure and carbon cycling highlight the need to include the influences of both of these facets of land cover change when quantifying regional carbon balance and its response to a changing climate.
Speaker Bio: Dr. Lucy R. Hutyra is a Professor in the Department of Earth and Environment at Boston University. She received her PhD in Earth and Planetary Sciences in 2007 from Harvard University for her thesis “Carbon and Water Exchange in Amazonian Rain Forests.” In 1998 she received her BS in Forest Ecology and Management from the University of Washington. Professor Hutyra’s areas of specialization include urban climate and biogeochemistry, remote sensing, and vegetation ecology. Trained as a physical scientist, over the years Professor Hutyra’s research has become ever more focused on the climate and ecology of cities, working at the science-policy interface. She is a national leader on measuring and modeling urban greenhouse gas fluxes and advancing our understanding of carbon cycling in cities. Her current research centers on improving our understanding of the urban carbon cycle, particularly the role of vegetation and land use change on the flows of carbon between the biosphere and the atmosphere.
Dr. Hutyra has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and chapters in edited volumes, including serving as a contributing author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) AR6 Working Group III Mitigation of Climate Change chapter on Urban and Systems and Other Settlements. She is the recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, a National Academy of Science Kavli Fellow, and currently serves on the NASA Earth Science Federal Advisory Committee. Hutyra also serves as the Director of the BU Biogeosciences Program and the Associate Director for the BU URBAN interdisciplinary doctoral program.
Earth Day Celebration
Sustainability with Student Orgs, Small Businesses, and More
Location
The Quad
Date & Time
April 19, 2023, 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Description
Come on by to celebrate earth day and learn about sustainable initiatives! Student organizations, non-profits, and sustainable vendors will be on the Quad, so don't miss out!
Film Screening - Environmental Justice Journalism Initiative
Black Displacement and Climate Change
Location
Off Campus : Senator Theatre 5904 York Rd,
Date & Time
April 18, 2023, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Description
Three short films on Black displacement and related local environmental justice issues will be screened in succession together at the Senator Theatre in Baltimore this evening. Dr. Karsonya Wise Whitehead, founder and executive director of the Karson Institute for Race, Peace, and Social Justice, will moderate a filmmaker discussion after the screening.
To attend, you will need to register for tickets here.
The films were produced by The Environmental Justice Journalism Initiative and their partners. For more information about the film Eroding History and about EJJI, please visit https://www.ejji.org/media or follow us on Twitter @EnvJustJourn, Instagram @ejji_journ, and Facebook at @EnvJustJourn
Films:
Eroding History - tells the story of two Black communities on Deal Island that are in danger of losing their history and culture due to rising seas, and how they are fighting to hold on to what remains
Sponsor: Loyola University of Maryland
Director: Award-winning journalist and photographer Andre Chung
Producer: longtime Chesapeake Bay reporter Rona Kobell
Co-Producer & Co-Writer: renowned West Baltimore radio host, columnist, and filmmaker Sean Yoes
Disruption: The Highway to Nowhere - about the wound in West Baltimore’s neighborhoods
Executive Producer & Director: Sean Yoes
Smithville - about environmental displacement
Directors: Morgan State University alums Wyman Jones and Jalysa Mayo
Producer & Writer: Rona Kobell
Additional Sponsers of Screening: The Center for the Humanities at Loyola, Messina at Loyola, Department of Communication, Department of Management & Organizations, and Global Sustainable Business Club
Environmental Dialogue Webinar from Goucher College
The Rights of Rivers
Location
Online
Environmental Dialogue Webinar from Goucher College – Online Event
Date & Time
April 18, 2023, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Description
Details from original announcement:
Join host, Jenn da Rosa, EdD, for a discussion with water law and policy specialist, Erin O’Donnell, PhD for a Goucher Environmental Dialogues webinar on "The Rights of Rivers."
Topic: In this webinar, Dr. Erin O’Donnell will discuss her research on the legal rights of rivers and the benefits and drawbacks these new rights bring for protecting natural, social, and cultural values of rivers. In keeping with the Rights of Nature concept, a river or ecosystem is entitled to legal personhood status and has the right to defend itself in a court of law against harms, including environmental degradation.
