here, kossler is at the top of the food chain. as the vice president of ranch operations at turner enterprises (tei), kossler oversees all 15 ranches in turner’s 1.85 million-acre land empire and the 45,000 bison on them – the largest private bison herd in the world. growing up in the 1960s on a ranch in colorado, the experienced rancher is a living witness to over six decades of change in agriculture and the communities it sustains. with the rise of what he calls “additive agriculture,” kossler has seen farmers and ranchers grappling with declining profit margins, degrading land quality, and an exodus of youth from the industry. 

he explains that additive agriculture stems from the intensive use of chemical additives – fertilizers, pesticides – to increase monoculture agricultural yields. the results? short-term gains that compromise ecological integrity and long-term profitability. it’s a model where man allegedly triumphs over nature, and an industry standard that the turner institute of ecoagriculture is challenging. 

a delicate balance

according to the tei mission statement, turner enterprises has always had a triple bottom line of economic sustainability, ecological sensitivity, and conservation. the company’s goal is still profit, “but not at the expense of nature,” kossler said with emphasis. this “balance of conservation and commerce,” as kossler calls it, pushed tei toward implementing more holistic land management practices. years later, kossler finally matched tei’s guiding principles with a name: regenerative agriculture. 

unlike additive agriculture, regenerative agriculture is a set of practices that focus on maximizing productivity through restoring ecosystem services, like building healthy soil microbiomes, enhancing carbon sequestration and water infiltration, and supporting native ecosystem biodiversity. the connection was instant, kossler said, “i just knew this was the next step for [tei]. we were already doing a lot of it, but there was more we could do…it became a mission in our company.”

as a result, in 2021, kossler and the team at turner enterprises founded the turner institute of ecoagriculture as an agriculture research organization dedicated to “researching, developing, and disseminating sustainability strategies and techniques for conserving ecosystems, agriculture, and rural communities,” according to the institute.

driving across mcginley ranch is evidence that principles of regenerative agriculture have been embraced with open arms: pastures are divided uniquely to support high-intensity grazing, the lush meadows are grazed instead of hayed for the winter, and two fleeing prairie chickens signal a rebounding endangered population. the ranch aims to “lead by example” in the agriculture industry, turning a profit off the land while also actively supporting its regeneration. their products, kossler said, are of higher quality as a result of it. 

healthy soil, hard sell 

still, there are profound challenges ahead for the transition to more sustainable agricultural practices. 

“change is fearful,” kossler said, especially when there is a way things have always been done culturally ingrained in the agriculture community. “many are more comfortable doing something that’s not really working well,” he said, and what they’re doing is often reinforced by a higher education system that supports industrialized additive agriculture. “what we were taught was only half of the story – one side of a two-sided story. i feel as though i was only told half of the story.” 

financially, farmers and ranchers can also be put in a tight spot if they are seeking to transition. despite long-run increases in yield, the tight margins in agriculture can make it hard to front the initial cost of switching to regenerative practices due to upfront costs like fencing and the “three-year trough,” or a time of lower production while natural systems adjust to new agricultural practices. it can be a hard sell, and many “hardcore ag producers are skeptical,” kossler said, especially older generations. 

but in the fertile soils kossler and his team are growing, they’ve cultivated more than prairie grasses and carbon sinks: change is taking root. as the outliers in the equation, mcginley ranch and the turner institute of ecoagriculture have been in the business of influencing others to create “synergies” for change. “we’re kind of herd animals,” kossler said, and like bison, once some go, others will follow. 

the future of regenerative agriculture

in the sandhills, the dominoes have already begun toppling. after watching, then inquiring about the success of mcginley’s regeneratively-managed pastures, a nearby rancher has adopted what ranch techs mcginley say is the uncommon practice of grazing meadows instead of haying them for the winter. partnerships between the turner institute of ecoagriculture and research institutions, like south dakota state university’s center of excellence for bison studies, are changing the traditional understanding of agriculture in academia and adopting regenerative approaches. 

perhaps most importantly, younger generations are buying in. jessica lovitt, mcginley ranch’s primary range data specialist, is one of them. like many in agribusiness, lovitt started with very traditional cattle ranching on her family ranch. after coming to mcginley, she admits to harboring doubts, having “never seen things done [differently] before.” despite her reservations, she said, “the results speak for themselves,” and credits her traditional background for pushing her to ask more questions. now, she offers others the same advice: “get out and go see it for yourself…give it a chance. ask the questions.” 

lovitt embodies a critical generational transition that mcginley is investing in to help turn the tides: educating the younger generations helps bring viable paths of integrating regenerative practices into family agricultural operations. as the turner institute takes on more young staff and interns, kossler is hopeful that they will “go home and make some changes,” and the pace of progress will quicken. 

together, kossler and lovitt hope that private and government support can help alleviate the financial barriers for agricultural communities seeking to do right by themselves and by the land they live off. both are optimistic that 10 years from now, the rolling sandhills of nebraska will have healthier soils, pastures, and communities.

chanel la sat at the front of the nanomaterials class ready for the first day of her ph.d. studies six years ago. she brought four pencils, several pens and a water bottle for exam day. she read her answers over and over again. 

chris tonge sat all the way in the back of the classroom and seemed more “chill.” he showed up to class with one pencil for an exam and was one of the first to finish, la said. 

they both were attending the university of british columbia pursuing doctorate degrees in chemistry. then one night, la needed to get into the nuclear magnetic resonance room, a lab with a giant magnet that allows for visualization of molecular structure. there’s only one room like it that all the graduate students shared and la needed to drop off her sample. la forgot her keys in her lab so she texted the group chat seeking help from another first-year student. 

she asked if anybody could let her into this room. everyone responded they were already home, since it was 10 o’clock, except tonge. so, tonge let her in and they had their first real conversation. 

“i was surprised that he worked so hard,” la said, considering he was the only one who was still working in the lab. after that conversation, they planned to go on a date to the aquarium and to get ramen. 

