Events
2004-2005
The Annual Environmental Studies (ES) Welcoming Reception
ES faculty and students will be on hand to answer questions about our ES major and ES minor, there will be poster displays of ES Summer Collaborative Research projects, and local organizations, such as the Sierra Club and Environmental Advocates, will be present to talk about volunteer and internship opportunities.
Of Monkey Dancing and Lynx Tracks: Are We Breaking Up with Mother Nature?
Daniel Glick, Guest Lecturer
For more information on Dan, please see http://www.danielglick.net/bio.htm
Global Planning for the People's Games: Image Construction, Urban Development, and the Olympics in Beijing 2008
Dr. Thomas Hahn, Cornell University
In addition to many other aspects of the Olympic Games in Beijing, Dr. Hahn discussed the environmental ramifications and attempts to minimize the ecological footprint of the Games.
When we Restore Nature, What Do We Owe the Past?
Dr. Andrew Light, NYU Applied Philosophy Group
Restoration Ecology is the practice of restoring damaged ecosystems. But how is environmental damage best repaired? When we restore a site that has been degraded by humans, should we eliminate all vestige of the process, making it "natural", or should something else be our goal?
The Rising Peril of HIV/AIDS in China; Sex Work, Human Rights, and Challenges to Public Policy
- Joan Kaufman, Director, AIDS Public Policy Training Program, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
- Sandra Teresa Hyde, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Public Health, McGill University
- Sara Davis, researcher in the Asia Divison at Human Rights Watch, visiting scholar at Columbia University’s Weatherhead East Asian Institute
All three panelists have been extensively involved in researching AIDS in China from very different perspectives and disciplines. Joan Kaufman began the panel with an update of the epidemic and a discussion of public policy responses. Sandra Teresa Hyde discussed issues of sex work, drug use and stigmatization in China. Sara Davis focused on issues of law and human rights in regards to the AIDS epidemic in China.
Cosponsored Environmental Studies, Asian Studies, and the Luce Speaker Fund
Sustainable Community Development in the Village Setting
In April, members of the Skidmore community joined Shana Greene for a discussion on sustainability in the developing world. Greene, founder and Executive Director of Village Volunteers, is working in partnership with villages in Ghana and Kenya to address the goals and objectives of each community. The organization's mission is to replicate this model in villages throughout the world.
Greene has returned from a seven week trip to Africa to meet with the Village Volunteer Consortium. All villages in the Consortium apply a holistic and sustainable overlay to deal with their community challenges with inspirational results. Visit www.villagevolunteers.org.
Nature, Culture and Democracy -- A View From the Grassroots
Smitu Kothari
Smitu Kothari, one of India’s most important intellectuals/activists, works “toward the melding of a broad spectrum of social forces in Indian society into a popular [non-party] political movement for the creation of a just, sustainable, and inclusive Indian society.”* He edits the internationally recognized Lokayan Bulletin published by the Lokayan group in Delhi and co-edits Ecologist Asia with Vandana Shiva and others. He has played an important role in several of India’s popular social movements, including the National Alliance of People’s Movements, a coalition committed to people-centered development. He has co-edited two books, Out of the Nuclear Shadow and The Value of Nature: Ecological Politics in India. He is a faculty member for Skidmore’s semester-in-India program who is very popular with students, and he has also coordinated two study abroad programs for Boston University. Over the past fifteen years he has been a visiting professor at Cornell and Princeton, and is current a visiting faculty at Princeton.
Sponsored by the Asian Studies, International Affairs, and Environmental Studies Programs and the Departments of Government and Philosophy & Religion
*from an interview at http://www.pcdf.org/1997//PW6kothari.htm
Japan - China Environmental Issues
Dr. Yoko Nagase Department of Economics, Lawrence University
Dr. Nagase discussed the complex issues of environmental pollution between Japan and China. Dr. Nagase began with an overview of environmental policies in Japan and China, and then discussed her research on issues of energy consumption, emissions, and acid rain. Strong evidence indicates that acid rain in parts of Japan is due to SO2 emissions from major industrial cities in Northern China. Dr. Nagase discussed the possibilities of an effective and efficient environmental policy to control acid rain in Japan, paying special attention to the roles played by economic incentives and institutions of both countries.
Sponsored by Asian Studies, Environmental Studies, and the Luce Speaker Fund
Earth Day Festival
ES Capstone Event as part of the Academic Festival
