2023-2024 Teale Lecture Series

“Joining Forces with Water: Resonance and the Geologic Presence of People and Aquifers”
October 12, 2023
Andrea Ballestero
Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Ethnography Studio, University of Southern California

View recorded Andrea Ballestero lecture.

“Building a Better Anthropocene by Understanding Relationships Between People and Nature”
November 2, 2023
Elena Bennett
Professor and Canada Research Chair – Sustainability Science, McGill University

View recorded Elena Bennett lecture.

“Agriculture’s Transition to Net Zero Emissions: What Is Livestock’s Role?”
December 7, 2023
Ermias Kebreab
Professor and Director, World Food Center, University of California – Davis

View recorded Ermias Kebreab lecture.

“When Is a Stream a Stream? States, Feds, Big Business Beg to Differ but Science Shows it Matters”
February 1, 2024
Margaret Palmer
Distinguished University Professor, University of Maryland

This lecture was canceled due to scheduling issues.

“Phosphorus, Food, and Our Future”
February 29, 2024
James Elser
Bierman Professor of Ecology & Director of the Flathead Lake Biological Station, University of Montana; Research Professor & Director of the Sustainable Phosphorus Alliance, Arizona State University

View recorded James Elser lecture

“Green Amendments — The National Movement to Empower Environmental Rights, Law & Advocacy”
March 21, 2024
Maya Van Rossum
Founder, Green Amendments For The Generations Movement & Organization

View recorded Maya Van Rossum lecture

Special Teale Event — Film Screening: “The Last of the Nightingales”
April 11, 2024
Directed by Masha Karpoukhina, featuring Bernie Krause (composer, foley artist with The Doors and the Rolling Stones) and Katherine Krause.
Discussion with Ms. Karpoukhina to follow film.

2022-2023 Teale Lecture Series

“What Can an Economist Possibly Have to Say About Climate Change Policy?”
13 October 2022
Robert Stavins
A.J. Meyer Professor of Energy & Economic Development, Harvard Kennedy School of Government

View recorded Robert Stavins lecture.

“America’s Public Lands: A Political & Conservation Success Story”
17 November 2022
John Leshy
Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley

“The Extreme-Weather Climate Gap: Implications for Cities, Risk,  & Vulnerability”
02 February 2023 (Virtual Event)
J. Marshall Shepherd
Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Geography & Atmospheric Sciences, University of Georgia

View recorded J. Marshall Shepherd lecture.

“From Vulnerability Indices to Profiles”
02 March 2023
Arun Agrawal
Professor, School of Environment & Sustainability, University of Michigan

“World Without Us, World With Us”
23 March 2023
Alan Weisman
Author of “The World Without Us;” Journalist; Co-Founder, Homelands Productions

“Biodiversity Science & Solutions for the Anthropocene”
27 April 2023
Andrew Gonzalez
Professor & Liber Ero Chair in Biodiversity Conservation, Department of Biology; Director of the Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science, McGill University

2021-2022 Teale Lecture Series

30 September 2021
“The History and Future of Conservation”

Michelle Nijhuis
Journalist and author of “Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction”
View recorded Michelle Nijhuis Lecture

21 October 2021
“Ending Population Growth: A Race Against Ecological Limits”

Jane O’Sullivan
Honorary Senior Research Fellow, School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland, Australia, and Co-convener of The Overpopulation Project.
View recorded Jane O’Sullivan Lecture

2 December 2021
“Public Participation and Policy-making in an Environment and Climate Emergency”

Patrick Devine-Wright
Professor of Human Geography, University of Exeter, United Kingdom
View recorded Patrick Devine-Wright Lecture

Spring Semester

10 February 2022
“The View from Here: A Geologist’s Perspective on Living through Climate Change”

Andrea Dutton
Professor, Department of Geoscience, University of Wisconsin-Madison
View recorded Andrea Dutton lecture

24 March 2022
“Understanding Institutional Diversity and Lack of Transparency in Environmental Organizations”

Dorceta E. Taylor
Professor and Senior Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Yale School of the Environment
At the request of the presenter, this lecture was not recorded.

12 April 2022
Small Island Big Song – Collaboration with Jorgensen Auditorium, and Rod Rock, Director -intersection of culture, music and environmental issues.