“the rest is history,” tonge said. 

la’s mom is from malaysia and her dad is from vietnam. tonge’s dad is from england and his mom is from spain. la sat in the front of the class and tonge in the back.

but the chemistry is there. “we just mesh really well,” tonge said. 

and chemistry is taking their research in innovative directions. during their ph.d. program, they both focused on making polymers, organic compounds with a sequence of units repeated. la focused on protons as a building block. and tonge? electrons. a proton is a positively charged subatomic particle and an electron is negatively charged. it’s as if their differences and the natural pull of negative charge to positive charge drew them together.  

they also made discoveries within their own research during their studies. la created a library of drug molecules and one of them is promising for helping dissolve blood clots without the problematic side effect of promoting bleeding. tonge helped create experimental emitters for oleds, or organic light-emitting diodes, that could make televisions more efficient with capabilities to last longer, save energy and create purer color.

focusing on protons and the discovery of a new drug molecule to help with thrombosis

la’s high-school science teacher piqued her interest in chemistry, which led her to continue studying chemistry in graduate school and focus on molecules to help decrease blood clots.

depending on where they move in the bloodstream, blood clots can lead to strokes, heart attacks and breathing problems. surgery and several physical conditions increase the risk of blood clots from forming. while current antithrombotic agents are available such as heparin, they can increase the risk of bleeding, said jayachandran kizhakkedathu, la’s professor at ubc and principal investigator of the research. 

the goal of la’s research was to create a drug molecule that can prevent thrombosis, or clotting of the blood inside a blood vessel, without the side effects of bleeding. 

to reach this goal, la worked with experts who focused on enzymes and proteins within the clotting cascade. the clotting cascade is “the series of enzymatic events that occur for a blood clot to form,” la said. 

previous research from james morrissey, a biological chemistry professor at the university of michigan, discovered that polyphosphate, a naturally occurring, negatively charged biopolymer, plays multiple roles within the clotting cascade, and primarily speeds up the clotting process. 

la explains how many current anticoagulants target key factors within the clotting cascade such as thrombin. other drugs can inhibit different key enzymes within the clotting cascade, kizhakkedathu said. la was looking to design polymers that inhibit and target polyphosphate. 

“if you can inhibit polyphosphate, you’re not inhibiting one of the key factors like thrombin, and you may have reduced bleeding as a side effect,” la said.  

previous studies show positive polymers like polyethyleneimine do bind to polyphosphate. however, because these polymers are extremely positively charged, they not only bind to polyphosphate but other essential negative polymers in the body. this can be toxic and ultimately lead to other side effects. 

so, la designed and synthesized a library of polymers. the core of the polymer is globular and she functionalized it with “positive partners that would bind to the polyphosphate.”

the goal was to have enough positive charge on the molecule that it can bind to polyphosphate without binding to the other essential negative ions within the blood that can lead to toxic side effects. 

“you’re trying to find that balance. positive enough, but not too positive,” la said. 

the next step was to conduct research with in vitro studies, studies within the lab, and in vivo studies, or studies using living animals. three of the drug molecules did well in vitro and moved on to in vivo studies with mice. 

la traveled to michigan where she worked with morrissey to look at the drug molecule more closely. she looked at whether the drug by itself would induce bleeding by administering the drug to a mouse and letting it circulate for five minutes. then she cut the tail and measured the bleeding time and quantity of blood loss. this is compared to a control using saline and heparin.

based on this work, la’s university and university of michigan have since applied for a provisional patent on these set of drug molecules and researchers are studying the effects in large animal models. after getting the patent, the next steps are to build a body of evidence to show the efficacy and safety of the drug, la said. then the drug molecule will hopefully be tested with humans.

“the holy grail for thrombosis treatment is to develop a drug molecule which could prevent thrombosis, but also won’t have any side effects such as bleeding,” kizhakkedathu said. “we are close to that, but we don’t know,” considering more evaluation needs to be done on larger animals and then humans. this process can take years.

“the basis of the technology is to adapt beyond polyphosphate and is a valuable platform to design more positive polymer therapeutics,” la said.

focusing on electrons and making emitters and complex polymer structures 

tonge’s love for chemistry started when he was in middle school. he loved doing experiments where significant visual changes were observed, such as foaming and color changes. this love of chemistry led him to pursue a ph.d. in organic chemistry, where he focused on developing and producing emissive compounds of many different colors.

besides making multicolored fluorescent compounds, he also worked closely developing “complex polymeric structures” using these emitters to simulate multilayer organic electronic devices such as an organic solar cell or an organic led.

a typical led television can be simplified to two key layers. one layer is a light emitting layer that functions as a backlight and the other layer is a color filter, which changes the color of the light to give you a pixel. basically, these led televisions have a part that makes “white” light across the color spectrum and another that selectively removes or tunes the color from that light to leave the color you see, tonge said. 

on the other hand, an organic led, or oled, makes light by specifically designing fluorescent emitters to address the colors that are being emitted by the screen. this creates very vibrant colors as well as deep black colors that are desirable to consumers. these emitters generate light by generating an excited state on an emitter using electricity followed by quenching of that excited state to emit light. 

with these oleds, manufacturers design panels with very small, emissive pixels, the smallest subunit of the panel that “can make all the colors that you’re trying to display.”  when electricity enters a pixel, it glows a specific color based on the emissive properties of the dyes used and the specific energy levels of the emitters to create the image seen on the screen. so, when you want the pixel to be red, just the red lights up. this also allows for very deep black colors because when it’s black, it just turns off. this is different than a normal televisions where the light is still on behind the color filter, leading to a slight glow even when the pixel is turned off, tonge said. 

the experimental emitters he made throughout his doctorate started off with simple electron transport and hole transport polymers for emissive devices. when working with these compounds, he found several highly emissive donor-acceptor intermediates that drew his interest. these emissive compounds emit light as electrons fall “from an excited state to a non-excited state,” tonge said. “the color that’s emitted is defined by the energy gap from the excited state to the ground state.”

to generate high energy blue light, a high energy gap from excited state to ground state is needed. tonge explained it’s harder to make blue pixels that last for a long time because it’s a very high energy emission. the high energy excited states required are unstable leading to emitters decomposing. when it comes to red light, it’s a “very small energy drop,” so small that the excited states can quench without emitting light. “sometimes, instead of emitting light, your excited electron just dissipates as heat,” tonge said. the easiest color to make with high efficiency is green as these emitters are less likely to decompose because of high energy states.

one of the highlights of tonge’s work included designing and synthesizing a super high-efficiency red emitter. what tonge was doing in the lab was “proof-of-concept work and not focused on making something commercially viable.” the emitter is more stable, more efficient and has higher color purity than many emitters on the market. despite these advantages, the low-yielding synthesis makes the cost of this emitter to be very high, about “$10,000 a gram, and they need about a gram per tv,” tonge said. 

