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In introducing guest speaker Dorceta Taylor, Associate Professor of Government Peter Cannavo referred to her as someone who “utterly changed my thinking on the environmental movement.” Taylor, environmental sociologist at the University of Michigan, was on campus March 3 to give a lecture titled “Food Insecurity, Resistance, and the Quest for Environmental Justice in Communities of Color.”

Members of the Hamilton community gathered to hear Dr. Michael Dorsey’s lecture, “Pathways Beyond Paris: Toward Energy & Climate Justice” on Feb. 4. Dorsey is the interim director for the Joint Center of Political and Economic Studies in Washington, D.C.

In his Jan. 25 talk “Leading Nowhere: the Futility and Farce of Global Climate Negotiations,” Oren Cass criticized the global approach to addressing climate change. He claimed that it’s not that leaders don’t want to reduce emissions, it’s that it isn’t possible based on insurmountable challenges like cost and complexity. 

Hamilton welcomed a panel of four experts from diverse fields Monday to discuss local efforts on the Hill to combat the effects of climate change, in a debate titled Should Colleges and Universities Divest from Fossil Fuels?   Participants were the Director of Investment Risk Management at the University of Michigan Rafael Castilla; Associate Analyst for 350.org Victoria Fernandez; National Association of Scholars Research Associate Rachelle Peterson; and Katelyn M. Kriesel, a financial advisor for Koenig & Selzer Asset Management Group and president of Syracuse Sustainability Enterprises.

Joyce M. Barry, visiting assistant professor of women’s studies, was invited by the department of Environment and Sustainability at Bowling Green State University to give a lecture on April 21 as part of BGSU’s Earth Week programming.

Associate Professor of Government Peter Cannavò was a member of a panel that explored ways to discuss environmental issues without the conversation becoming polarized. The session, “Depolarizing the Environment: Thinking Broadly about Science Policy and Politics,” was Feb. 13 at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) in Syracuse.

Engaging Nature: Environmentalism and the Political Theory Canon, co-edited by Associate Professor of Government Peter Cannavò, was recently published by The MIT Press. The publisher calls the book “the first comprehensive volume to bring the insights of Green Theory to bear in reinterpreting” canonical theorists such as Plato, Aristotle, Du Bois and Confucius.

Breena Holland, associate professor of political science and the environmental initiative at Lehigh University, takes a different approach to academic research than many of her colleagues. Holland is less interested in massive data driven studies and more concerned with the real world impact of her work. That’s why much of her time has been spent conducting research intended to directly benefit underprivileged members of Lehigh’s local community of Bethlehem, Pa.  Holland was a guest speaker in the Levitt Center Sustainability series on Feb. 7.

An All Things Considered report on National Public Radio that focused on the upside of Iowa’s drought last summer included an interview with Ann Owen, the Henry Platt Bristol Professor of Economics. In “The Silver Lining In Drought: 5 Upsides To Rain-Free Weather,” Owen discussed the study, “Heat Waves, Droughts, and Preferences for Environmental Policy,” that she co-authored with Assistant Professor of Economics Emily Conover, Associate Professor of Economics Julio Videras and Professor of Economics Stephen Wu.

An article titled “Study: Does enduring extreme weather make you vote liberal?,” appearing on the USA Today website on Dec. 30, reported on a study written by four Hamilton economists. Henry Platt Bristol Professor of Economics Ann Owen, Assistant Professor of Economics Emily Conover and Associate Professors of Economics Julio Videras and Stephen Wu co-authored the study, “Heat Waves, Droughts, and Preferences for Environmental Policy.” The Weather Channel also reported on the study on Jan. 2.