Environment at MSU: Sustainability Science
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Corniche Room, Kellogg Center
Biosketches of attendees
Sandra Batie presentation
Tom Dietz presentation
More than 50 faculty, staff and students attended the first in a series of monthly networking seminars hosted by ESPP.
The event focused on sustainability science and featured presentations by ESPP Director Thomas Dietz and Sandra Batie, Elton R. Smith Professor in Food and Agricultural Policy in the Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics.
Batie's presentation characterized sustainability as a "wicked problem" - that is, one defined by the values of those concerned, and for which there is no definitive solution.
Batie also introduced the MSU Sustainable Michigan Endowed Project, which is funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and is dedicated to catalyzing sustainable scholarship related to a sustainable future for Michigan.
Dietz discussed in more detail the key themes of sustainability science, which include the integrative nature of the field, its focus on coupled human and natural systems, and the need to explicitly account for people's values.
Several key papers in the field have been authored by Michigan State researchers, according to Dietz.
"We're already in this game," he said. "I think it's a wonderful time for MSU students and faculty to engage some of these ideas."
The seminar's attendees represented the breadth of ESPP's network.
Steve Miller, a visiting instructor in the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, said his work deals directly with sustainability science, and that he's "certainly interested in working on it more in the future."
Associate professor of environmental ethics and philosophy Michael Nelson said the seminar was also closely related to his work.
"At the end of the day, these are questions about how we ought to act," he said. "They're ethical questions. But there aren't enough of us in the humanities who pay attention."
Other seminars this semester will focus on water (October 3), policy (November 3) and coupled human and natural systems (December 4). They will be held from 3:00 to 4:30 in the Corniche Room at the Kellogg Center.
By Andy McGlashen