“when things break down inside an oled, it’s because of undesired side reactivity happening that was not anticipated,” tonge said. this usually means something in a high energy state reacts with something else instead of emitting light or even undergoes a spontaneous rearrangement that results in decomposition of the emitters. tonge’s contributions focused on developing emitters were more “rigid” and less likely to undergo side reactions. he did this by bridging adjacent groups and by blocking the positions of the molecules where side reactions happen most frequently.

besides simple emitters, he also worked on some more complex polymers, specifically focusing on large macromolecules called a bottlebrush polymer. picture a pipe cleaner where there is a wire in the middle and many hairs or brushes perpendicular to that wire along its length. for his project he made a bottlebrush polymer by connecting norbornene, or a specific “handle people use to build polymers, building blocks to generate the wire in the middle of the brush. these norbornenes were modified with short, polymeric semiconductors to simulate a multilayer electronic device in a single polymer chain. in this way, he would attach a series of polymers tuned to glow specific colors or have specific properties.

“like a tree of christmas tree lights,” tonge said. 

he gives this example of an application of bottlebrush polymers. he was able to demonstrate that if the “brush” side arms of these polymers were segregated by electronic properties, it was possible to directly allow or prevent charge transfer between adjacent arms in the solid state. this can be observed by choosing two polymers that emit one color when they are prepared in a film, but form a complex when mixed together in a film that emits a different color. by making bottlebrushes that are separated into two distinct regions, it prevents the two polymers from mixing. simply put, this means a mixed film can be forced to glow as if the polymers were not mixed at all. 

the ability to control how components of organic semiconductors mix in the solid state is important for designing devices with long life spans and consistent performance over the life of the device. 

the benefits of tonge’s emitters include longer lifespans for the device, higher efficiencies and improved color purity. his creations aren’t used commercially, but the lab continues to explore the use of these emitters and polymer architectures for additional applications. 

while certain devices may not last forever, the future for la and tonge looks bright. they live together with their dog chuckles in chicago and their bond continues to get stronger with each year that passes. 

the next step? picking out a ring to solidify their bond and the magnetic force that drew them together. 

“from birth one of my passions has been the ocean,” doall said, a lasting enthusiasm that ultimately led to his career in regenerative aquaculture and shellfish restoration. while his days of skipping class to bum it at the beach may be over, you can still find doall in the bays of long island, dedicating hours to researching and reviving the marine organisms that provide innumerable benefits to the ecosystem he calls home. 

at the beginning of doall’s education in marine biology, regenerative aquaculture — the farming of marine species in open waters to bolster habitat quality — was not remotely common in the u.s., let alone something on doall’s mind. but, having always had gardens growing up, doall found that the field of ocean aquaculture brought together his passions for the ocean and for growing things.

doall was first exposed to regenerative aquaculture 20 years ago while managing a research service facility in long island. the nature conservancy had started a hard clam and oyster restoration program in long island’s great south bay and reached out to doall for his analytic expertise. bivalves, such as clams and oysters, are essential to ocean ecosystems, because they suck up excess nutrients and sediment from waterways, improving water quality and preventing harmful algal blooms. at the nature conservancy, doall grew shellfish in cages across the bay to study how different marine environments would support these species. 

there, he realized how much he enjoyed growing the oysters and rebuilding marine ecosystems, so he dove deeper into open water aquaculture by establishing the first oyster restoration projects in new york harbor (nyh). while working at these sites, he aimed to use oysters as solely an environmental tool — the harbor’s pollution meant organisms wouldn’t be safe for consumption — but later he “had the epiphany that oysters do the same thing in an aquaculture setting as they do in nature.” that is, by growing oysters for human consumption, these filter feeders would naturally improve water quality by consuming excess nutrients and provide a sustainable source of fresh seafood at the same time.

inspired, doall started his own oyster farm in 2008: montauk shellfish company. he took a lot of pride in being an oyster farmer, stating that “one of the most important activities you can do is to grow food and feed your community.” and feed his community he did. doall was on the cusp of an “oyster renaissance” and would witness montauk take off beyond his expectations. 

during his time as an oyster farmer, doall took a trip up to maine and was introduced to a new sea crop that would later inspire his research: kelp. doall was interested in crop diversification for his farm and learned from some of the first u.s. kelp farmers that this sea veggie is a great complement to shellfish because of their opposite growth seasons (kelp in the winter, shellfish in the summer). 

though he sold his farm in 2017, doall still very much considers himself a farmer in his current role as associate director for bivalve restoration and aquaculture at stony brook university. as a scientist, doall is well positioned to pursue kelp through research projects in long island waters that do not yet allow commercial kelp farming due to a decade-long battle for obtaining permits and expanding processing capacity.

over the past four years, doall has been tirelessly dedicated to bringing the benefits of kelp to long island. as with oysters, kelp sucks excess nitrogen out of the water, helping to keep our oceans clean. combining the two creatures creates a marine-cleaning superteam to counteract the eutrophication — excessive nutrient pollution — that has long plagued long island. further, kelp captures carbon dioxide from the water column as it photosynthesizes. that carbon gets removed from the ocean when the kelp is harvested, making seaweed a tool for fighting local ocean acidification that threatens the health of our marine ecosystems, including many of the species we depend on for food. doall developed a specialized technique for growing kelp in the shallow coastal waters of long island that are only knee or waist deep, as opposed to traditional kelp farming that is done in much deeper waters. he was impressively able to grow 12-foot long kelp fronds in only 6 feet of water. this compact feat can help not only shallow-water ocean farmers but also other species residing in shallow bays, where poor water flow otherwise means poor water quality.

