Communicating Climate Science - Stories from the field in Costa Rica, Ethiopia, and Alaska

Communicating Climate Science - Stories from the field in Costa Rica, Ethiopia, and Alaska

Date :                              September 20th, 2016

Time:                               12:00 pm to 1:00 pm

Location:                    Conference Room ‘A’, Husky Conference Centre, Calgary, AB

                                           Plus 30 level, 707-8th Avenue SW (take the escalator up two flights)

Webcast:                    https://albertabiology.adobeconnect.com/r8yz7w46n9k/

CCP:                               This course qualifies ASPB members to earn 1 Professional Development Hour

                                           Registration is not required for this event

Summary

In the middle of a steamy Costa Rican rainforest, a researcher climbs her way slowly into the jungle canopy, dangling from a rope 120 feet above the ground. After half an hour of exhausting climbing, pushing through vines and sticky spider's webs, she straddles a giant branch and starts inching her way along it. She measures the size of each plant that sprouts from the branch - known as epiphytes - and some are huge while others measure just a few centimetres. Another five hours of maneuvering through the treetops and she'll have gathered a few more data points from the thousands needed to try to understand the effects of pollution on rainforest plants. 

Reading the results of this study in an academic journal or hearing it reported in the media can make research look and sound sterile. But being a part of these studies on the ground (or in the treetops) brings the science to life. Here, I will tell three short stories, starting with the first experimental set-up in the Costa Rican canopy to study pollution.  From here, we'll move to Ethiopia and use ecological and social data to investigate the health of sacred forests in the northern highlands. And finally, we'll end up traveling 500 miles across the Alaskan tundra to look at the effects of changing vegetation on permafrost.

By describing my experiences on three dramatically different projects, I'm interested in discussing how the perception of scientific findings could change by telling 'on-the-ground' stories about the process of science, from Costa Rica, to Ethiopia, to Alaska.

Presenter Biography 

Sarah Hewitt is an associate professor in the Department of Biology at Mount Royal University, freelance science writer, and adventure scientist. She received her PhD in neuroscience from the University of Calgary and teaches neuroscience and physiology. She also travels all over the world to work with scientists at their field sites and writes about their work for publications such as BBC, Discover Magazine, Scientific American, and Canadian Geographic. Her writing focuses on a variety of topics - from the rainforest canopy, to spider monkeys, seabirds, wood frogs, the northern lights, permafrost, and whatever else captures her interest. She dabbles in photography to help tell her stories.

For inquires about the BBL please contact Elise Savard