Speaker Bio: Dr. Erin O’Donnell is a research fellow at Melbourne Law School, focusing on water markets, environmental flows, and water governance. She has worked in water resource management since 2002, in both the private and public sectors. Dr. O’Donnell is recognized internationally for her research into the groundbreaking new field of legal rights for rivers, and the challenges and opportunities these new rights create for protecting the multiple social, cultural, and natural values of rivers. Her work is informed by comparative analysis across Australia, New Zealand, the USA, India, Colombia, and Chile. Her latest book, Legal Rights for Rivers: Competition, Collaboration, and Water Governance, is available now from Routledge.
Webinar Series: Goucher Environmental Dialogues feature cultivated conversations with environmental, sustainability, and climate leaders, visionaries, and innovators. This series is hosted by Goucher College’s MA in Environmental Sustainability & Management program and is open to all students, faculty, alumni, and the public.
Earth Week Trivia w/ GESCOM
Kahoot & Prizes!
Location
Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building (ILSB) : 233
Date & Time
April 17, 2023, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Description
GESCOM is hosting Earth Week Trivia in ILSB 233 to kick off a series of Earth Week events. Come test your Earth Week knowledge for fun and prizes!
Dr. Dillon Mahmoudi on Landscape as Knowledge
Citizen Science, Racial Capitalism, and Knowledge Production
Location
Online
Dr. Dillon Mahmoudi on Landscape as Knowledge – Online Event
Date & Time
April 14, 2023, 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Description
Come hear our department's own Dr. Dillon Mahmoudi speak to UNC Greensboro's Department of Geography, Environment, and Sustainability on "Landscape as Knowledge: Citizen Science, Racial Capitalism, and Knowledge Production"!
Abstract: Citizen science has the potential to engage non-scientists in scientific research, thereby fostering a better understanding of science among the public. The use of citizen science as a method for collecting large amounts of data over wide geographic areas has resulted in significant advancements in precipitation models, biodiversity models, and species migration, among other fields. At the same time, new research has shown the interlinked geography between humans, society, and numerous ecological systems. What then is the geography of citizen science data? Given that society is shaped by the logics of racial capitalism, it is important to consider the implications of unmanaged citizen science projects on the science they produce. Is there potential for citizen science to inadvertently reinforce existing hierarchies of difference? To address these concerns, this talk will draw on insights from economic geography and the emerging sub-field of critical GIS to examine these relationships and ensure that citizen science can contribute to the realization of emancipatory and liberatory futures.
Dissertation Defense: Ohad Paris--Cardinal Behavior, Ecology
Urban northern cardinal ecology
Location
Public Policy : 105
Dissertation Defense: Ohad Paris--Cardinal Behavior, Ecology – Online Event
Date & Time
April 12, 2023, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Description
The GES Department cordially invites you to join us for the public portion of Ohad Paris's defense of his doctoral dissertation.
Topic: Ecological and Behavioral Effects on the Reproductive Success of Urban Northern Cardinals
Abstract:
Nest predation is the primary source of reproductive failure for songbirds in most ecological systems. Habitat patches within large metropolitan areas that have been developed for decades often support diverse populations of songbirds, but the factors shaping reproductive success in these habitats are understudied. In this dissertation, I investigated the drivers of nest predation in a common songbird, the northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis), in small urban forest patches. Nest predation varied with spatial factors on multiple scales, and was related to spatio-temporal patterns of habitat selection and female personality. Nest sites were overall spatially biased toward patch edges, but early nesting cardinals preferred habitats away from the edge with low predation risk, and exhibited higher reproductive success than later nesting birds. Cardinals nesting near patch edges faced more intense nest predation pressure, but also exhibited bolder personalities, with bolder nest defense behavior positively associated with nest success. These findings demonstrate that landscape-dependent edge effects on nest predation emerge even among patches within decades-old urbanized areas, and that cardinal behavior plays an important role in generating spatial patterns of nest predation within urban patches.
Maptime Baltimore - Professional Networking and Development
Maps and Snacks
Location
Sondheim Hall : 001
Date & Time
April 6, 2023, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Description
The GES department invites you to join us for an evening of networking, refreshments (pizza!), and quick 5-minute presentations from UMBC students and GIS professionals in Baltimore, including members of the Baltimore chapter of Maptime.
Agenda:
- Meet/greet (7pm)
- Ignite presentations and refreshments (7:30pm)
- Networking and closing
For more information, please see here.
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