the nutrient-extraction capabilities of farming kelp are especially important in long island. as doall said of his hometown, “long islanders love their lawns and golf courses.” he tells me about the truckloads of fertilizer that are brought in during the warmer months, dumping nitrogen all across the island. a farmer at heart, doall envisions growing forests of kelp along the coast to absorb the nitrogen runoff from shore. once harvested, this kelp can be developed into nitrogen-rich fertilizer, equipped with other micronutrients and biostimulants, that can be used throughout the community. it would be a closed nitrogen loop, lowering the demand for imported fertilizer and delivering environmental and economic benefits to the island. doall plans to explore such a system’s feasibility this summer through garden studies on kelp-based fertilizer’s benefits.

doall’s dedication to restoring his home seas has carried him through a variety of challenges. despite support from large environmental groups such as the nature conservancy and pew charitable trust, regenerative aquaculture must compete with a variety of stakeholders on the water. recreational boaters, commercial fishermen, and even wind surfers have opposed doall’s projects.

“in the end, all these groups recognize the value of regenerative farming, but a lot of people don’t want it in an area where they’re doing something,” he said. there is also a so-called “social carrying capacity” for aquaculture: once over ~5% of the coastline is occupied by ocean farmers, “people start freaking out” and are quick to complain about the oyster farms visible from their backyard. nevertheless, doall has found that a healthy, bustling ocean can unify disparate marine interests.

at the end of the day, doall believes in his mission to support ocean farming and rebuild shellfish populations in his home waters. while he knows his focal solutions to climate change are not the only solutions, the benefits of regenerative aquaculture and shellfish restoration cannot be ignored. aquaculture projects secure jobs and income while nutrient bioextraction revitalizes the ecosystem, a win-win for coastal economies and environments. moreover, because of overfishing and marine habitat degradation, fishing communities that have long relied on the ocean for their sense of identity are losing their cultural ties. luckily, according to doall, “regenerative aquaculture is a way to bring that cultural identity back…so there’s a win-win-win.”

you will always find doall working away in the waters of long island, happy as a clam, because, “when do you plant a victory flag? never.” the fight for climate-resilient solutions never stops, but local, restorative projects like these continue to provide hope for a greener future.

scientists describing a new species of ant, strumigenys ayersthey, have broken with conventional naming traditions and used the pronoun “they” instead of the traditional male or female form to promote nonbinary gender inclusivity.

the new ant, described in a recent paper in zookeys, was named after the late artist and human rights activist jeremy ayers. traditionally, a species named after a person would have an “i” appended at the end of the name for males, or “ae” for females; in this case, ayersi or ayersae. instead, the researchers went with ayersthey.

they did this to honor ayers and the large number of people who do not identify with either the male and female genders, according to study author douglas booher, a yale postdoctoral researcher, and co-author philipp hönle, a doctoral student at the technical university of darmstadt, germany.

“in contrast to the traditional naming practices that identify individuals as one of two distinct genders, we have chosen a non-latinized portmanteau honoring the artist jeremy ayers and representing people that do not identify with conventional binary gender assignments, strumigenys ayersthey,” the authors wrote in the study.

ayers was an eclectic artist, publishing photography books, authoring a column in andy warhol’s interview magazine, and writing lyrics for both r.e.m. and the b-52s. indeed, r.e.m. lead singer and songwriter michael stipe joined booher in writing the etymology section of the paper explaining the decision to use the pronoun “they” to honor the artist. ayers is remembered today as a fixture of the athens, georgia, art community, according to a local paper.

hönle first encountered the ant while working on his doctoral thesis at darmstadt, researching ant communities in the chocó area of ecuador. of the specimens he looked at, one stood out for its unique shiny exoskeleton, for which hönle couldn’t find a matching species. hönle then contacted booher, an expert on the ant genus strumigenys, also known as trap-jaw ants for their trap-jaw mandibles. booher quickly identified the specimen as a potentially undescribed species, kicking off the work to describe the new ant.

what sets s. ayersthey apart from other ants in the genus is its signature shiny and smooth outer “skin,” or cuticle, as well as its long trap jaws, described by the researchers in the paper as a “biological mousetrap.”

the strumigenys genus itself is quite diverse. the various species’ trap-jaw mandibles can range from short to long, with the newly described species having large mandibles; some species lack the trap jaw entirely. one common identifying feature of the genus is a sponge-like structure toward the base of the abdomen. according to booher, the function of the sponge structure remains a mystery to scientists.

in a study published in plos biology in march 2021, booher explores the evolution of the trap-jaw mechanism and its gradual increase in length. the trap-jaw mechanism itself is one of the fastest movements in any living creature, with the jaws snapping shut at a rate of up to 1.2 million meters per second squared.

the newly described species is found in the chocó region of ecuador, a biologically rich and diverse coastal rainforest that is simultaneously understudied and under threat due to human activities. logging, mining and oil palm plantations have resulted in a 61% reduction of the chocó region’s forests.

“[the chocó] features a plethora of endemic species. there is one critically endangered subspecies of [brown-headed] spider monkey, ateles fusciceps fusciceps, that only lives in the forests of this part of ecuador,” hönle said. “however, the insect fauna and especially the ants there are poorly known, as only very few researchers did sample the area.”

the region is so understudied that last year hönle and other scientists described another species of native ant, odontomachus davidsoni, calling this one “large and conspicuous.”

hönle’s fieldwork collecting specimens in the chocó takes place on land preserved by jocotoco, an ngo that buys threatened land to conserve it.

“the fact that no one has described this species before highlights how much else might be out there. the new strumigenys is just one more little piece toward a more complete understanding of the fauna,” hönle said.