Performance at Jorgensen associated with other events (e.g. panel discussions, artist interviews)

21 April 2022
“The Promise and the Peril of Ocean-Based Solutions to Climate Change”

Sarah Cooley, Ph.D.
Director of Climate Science, Ocean Conservancy, Washington, DC
View recorded Sarah Cooley lecture 

2020-2021 Teale Lecture Series

24 September 2020

“Frontiers in Climate Change Adaptation”

Chris Field
Perry L. McCarty Director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, Melvin and Joan Lane Professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies, Stanford University

11 February 2021

“A Multi-Decadal Landscape Experiment Leads to New Perspectives on the Effects of Multiple Landscape Transformations”

David Lindenmayer
Australian Research Council Laureate Professor, Australian National University, Canberra

11 March 2021

“The Quest for Environmental and Climate Justice”

Robert Bullard
Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning & Environmental Policy, Texas Southern University

22 April 2021 (Earth Day)

“The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable”

Amitav Ghosh
Acclaimed International author, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and Distinguished Professor, Wolfson College, University of Oxford

This event was cosponsored with the UConn Reads Program, thematically focused in 2020-2021 on environmental justice and human rights.

 

2019-2020 Teale Lecture Series

19 September 2019

“Food Waste Policy: Using Systems Change to Stop Squandering One of Our Greatest Resources”
Emily Broad-Leib
Assistant Clinical Professor of Law and Director, Food Law and Policy Clinic, Harvard University

Due to technical difficulties, there is no recording available for this lecture.
Speakers presentation slides are available here.

24 October 2019

“Ending Extreme Poverty Without Endangering Ecosystems”
Paul Ferraro
Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Carey Business School & Whiting School of Engineering,
Johns Hopkins University

View recorded Paul Ferraro lecture

14 November 2019

“Hotter, Wetter, Drier: Contemporary Urbanization and Challenges for Sustainability”
Karen Seto
Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Geography & Urbanization Science, Yale University

At the request of the presenter, this lecture was not recorded.

6 February 2020

“Connecting with Organisms – Restoring the Human Connection with Nature”
William (Ned) Friedman
Arnold Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Director of the Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University

View recorded William Friedman lecture

5 March 2020

“We Are Not Pricing Climate Risk: A Wall Street Perspective”
Robert Litterman
Chairman of Risk Committee, Kepos Capital, LP

View recorded Robert Litterman lecture

16 April 2020*

“Frontiers in Climate Change Adaptation”
Chris Field
Perry L. McCarty Director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, Melvin and Joan Lane Professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies, Stanford University

*Canceled due to the COVID-19 crisis.

2018-2019 Teale Lecture Series

13 September 2018

“The Edge of the Petri Dish”
Charles Mann
Journalist; Author of “1491,” “1493,” “The Wizard and the Prophet,” and other books;
Contributing Editor, Science, Wired, and The Atlantic Monthly

View Recorded Charles Mann Lecture (NOTE: Due to technical problems, slideshow does not appear until the 43:40 mark)

 

25 October 2018

“In the Footsteps of Late 19th Century Explorers: Reconstructing Environmental Change across the Canadian High Arctic”
John England
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta; Weston Family Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Northern Research; Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada

View Recorded John England Lecture (Note: Lecture starts at the 9:00 mark)

 

15 November 2018

“Silverswords and Lobeliads: Restoring Hawaii’s Marvels of Evolution”
Rob Robichaux
University Distinguished Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona;
Founder and President of the Board of Trustees of the Hawaiian Silversword Foundation

 

31 January 2019

“Litigating in the Supreme Court of the United States: Property Rights vs. Environmental Protection”
Richard J. Lazarus
The Howard J. and Katherine W. Aibel Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

View Recorded Richard Lazarus Lecture

 

21 February 2019

“Beasts at Bedtime: Revealing the Environmental Wisdom in Children’s Literature”
Liam J. Heneghan
Professor of Environmental Science and Studies, DePaul University

View Recorded Liam Heneghan Lecture

18 April 2019

“Improving Water Quality: Are Economics and the Environment Always at Odds?”
Catherine Kling
Professor, Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University

View Recorded Catherine Kling Lecture

2017-2018 Teale Lecture Series

21 September 2017

“Extreme Conservation — A Planet without Glaciers”
Joel Berger
Cox Chair of Conservation Biology, Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, Colorado State University

View recorded Joel Berger lecture

9 October 2017 (Special Presentation)

“Science and Environment in the White House: What Obama Did. What Trump Is Doing. What We Can Do”
John Holdren
Senior Advisor to President Obama on Science and Technology Issues from 2009-2017; Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

View recorded John Holdren lecture

Note: This Special Presentation is at 4:00 PM in the Student Union Theater.
Dr. Holdren was brought to campus by the Center of Biological Risk, with support from the Teale Series.

