Fall Quarter

The Living Snow Project is a community enabled science (aka "citizen science") program that engages the outdoor recreation community in science that is revealing impacts of climate change on biology in snowy alpine environments.

As we face the reality of caring for the future of our Earth in an era with increasing detachment from nature and the environment that sustains our lives, this will be a discussion, ideas, and some history about how a for-profit, capitalistic corporation can work for the benefit of the natural world, people and community; all while doing business in a sensitive environment, 100% off the grid in the snowiest place on Earth.

Brian will discuss the history of death care in America leading to the current environmental impacts of conventional burial and cremation practices. He will draw on over a decade of experience as a licensed funeral director and leader in the Green Burial Movement to explore established and emerging alternatives in death care that further environmental goals of reduced carbon emissions, ecological restoration, and landscape level conservation. Practices that can be both ecologically sound, and deeply meaningful, spiritually and emotionally.

Climate change is threatening the survival of Tonga and other South Pacific nations. It is causing sea level to rise, putting coastal communities at risk, and warming ocean temperatures, increasing the strength of cyclones/hurricanes. Cyclone Gita (2018), the strongest cyclone in history to make landfall on Tonga, caused significant damage.

Archived Video of this talk.

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Despite their small size, nanoparticles are responsible for several environmental processes ranging from the biogeochemical cycling of elements to the transport of toxicants such as heavy metals and radionuclides. The advent of engineered nanotechnology in the recent years necessitated the development of sensitive and selective analytical tools and techniques capable of exploring the nanoscale. These new analytical approaches, such as single particle ICP-MS, are now being used to better understand the natural environment and the impacts of anthropogenic activities.

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Photo courtesy of Utah DWR

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