––

citations:

booher, d. b., gibson, j. c., liu, c., longino, j. t., fisher, b. l., janda, m., … economo, e. p. (2021). functional innovation promotes diversification of form in the evolution of an ultrafast trap-jaw mechanism in ants. plos biology, 19(3), e3001031. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3001031

booher, d. b., & hönle, p. o. (2021). a new species group of strumigenys (hymenoptera, formicidae) from ecuador, with a description of its mandible morphology. zookeys, 1036, 1-19. doi:10.3897/zookeys.1036.62034

hönle, p. o., lattke, j. e., donoso, d., von beeren, c., heethoff, m., schmelzle, s., … blüthgen, n. (2020). odontomachus davidsoni sp. nov. (hymenoptera, formicidae), a new conspicuous trap-jaw ant from ecuador. zookeys, 948, 75-105. doi:10.3897/zookeys.948.48701

dr. luzadis is a professor in the environmental studies department at suny college of environmental science and forestry (esf), and is the founder of heart forward science, a program created to advance sustainable scientific outcomes with the whole-person approach. she also serves on the planet forward advisory council, and is chair of the board of directors of the global council for science and the environment (gcse). 

a huge thanks to dr. luzadis for taking the time to chat with me. it was great to get an inside look at what went on at the conference and from such an interesting perspective. as an educator at a school like esf, dr. luzadis has a unique point of view on these issues (i would guess that most representatives at cop don’t work with youth activists in their day jobs). i hope the solutions and behavior changes recommended by dr. luzadis will be widely heard and implemented. 

podcast transcription:

lily john  0:00  
my name is lily john and i’m a planet 世界杯欧洲预选赛免费直播 at suny-esf. i recently sat down with esf professor dr. valerie luzadis to discuss her experience at this year’s un climate summit. was this your first time attending a cop conference?

dr. valerie luzadis  0:18  
it was this was my first one. yes.

lily john  0:21  
okay, and how did it compare to your expectations?

dr. valerie luzadis  0:25  
well, i didn’t have many going in, i wasn’t really sure exactly what to expect. of course, i know about this work, since it’s critical to sustainability. but this was also the first time that the global council for science and the environment had a delegation. so it was very interesting to work with a group of people from other institutions around the world to come together, and, you know, have a common platform for observing and connecting with one another. so it was a really, overall great experience, and so many ways. i was full time observing the second week, when all the negotiations were happening. and i found that i got very invested along the way, well, following certain threads of language and discussions. and as is typical with negotiations, and with consensus approaches, which is what’s used for the cop meetings, things are a little stronger, earlier, and usually get softened language wise by the end, and that happened, and there’s kind of an emotional ride with that, then it’s like, oh, i really wanted to see this. happen that way. and, and so almost disappointment at moments of that. it really took me a couple of days after the meeting ended to say, okay, remember what this is. it’s consensus. it’s global-level discussions. we have no formal enforcement mechanisms, and then really look at what happened at the meeting. and when i did that, i can say, i think progress was certainly made. and it’s not enough.

lily john  2:04  
yeah, that seems like the consensus. but, the language was softening just in order to reach a compromise, like that was the only way to get people to agree to what was being proposed?

dr. valerie luzadis  2:17  
yes, and it’s an interesting process that they use, because it’s not formal agreement. it’s just agreeing to not block it, right. so at the very end, that’s how the consensus is reached. and so there’s this process where they have these informal stocktaking sessions, and i found those very interesting was where the countries would be able to say, here’s what we want. and here’s what we think should be happening. and by the end, it became “we are not happy with this, this, this, and this, and we are not going to block this.”

lily john  2:52  
i imagine it’s quite complicated to be managing all of these different pieces of input and beginning with what each party won’t agree with. from that perspective, it’s kind of impressive that anything got done. what did the representation outside of government look like? and what was the role of these groups?

dr. valerie luzadis  3:11  
well, the the formal parties and government deal parties are all through the un. and so it’s not a formal representation in terms of the consensus building, that’s only the governments themselves. and so the observers and our ngos, businesses, civil… civil society groups that meet outside of this are there to share their thoughts about how to move things ahead. there’s a whole set of technical advisors who are also there. how do we do what we need to get done?

lily john  3:43  
it’s great that there was so much representation of different groups there. so this year, what were the primary themes of cop?

dr. valerie luzadis  3:51  
the primary themes continued, of course, to be on mitigation, and then adaptation. there was also a big discussion on what they called loss and damage. and that’s because there are already losses and damages related to climate change. and it’s happening in large part to countries and to peoples who are 1. not causing this problem, and 2. don’t have the resources to be able to respond to it. there was also a very big focus on climate finance. and then the final thing was creating what was called “the paris rulebook.” and this was really rules that are needed to implement what was agreed to in paris. so the goals of this particular cop 26, included, trying to secure global net zero by mid century, and keeping to 1.5 degrees within reach of possibility, because right now, we were set toward a greater than two degrees increase global warming before this meeting, and so a lot of the conversation was about what do we need to change what has to be added? how can we get to keeping us to that 1.5 degree limit. there were adaptation conversations around protecting communities and habitats. and then this finance issue was big because the agreements that were made, and paris didn’t come through, i heard at one point that only 20% of what was promised came through. and so there was a lot of attention to that lack of follow through, and the need for what they’re talking about, it’s $100 billion a year mobilized toward helping to deal with climate change. and there were certain countries, developing countries, who really wanted to say developed countries should be paying this. there are 20 countries that produce 80% of the the greenhouse gases. and the two biggest contributors, of course, are the us and china. and so i think this is one of the issues is who’s paying this money in? so when you talk about this climate finance, it’s not just countries, but it’s also private financing.

lily john  6:00  
is that private companies? are they part o f the question?

dr. valerie luzadis  6:04  
this would come from companies who have created some sort of… you might think about it the… so the language that we ended up with at this point was that we would agree to phase out “unabated coal” and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, but “unabated coal” suggests that we need to abate coal. so there are companies that have the technology and ability to be able to do that. and so they become part of the financing activity.

