The End of Expertise: And Why That Is A Giant Problem for the Anthropocene

By Dr. Bruce Hull

Two game-changing coattails that Trump road to the presidency are fake news and distrusted expertise. They also usher into mainstream governance an end to rationality, modernity, enlightened self-interest, and related strategies and hopes that we can think our way out of the challenges we face. These are deeply troubling trends for those of us concerned with the highly technical, enormously complex, wickedly interdependent sustainability challenges of meeting the needs of 2-5 billion new middle class consumers while ...

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Opinion

New Course: Climate Change and Societal Impacts

Climate Change and Societal Impacts is a new course that will be offered by Dr. Anamaria Bukvic (GEOG) in Fall 2017.

Department of Geography
Course Number: 4984
Course Title: Climate change and societal impacts
Semester: Fall 2017
Time: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 10-11:15am
Anticipated Student Enrollment: 40

Instructor: Dr. Anamaria Bukvic, Research Assistant Professor, Geography, ana.bukvic@vt.edu

Course Description: Accelerated climate change has been permanently changing the natural, built, and social systems around the globe over the last few decades. Many of these impacts ...

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Climate Change, New Courses

Indirect effects of invasive Burmese pythons on the Florida Everglades

John D. Willson recently published a paper in the Journal of Applied Ecology titled, “Indirect effects of invasive Burmese pythons on ecosystems in southern Florida”.

Willson’s research paper was highlighted in the online magazine, Anthropocene, published by Future Earth:

Invading pythons and the weird, uncertain future of the Florida Everglades

By Brandon Keim | February 8, 2017

The Florida Everglades are one of Earth’s biological marvels, a vast slow-moving river in whose marshes live—even at this late date, with water diverted, pollution injected and human ...

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Biodiversity

James Hansen to give keynote talk at Appalachian Studies Conference

From VT News

Renowned climatologist James Hansen will visit Virginia Tech on March 10, 2017.
He will give a 4 p.m. lecture entitled “A Peaceful Revolution: Global Justice for Young People Requires a New Approach” in the Squires Student Center, followed by a question-and-answer period.
The event is free and open to the public as seating allows.

Hansen, who was among the first scientists to argue that the burning of fossil fuels is warming the planet, is the keynote speaker in the 40th Annual ...

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Climate Change, Global Change, Other Sponsored Lectures, Seminars, Workshops, Lectures

Carol Franco: Global Climate Change Policy-Why should we care?

Dr. Carol Franco, a senior research associate in the College of Natural Resources and Environment’s Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation (FREC), will give a seminar on Friday, February 17, 2017 at 11:15 a.m., in Fralin Auditorium. Her seminar will be titled:

Global Climate Change Policy – Why should we care?

Abstract

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international treaty that provides a platform for multilateral efforts to address the impacts of climate change on people and ecosystems. ...

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Climate Change, Seminars, Workshops, Lectures

John Jelesko is Super Poison Ivy Man

From VT News

John Jelesko’s resume runs long with all the hallmarks of a serious scientist:

  • Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science
  • Primary author of studious journal publications
  • Winner of prestigious National Science Foundation fellowships
  • Post-doctoral work at University of California, Berkeley

Now the Virginia Tech associate professor of plant pathology, physiology, and weed science can add one more notch to his storied CV: character in a comic.

While his character doesn’t wear a cape or have super-human powers, Jelesko is being ...

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Research

New position at VT builds social science capacity within the bird conservation community

From VT News

With many bird populations declining, scientists are looking for new ways to help protect and conserve vital species.

Thanks to a partnership with the North American Bird Conservation Initiative, Virginia Tech is now home to a new, high-profile position that aims to build social science capacity within the bird conservation community through research, partnerships, and outreach.

According to Ashley Dayer, assistant professor of human dimensions in the College of Natural Resources and Environment’s Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, ...

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Conservation