Upcoming Conference

Students as Catalysts for Large Landscape Conservation
Friday, March 1,  2013

The Environmental Studies Program at Colby College, in conjunction with partner universities, colleges, and research institutions, is hosting a conference on March 1, 2013 in Waterville, Maine, that will focus on students as catalysts for large landscape conservation.

This conference will provide students, practitioners, and scholars with the opportunity to network with, and learn from, peers and leading experts from North America and beyond working in the field of large landscape conservation.

One feature of the conference will be a conservation innovation contest for students. Undergraduate and graduate students are invited to submit essays or creative contributions, such as videos. Authors of winning contributions will receive travel reimbursements to attend the conference up to $500. One essay will be considered for inclusion in a forthcoming book on large landscape conservation to be published by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Additional essays will be considered for publication in an issue of an international conservation journal. Students unable to attend the conference are encouraged to attend via web conferencing.

The organizers also are soliciting student posters for display and presentation at the conference. These posters will not be considered as part of the conservation innovation contest for students.

For additional information about the student essay contest, registration, and other conference details, see http://web.colby.edu/landscapeconservation/

For questions about the conference, please contact: landscapeconservation@colby.edu

 

Past Conferences

Chemicals, Obesity, and Diabetes: How Science Leads Us to Action
October 14, 2011
The Goldfarb Center at Colby College and the Environmental Health Strategy Center (with support from the ES Program) will bring together national and state scientific and public health scholars, practitioners, and advocates, as wells as national and state policy-makers, faculty and students, to explore the environmental links to obesity.

Conference Resources
Prenatal Exposures and Obesity: Evidence from Epidemiological Studies, Dr. Elizabeth Hatch

Obesogens. Stem Cells, and the Maternal Programming of Obesity, Keynote Address, Dr. Bruce Bloomberg

Developmental and Environmental Origins of Obesity: A Bad Start Lasts a Lifetime, Dr. Jerrold Heindel

Chemical Exposure, Obesity, and Diabetes in Communities of Color and Low Income Communities, Dr. Mark Mitchell

Overview of Obesity Epidemic: A Clinical Perspective, Dr. Michael Dedekian.

Pod casts associated with the conference can be found at the Goldfarb Center website.

Protecting Livelihoods and Landscapes in Northern Maine
March 13-14, 2008

Recent decades have witnessed accelerating changes in landownership, the forest products industry, conservation and public access in Maine’s Unorganized Territory.   More than 90% of the state’s 17.7 million acres of forestland are in private ownership, mostly in the northern part of the state.  State regulatory and zoning authority over the Unorganized Territory has led to contentious disputes among owners, gateway communities, the state government and, conservation groups. Colby’s Environmental Studies Program and the Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement sought to encourage thoughtful discussion about the long-term future of Northern Maine by convening diverse representatives of major private and public interests.

For more information: http://www.colby.edu/environ/LandscapeConf/Landscapes.html

Celebrating Rachel Carson and the Natural World: A Centennial Celebration
May 4-5, 2007

May 2007 marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Rachel Carson, whose 1962 best-selling book, Silent Spring, is widely regarded as inspiring the modern environmental movement in the U.S. Carson opened the public's eyes for the first time to the dangers of synthetic pesticides, and provided momentum for the establishment of the sweeping U.S. environmental policies of the early 1970's, some of the world's earliest comprehensive environmental laws. Carson, a marine biologist as well as a writer, also wrote three books about the sea.

Colby College organized this event to celebrate the legacy of this pioneering environmental steward. There were performances by Kaiulani Lee (a one-woman play) and Gordon Bok (a Maine folk musician), a keynote address, and presentations about Rachel Carson and her work, as well as related subjects such as community-supported agriculture, organic lawn care, and toxics in the home. There were also outdoor nature activities for adults and children and readings from Carson's books.

For more information: http://www.colby.edu/environ/RachelCarson/RCarson.html

A Green Campus Summit
April 2-3, 2005

Conference Objectives
-Educate participants about climate change.
-Share ideas and experiences with other Maine and Canadian colleges and universities.
-Exchange best practices to achieve campus sustainability.
-Continue efforts to build a network of schools committed to addressing environmental issues on their campuses into the future.
-Inspire participants to campus action through goal setting.
-Provide students with training, contacts, and insights important for successful campus greening.

For more information: http://www.colby.edu/environ/climate/