lily john  6:32  
is there a discussion around the big polluter companies making financial contributions?

dr. valerie luzadis  6:38  
this is one of the things that i do know is that within the nationally developed contributions, each country is looking at how they manage the polluters. and so the polluter pays, of course, is one of those techniques that are used.

lily john  6:53  
why do you think that these regulations haven’t been effective?

dr. valerie luzadis  6:57  
coal and fossil fuels have never been called out in one of the climate agreements, and so it wasn’t in the paris agreement. so the fact that this was going to come into play and get put into language in the document was a really big deal. and the beginning, it was to phase out coal, and to phase out subsidies to fossil fuels. and it changed to to phase out unabated coal and inefficient subsidies to fossil fuels. and those situations, it’s at the country level, or even sometimes sub-national level where these things are regulated. and so that’s the question, it’s kind of moving, it gets moved into different scales, where we have a global problem, but now we have to figure out how and at which scales do we need to do which things in order to have a global impact and changing it?

lily john  7:52  
yeah, those systems seem like they’re very well established. and the systems needed to reverse that action and to work together to end burning coal, or whatever else needs to be done. it seems like those systems haven’t really been established because of the lack of agreement.

dr. valerie luzadis  8:11  
yeah, so this is probably one of the most interesting things about this cop for me was was exactly this bigger picture around systems. the youth voice was strong at this cop. and there was not one voice. we also heard indigenous youth speak so clearly, and passionately. and one of the most astounding things i heard was this group, essentially saying, “why are we looking to you who created this problem to fix it? because there’s no incentive for that.” and so what i started to see was a very clear voice set of voices in this process, and a very clear set of voices saying this process is not going to do it. and we need to be doing something else. and the youth voice collectively, and the indigenous voices collectively, i believe, are likely to lead us otherwise,

lily john  9:04  
was there much youth or indigenous involvement in previous cop conferences?

dr. valerie luzadis  9:10  
there was more this time, from my understanding, than most. youth voice in particular was written into this cop in terms of following on with a regular set of activities with the youth groups and indigenous groups as well. the thing that really strikes me i saw on the major panels throughout this, both youth and indigenous people, the indigenous voice one of one of the the messages loud and clear is that indigenous people have knowledge that can help us to resolve these issues, to mitigate and to adapt with climate change. and i did not see any indigenous people invited to share substantive ideas about that. all i heard were indigenous people invited to say, our voices need to be heard. they were also saying we have knowledge that can help. we had science everywhere, on every panel all the time, but not indigenous knowledge with it. and i don’t understand that there’s a relegation of these voices. and that’s hugely problematic.

lily john  10:13  
i recently heard a piece on npr about a group of young indigenous women who had travelled from new zealand and alaska to speak at cop. but their time was cut short and almost eliminated. so it seems like only the first step is being taken with inviting them to be there.

dr. valerie luzadis  10:31  
i would say that’s right. and not only inviting, but inviting into a process that clearly they weren’t part of designing, and in which their approaches and their relationship with time and relationship were not respected. again, that’s hugely problematic. there was a very, very big sense of frustration. and that was really palpable. and not just in the protests, it was palpable in the rooms, it was palpable from different governments, and especially the smaller countries and the small island developing nations. and so it’s a really interesting question of what kind of activity through civil society can take place or will take place that will help us to address this problem. at the same time, we’ve got this formal process, and there was progress made.

lily john  11:19  
overall, would you say you’re leaning toward more towards optimism, or more towards being disappointed by the lack of results?

dr. valerie luzadis  11:28  
i am, by nature, an optimistic person. and i put my energy and my attention on the positive and on the vision of the future that i want to see. i can say, some progress was made. and it was not enough. i like to see the activity of working by consensus, because so much of our world is a violent world. and to see where countries can come together and work by consensus, that’s very important. it’s a non-violent approach to getting us to a non-violent, equitable, sustainable world. and at the same time, it’s not enough for modi to come out and say 2070 for india to be net zero. that’s too late. the ideas on the radar, that’s good. so is that better than not being on the radar? maybe?

lily john  12:17  
yeah, i was curious about india’s announcement, because that was one of the first things i heard out of cop. and i thought it was super exciting. and the landmark dramatic change that we were looking for, but now reading about the reactions and act thinking about where 2070 is… and also it seems like the social justice and the human issues have not really been acknowledged there. so it’s more of something for shock value is kind of how it seems from the outside.

dr. valerie luzadis  12:49  
well, the truth is that politics are at play in this setting. there was a us-china agreement that came out. and that’s actually got a lot to do with why we have the language of unabated coal and inefficient subsidies of fossil fuels, is because of the us-china agreement. is this a good thing? it is because as one of the biggest emitters, china, did not send their leader to this meeting. and so to have an agreement come out during this time was really important.

lily john  13:20  
given everything we’ve discussed, what do you see as being the most effective step in implementing the necessary systemic change?

dr. valerie luzadis  13:29  
i think that one of the things we do is that when we teach only about the intellectual mind, and the analytical aspects of things, and we don’t necessarily teach about heart, and love, and imagination, and intuition, these other parts of us super important. and that’s actually what’s going to weave into that with our intellect, that i think will help us to hold that vision and figure out how to get there. it’s the whole person approach, we need to bring all of ourselves to all that we do for a long time now, we’ve been asked just to bring this part of us just our heads. and that’s not enough, we can see it. and we certainly don’t teach the skills of how to understand intuitive knowledge, where there are skills affiliated with that, that we could learn. it’s different than analytical knowledge. it’s just as important. and so understanding and using these things in tandem, is actually the the education of the future, i believe, but we need to build that skill set and we need to build the community system that’ll allow us to do that.

transcribed by https://otter.ai

there is another more horrifying threat that, like public speaking, shocks many of us into immobilization: climate change. however, despite the power of big oil money and corrupt politicians, and the current climate trends, there is something that gives me a surge of optimism and energy: younger generations.