19 October 2017

“Mining the Mountains: the Environmental Legacies of Coal Mining in Appalachia”
Emily Bernhardt
Professor, Department of Biology, Duke University

View recorded Emily Bernhardt lecture (playback begin 17:42)

9 November 2017

“Thoreau as Activist: Writing to Save the World”
Jeffrey S. Cramer
Curator of Collections, Walden Woods Project’s Thoreau Institute Library, Lincoln, Massachusetts

View recorded Jeffrey Cramer lecture

1 February 2018

“Giving the Future a Chance”
Elke Weber
Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment and Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs, Princeton University

8 March 2018

“Rolling Back Environmental Regulation: Implications for Law, the Economy, and the Environment”
Cary Coglianese
Edward B. Shils Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science, and Director of the Penn Program on Regulation, University of Pennsylvania

5 April 2018

“Multispecies Justice in the Age of Extraction and Extinction”
Subhankar Banerjee
Lannan Foundation Endowed Chair of Land Arts of the American West and Professor, Art & Ecology, Department of Art and Art History, University of New Mexico

2016-2017 Teale Lecture Series

October 20, 2016

“Just Sustainabilities: Re-imagining e/quality, Living Within Limits”
Julian Agyeman
Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, Tufts University

November 3, 2016

“Our Rivers on Drugs: Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products as Agents of Ecological Change in Aquatic Ecosystems”
Rosi-Marshall
Senior Scientist, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, New York

December 1, 2016

“Wanting the Wild”
Harriet Ritvo
Arthur J. Conner Professor of History, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

February 2, 2017

“The Sixth Extinction”
Elizabeth Kolbert
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist

March 30. 2017

“Building Capacity for Adapting to Climate Change”
Maria Carmen Lemos
Professor and Associate Dean for Research, School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan

April 19, 2017

“The Nile Project”
Mina Girgis
President and CEO, The Nile Project

2015-2016 Teale Lecture Series

16 October 2015

“Island Ecosystems as Models for Human-Environment Interaction”
Peter Vitousek
Clifford G. Morrison Professor of Biology and Sykes Family Faculty Director of the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, Stanford University

19 November 2015

“Slow Violence, Environmental Activism, and the Arts”
Rob Nixon
Thomas A. and Currie C. Barron Family Professor in Humanities and the Environment, Princeton University

Co-sponsors: Teale, Junior Faculty Forum of the Humanities Institute, and the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center

4 February 2016

“Of Mice and Men: Emerging Infectious Disease in a Warmer, More Fragmented World”
Rick Ostfeld
Senior Scientist, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, New York

3 March 2016

“Comedy, Economics, and Climate Change”
Yoram Bauman
Author, “standupeconomist,” and carbon tax activist, www.standupeconomist.com

21 April 2016

“Opportunities and Challenges of Shale Gas Production”
Mark Zoback
Benjamin M. Page Professor in Earth Sciences and Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy, Stanford University

2014-2015 Teale Lecture Series

September 25, 2014

“The Global Urban Crisis and an Ecological Way Forward”
Steward T. A. Pickett
Distinguished Senior Scientist, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies

 

October 30, 2014

“The Importance of Being Urban: Density & the Green City”
Julie Campoli
Author & Photographer, Terra Firma Urban Design

 

November 20, 2014

“Climate Change in the American Mind”
Anthony Leiserowitz
Director, Yale Project on Climate Change Communication, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies

 

February 26, 2015

“Dispatches from a Hotter Planet and a Cooler Cosmos”
Seth Borenstein
Associated Press National Science Writer

 

March 26, 2015

“Ecological Imperialism Revisited: Entanglements of Disease, Commerce and Knowledge in a Global World”
Gregg Mitman
Vilas Research & William Coleman Professor of History of Science, Medical History & Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison

 

April 16, 2015

“From Silent Spring to Silent Night: A Tale of Toads & Men”
Tyrone Hayes
Professor of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkley