Events

Topic: Informing Policy: Community Perspectives on Reducing Heat Through Tree Shade

Speaker: Emma Gilligan

GES Master's Student

Email: e104@umbc.edu

Abstract: Climate change and the urban heat island effect (UHI) exacerbate extreme heat events, endangering urban resident health. A majority of the research found on urban cooling via tree shade focuses on 1) measuring heat and tree cover, and 2) speaking with tree management professionals on the topic of 1). I focused this research on the lived experiences of Baltimore, MD residents. I interviewed and surveyed residents, as well as interviewing professionals working with Baltimore trees. Interviews concluded with a Q sort regarding participant preferences of neighborhood features, including cooling methods. Results show that neighborhood features like tree shade have greater appeal the more accessible their implementation and maintenance are. Residents find that existing tree management programs have potential for increasing cooling tree shade, but are lacking in equitable maintenance and planting where needed most. Furthermore, residents call for the city government to spearhead tree planting and maintenance, while incorporating resident input. Government-resident collaboration benefits from involvement of third parties, including non-profits, as appropriate.

This past live event was recorded on WebEx and can be viewed here.

The GES Department cordially invites you to join us for the next seminar of Spring 2023, presented by our department's own alum, Isabel "Bella" Dastvan! The seminar will be hybrid, and attendees may join online via the WebEx link or in-person in Sondheim 001.

Topic: Developing an Invasive Species Management Plan for UMBC’s Campus

Speaker: Isabel "Bella" Dastvan, 

SEI Climate Corps Sustainability Fellow, UMBC Office of Sustainability

Email: idastva1@umbc.edu

Speaker Bio: Isabel "Bella" Dastvan ('22) is a GES alum who is currently working in the Strategic Energy Innovations (SEI) Climate Corps program as a Sustainability Fellow in the UMBC Office of Sustainability. Bella is developing an invasive species management plan for campus which includes but is not limited to the land use history of UMBC, existing site conditions, goals and objectives, management priorities, monitoring practices, and best management practices for target invasive species. Bella has many interests including horticulture, sustainable agriculture, and forest conservation. She was recently published as a leading author in an aquaponics research project on cut flower production during her time working at Grateful Gardeners, an organic sustainable flower farm. Some fun facts about Bella: she loves spending time hiking outdoors, playing piano and guitar, singing, and songwriting.

This past live event was recorded on WebEx and can be viewed here. 

The GES Department cordially invites you to join us for the next seminar of Spring 2023

Topic: Vital signs: Indicators for Measuring Quality of Life

Speaker: Cheryl Knott,

Research Manager, Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance - Jacob France Institute

Email: cherylk1@umbc.edu

Abstract: For over twenty years, The Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance - Jacob France Institute (BNIA-JFI) has collaborated with Baltimore City agencies, organizations, foundations, community organizations, and researchers to create, analyze, and disseminate community indicators that describe the quality of life in Baltimore's neighborhoods. Every year, BNIA-JFI provides this data in a compendium called Vital Signs, an open dataset and report that enables audiences to learn more about the latest research findings and trends. This data and information can be used by communities as they advocate for resources as well as researchers as they seek clarity on complex relationships between populations and housing, workforce development, the environment, safety, mobility, and more.

Speaker Bio: Cheryl Knott is the Research Manager for BNIA-JFI. Since 2007, Cheryl has worked to ensure the accuracy and reliability of community indicators that describe Baltimore City communities. She leads staff and external data-creating agencies to produce customized statistical and research evaluations. She also provides training to the public on using data resources, community asset mapping, evidence-based practices, and communicating data for grant writing. Cheryl is involved in coordinating Baltimore Data Week, an annual event that brings together a diverse audience to talk about data and resources in the city. In her spare time, Cheryl is an Adjunct Instructor at UMBC, teaching Introduction to GIS during the Spring 2023 semester. Cheryl completed her BA degree in Geography at UMBC in 2007 and her MA in Applied Sociology in 2013.

The Department of Geography & Environmental Systems cordially invites you to join us for our Virtual Seminar Series on Wednesday, March 2nd at Noon ET.

Debt Justice for Climate Reparations

Dr. Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University. He completed his PhD at University of California, Los Angeles. Before that, he completed BAs in Philosophy and Political Science at Indiana University. His theoretical work draws liberally from German transcendental philosophy, contemporary philosophy of language, contemporary social science, histories of activism and activist thinkers, and the Black radical tradition. He is currently writing a book entitled Reconsidering Reparations that considers a novel philosophical argument for reparations and explores links with environmental justice. He also is committed to public engagement and is publishing articles in popular outlets with general readership (e.g. Slate, Pacific Standard) exploring intersections between climate justice and colonialism.

The Department of Geography & Environmental Systems cordially invites you to join us for our Virtual Seminar Series on Wednesday, February 23rd at Noon ET.

Legal Claims and Compensation in Climate-Related Disaster

The Department of Geography & Environmental Systems cordially invites you to join us for our Virtual Seminar Series on Wednesday, February 16th at Noon ET.

Effect of Rainfall on Stream Fish Communities

Sean Kinard
Department of Biological Sciences
Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences

Streams are dependent on water availability, making them vulnerable to expected changes in the hydrologic cycle and growing anthropogenic demands upon freshwater sources. Here, we discuss how aridity imposes harsh physical conditions which decrease diversity and favor salinity-tolerant and live-bearing species. To enhance our understanding of the effects of precipitation on stream communities we applied a space for time approach along a natural rainfall gradient (50-130 cm/yr) spanning 300 km in South Central Texas.  Algal assays and stable isotope analyses reveal a shift towards in-stream resources as the climate becomes drier, in addition to shortening food chain length and narrowing isotopic niche space. Lastly, arid systems exhibited the least community resistance to hurricane disturbance and had slower recovery-times which can be attributed to a greater flood magnitude and shorter flood duration. We apply these results with tenets of the flood-pulse and river-continuum concepts to create a new precipitation-oriented model which can be applied across systems.  It is also our goal to create a predictive framework to guide hydrological and riparian management strategies to mitigate the undesired consequences of climate change on stream communities.

Streams are dependent on water availability, making them vulnerable to expected changes in the hydrologic cycle and growing anthropogenic demands upon freshwater sources. Here, we discuss how aridity imposes harsh physical conditions which decrease diversity and favor salinity-tolerant and live-bearing species. To enhance our understanding of the effects of precipitation on stream communities we applied a space for time approach along a natural rainfall gradient (50-130 cm/yr) spanning 300 km in South Central Texas.  Algal assays and stable isotope analyses reveal a shift towards in-stream resources as the climate becomes drier, in addition to shortening food chain length and narrowing isotopic niche space. Lastly, arid systems exhibited the least community resistance to hurricane disturbance and had slower recovery-times which can be attributed to a greater flood magnitude and shorter flood duration. We apply these results with tenets of the flood-pulse and river-continuum concepts to create a new precipitation-oriented model which can be applied across systems.  It is also our goal to create a predictive framework to guide hydrological and riparian management strategies to mitigate the undesired consequences of climate change on stream communities.

WebEx link: https://umbc.webex.com/umbc/j.php?MTID=m50834d7891ef867b053eecc8502709b2

The Department of Geography & Environmental Systems cordially invites you to join us for our Virtual Seminar Series on Wednesday, February 9th at Noon ET.

Geographic Indigenous Futures

Dr. Deondre Smiles
Assistant Professor
Department of Geography
University of Victoria

In this talk Dr. Deondre Smiles, of University of Victoria, seeks to briefly explore the ways in which Geography as a discipline can make a break with our colonial past as we look to the future, embracing Indigenous environmental and geographic epistemologies in pursuit of what Indigenous scholars such as Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (2017) describe as radical, resurgent Indigenous politics connected to land and environment.

Dr. Smiles (Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe) is an Assistant Professor of Geography at the University of Victoria. Smiles’ work is situated at the intersection of critical Indigenous geographies, political ecology, science and technology studies, and Indigenous cultural resource management. His work focuses on the ways that Indigenous nations can draw upon cultural resource management as an effective tool for climate adaptation and mitigation in an era of anthropogenic climate crisis. Smiles is of Black, Ojibwe, and settler descent.

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/bHtAMn0vjMg

The Department of Geography & Environmental Systems cordially invites you to join us for our Virtual Seminar Series on Wednesday, December 8th at Noon ET.

Diverging Space for Deviants: The Politics of Atlanta’s Public Housing

Dr. Akira Drake Rodriguez
Weizman School of Design
University of Pennsylvania

In 1936, the City of Atlanta was the first US city to open federally-financed and locally-administered public housing developments to low-income families in need of safe and sanitary housing (Techwood Homes).  For the city’s Black residents, and later, other marginalized groups, these developments provided political opportunity to assemble, mobilize, and make claims on the State in ways that were otherwise inaccessible. Over time, tenant associations served as conduits for working-class political interests centered in spatial justice – the very politics of planning that were used to segregate and marginalize developments and residents served as an organizing logic around spatial justice issues. However, in 2013, demolition began on one of the city’s last public housing developments for low-income families, nearly two decades after Techwood Homes was demolished for the 1996 Olympics. This talk examines the historical role of public housing in working-class politics and how the loss of tenant associations in the city has deepened contemporary inequities.

Akira Drake Rodriguez is an Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design.  Her research examines the ways that disenfranchised groups re-appropriate their marginalized spaces in the city to gain access to and sustain urban political power. She is the author of Diverging Space for Deviants: The Politics of Atlanta’s Public Housing, which explores how the politics of public housing planning and race in Atlanta created a politics of resistance within its public housing developments. Dr. Rodriguez was recently awarded a Spencer Foundation grant to study how educational advocates mobilize around school facility planning processes.

WebEx link: https://umbc.webex.com/umbc/j.php?MTID=m2abe173acf312dc65bb817ce8821eb5c