i went on stage during cop26 to discuss a program that sparks hope in me, the youth environmental alliance in higher education, or yeah. this group connects students around the world to work together on small projects which focus on education, empowerment, and excitement. this year, i have been working in the module team, which is a group of students that creates modules, or google slides, that contain detailed lessons on each of the target goals within a single un sustainable development goal, or sdg. these lessons are free to download, making this education accessible to anyone. the yeah program also meets via an online, international class where students work together to create a project that will assist in one of the sdg goals, so we turn education into real world action. the work the students in this program do is a continuous reminder that there is hope.

on the panel alongside me were two other yeah fellows, alexis pascaris and jacob genuise, who explained optimism to the audience. as they spoke, i realized i was confronting my own pessimism there at the cop. for years, i had seen cop as an honest attempt at diplomats gathering to negotiate to fairly create a better future and hold each other accountable. speaking inside the blue zone, where only those equipped with special passes could be present as protests centering the excluded rightfully raged outside, i felt fully present in cop’s reality––a reality in which cop is essentially a greenwashing science fair where everyone knows the right words to say but very few have action to back it up. they may have small demonstrations, but are they willing to take the challenging steps to make change?

even at that moment, as i sat behind a giant definition of the word “optimism,” my expectations for a massive cop26 climate pact were at ground level. but i do not lack optimism. i lack faith in the present leaders of the world, not the next ones. the youth are paying attention, they want to act. what they need is mobilization and education, excitement and empowerment. this is why something so small, like creating sdg modules, gives me hope. i know that i am contributing to educating young people on what must be done to confront the greatest challenges of our time. participating in yeah means being connected to an international network of students from every career background who care deeply about making a difference, and that is enough inspiration to make me optimistic about our future. 

as representatives of george washington university students and faculty, we’re looking forward to attending cop26 to connect our university to this much broader community of people taking action to address climate change. we want to make new connections and meet people who will support our efforts with their own contributions. we also hope to translate the energy of the meeting in scotland back to our campus in the foggy bottom neighborhood of washington, d.c. 

given the importance of addressing climate change in a way that does not reproduce existing inequalities, one of our top goals is to investigate how cop26 decision makers pursue issues of equity. who will make the decisions about how the world will address climate change going forward? to what extent are they considering how these decisions will affect the poorest countries that may not even be able to send representatives to this meeting? 

we hope that the countries attending will make firm and verifiable commitments to reducing carbon emissions. but, we will look for the ways that the rich countries who created much of the problem will help countries with fewer resources since they bear much of the burden created by climate change. this list should include additional funding, transfers of technology and know-how, and collaborative educational exchanges to co-create collective solutions that address the needs of the poorest. specifically, with the establishment of the green climate fund in the paris agreement, richer countries pledged to contribute $100 billion to poorer countries to help cut emissions. we have not met this goal. we would like to see accountability and enforcement of funding allocations addressed during cop 26.        

as researchers, we are focused on questions of how to improve connections between the university and communities where real people live. we are working to ensure that gw’s knowledge production and teaching efforts address the most pressing problems of citizens in the d.c. metro area. connecting with a broader international community will hopefully provide new ideas that we can implement in our own neighborhood. the conference will be a success if it helps to identify best practices around the world and plant those ideas in fresh soil. 

in attending cop26 we hope to get further insight into the inner workings of an international climate conference. tying this effort to our question of equity allows us to examine the benefits and costs of these conferences, especially during the covid-19 pandemic. some questions that we will look to investigate include what underlying factors are at play when the world meets to discuss climate change? how are decisions actually made and how does this process affect climate justice efforts? what are the consequences of having these meetings in-person versus virtually? 

another area of interest is how to measure the success of an international climate conference, like cop 26. developing these criteria might help us compare this year’s conference to previous ones and evaluate the impact that an international climate conference has on climate policies, the effectiveness of international climate agreements, and the issue of accountability.  

people who have attended previous international climate meetings have told us that this meeting will be much bigger than any conference we have attended in the past. while we are there, we hope to develop ties with the u.n. secretariat that is coordinating international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. there are gw alumni working in this organization and we hope to activate their ties to the university to integrate gw’s efforts more deeply into the broader international coalition of groups working to make our day-to-day life more sustainable. 

cop26 requires the global community to take stock of what is at stake and identify how political, scientific, social, and economic factors can lead to a better outlook for our planet in the shortest amount of time. from an academic standpoint, we hope that the opportunity for interaction and idea sharing will foster new ways to approach sustainability at a global, national, and local level. 

we hope to come away from cop26 with a clearer understanding of how climate justice can be adapted to a more tangible and local sphere. hopefully, cop26 will garner a broader recognition of the effects of climate inaction on everyday life. acknowledgment of local climate activists and opportunities could provide more direct action. from a student’s perspective, a key takeaway will be finding a way to replicate these climate conferences on a smaller scale to 2022年卡塔尔世界杯官网 , even amid unknowns.  

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about the authors: 

dr. robert orttung is research director for sustainable gw at the george washington university and research professor of international affairs at gw’s elliott school of international affairs. orttung is the lead pi for a new national science foundation project focused on the arctic entitled measuring urban sustainability in transition. he is the editor of the urban sustainability in the arctic: measuring progress in circumpolar cities (ny: berghahn, 2020). in 2019 he edited capital cities and urban sustainability (london, routledge). orttung received a b.a. in russian studies from stanford university and both a m.a. and ph.d. in political science from the university of california, los angeles. 

jane barkholz is a senior at the george washington university studying environmental studies and public health. she is currently working as a research assistant for sustainable gw and has previous experience as a health policy intern. barkholz’s main research interests are in sustainability, international climate policy, and the intersections between people, planet, and public health. 

dr. orttung and barkholz are both attending cop26.

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editor’s note: please check back every day, leading up to the beginning of cop26 on oct. 31, for new pieces from climate leaders in the planet forward network.

i’m going to cop26 to assert, and ensure, that science is actively engaged in informing deliberations, negotiations, and decisions that are rigorous and durable — strong enough to withstand geopolitical challenges.

what do you expect or want out of it?

i hope for a renewed commitment by nations, most especially high-emitting nations, to the upscaled targets set forth by most heads of nations during the april 2021 global climate summit hosted by u.s. president biden. while global enforcement mechanisms do not exist, i would like to see an accelerated level of accountability by nations to make the changes necessary to avoid irreversible levels of catastrophic climate change and to avoid unimaginable human and ecological suffering, damage, and loss.

what do we need to 2022年卡塔尔世界杯官网 ?

we need the courage and unwavering focus by nation leaders to act, and lead by example so other nations follow, and also constituencies follow as well. science-informed policies and actions coupled with human courage, ingenuity, and relentless commitment can get us moving in the direction we need to, to achieve the future we choose. a level of grit and resolve by everyone, most especially those people and places who are less vulnerable and more able to act, is the top priority to 2022年卡塔尔世界杯官网 .

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about the author:

michelle wyman, who will be at cop26, serves as the executive director of the global council for science and the environment, an international nonprofit that spans the boundaries between science, decision-making, and the environment. she has worked on clean energy, climate, and environmental policy with all levels of government for over two decades, developing strategic and tactical solutions to implement energy, climate, and sustainability strategies and solutions. before joining gcse, she served as the director of intergovernmental affairs at the u.s. department of energy. she led the governors’ accord for a clean energy future, applied solutions-local governments building a clean economy, and iclei usa, nonprofits that engage directly with state and local governments. earlier in her career, she helped design and launch a public sector law practice at a major international law firm focused on proactive environmental management, worked as the natural resources director for the city of fort collins, colorado, and recycling coordinator for the city of euless, texas, and as a park ranger with the national park service. she serves in a variety of advisory roles with domestic and international organizations to increase the recognition of and reliance on science in service to the environment and society

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editor’s note: please check back every day, leading up to the beginning of cop26 on oct. 31, for new pieces from climate leaders in the planet forward network.

1. find a way to make people think beyond a scope they have considered before. 

filmmaker john sutter explored the timeline of climate change and rethinking our environmental memory. sutter has a project called baseline: the climate crisis beyond a human lifetime. sutter exposed that our environmental memory is only two to eight years long; thus, it is difficult for us to judge if the climate has drastically changed during our own lifetimes.   

2. write about the discussions of environmental issues with our leaders.

discussing the environment with our local leaders who are at the forefront of protecting our environment through lawmaking gives interesting insight into our cities and communities’ climate issues. during the climate summit kate gallego, the mayor of phoenix, arizona, spoke about what phoenix is doing to become a heat-ready city. hearing her relevant perspective on the heat issues held a lot of weight because she is working first-hand against the ramifications of climate change.    

3. tell the story of how environmental issues affect our children.  

readers care about the youth. this became clear by the emphasis on the phoenix heat index issue on school playgrounds. the community cares about children, they are more vulnerable, and did not cause climate change but live with the consequences. no one wants to hear about children getting burned on their own playground equipment. 

4. interview someone who, from a scientific and personal perspective, has lived through environmental changes. 

at the summit, broadcaster al roker talked about how he has personally witnessed climate change in his years of reporting on the weather. further, john sutter utilizes the personal perspective of children worldwide that are being heavily affected by climate change to tell their story. 

5. write the story of young scientists or activists to add a youthful perspective and activism. 

planet forward student contributors adora shortridge and william walker spoke at the summit about studying heat issues, specifically in phoenix, arizona. their young perspective and eagerness about climate change sparked interest in the group to care about the problems they were discussing.

these thoughts were expressed by three journalists at the event, “conversations in science communication: news, journalism and a global pandemic”, hosted by the george washington university school of media and public affairs. panelists were laura helmuth, the editor-in-chief of scientific american, mark johnson, a science reporter for the milwaukee journal sentinel, and nancy lapid, editor at reuters health medical news.

smpa director silvio waisbord delivered opening remarks to 100 attendees on webex and lisa palmer, the national geographic visiting professor of science communication, moderated the discussion.  

covid-19 has infected 7,168,077 individuals since january 21 and caused 205,372 deaths, according to the cdc covid-19 data tracker. the virus upended the entire world, causing everyone to demand answers from the scientific community. 

johnson spoke on the difficulties of reporting accurate science because research papers are being published so quickly.

“i kind of made a decision early on that i felt it was more important to tell people what the scientists were doing than to take too much of a paternalistic approach and say nothing is a story until it’s been peer-reviewed,” he said.  

as information spreads rapidly, it is more difficult for journalists to speak to their audiences. 

“it’s scary – it’s really hard to communicate with people when they are scared and confused, and that means we’re using all of our skills and experimenting in real-time to figure out how to get messages across in a way that people can hear and comprehend,” helmuth said.

helmuth acknowledged the coronavirus “landed in a massive moment of misinformation and disinformation,” adding that elaborate conspiracy theories have been released even from the president of the united states. 

the misinformation became so dangerous that the magazine endorsed a political candidate for the first time. 

“we felt it was our responsibility to use our platform to urge people to vote for joe biden,” helmuth said.

she claims that the trump administration is harming science and especially public health. 

lapid said that reuters, the news organization where she works, declared a news emergency during covid-19 and rearranged their reporting staff to involve the medical health news team more broadly. 

“reuters quickly realized the general news team needed help from my team who know the difference between dna and rna,” lapid said. 

event attendee heidi estrada, a junior at gwu majoring in international affairs, was surprised to hear about the struggles journalists faced. 

“i feel like journalists were often battling two different battles… the simple battle of understanding the science and the virus itself, and then fighting another battle of fighting the misinformation that was spread online,” she said. 

reflecting upon these times, each panelist shared a key takeaway learned from covering the pandemic. 

helmuth said it’s important to call out racism and lies and to not “give climate science skeptics a platform,” she said. johnson shared that this profession is “endlessly humbling” and you will always be learning something new. lapid encouraged students to develop sources and gain an understanding of basic science to support themselves.

the complete event is archived on gwu school of media and public affairs’s youtube channel.