green ink newsletter, december 2008

8/9/2019 Green Ink Newsletter, December 2008

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green ink

Volume 4 Issue 1 December 2008

Newsletter of the Environmental Science and Policy Program at Michigan State University

ESPP serves as an umbrella for environmental research and graduate education at Michigan StateUniversi ty. ESPPs newslett er and Web site - www.environment.msu.edu - highlight the

interdisciplinary environmental work of faculty, staff and students at MSU.

MSU researchers study globalizaon with NSF grant

Mich iga n State Uni-

versity researchershave received a $1

million grant from the NationalScience Foundations programin Coupled Natural and HumanSystems to study the effects ofglobalization on remote com-munities.

The researchers will con-duct a ve-year study of glo-balization from the perspectiveof households, said principalinvestigator Dan Kramer, an as-sistant professor jointly appoint-

ed by Fisheries and Wildlife andJames Madison College.

Also working on the projectare Andrea Allen, Anthropology;Aaron McCright, Lyman BriggsCollege and Sociology; JiaguoQi, Geography; and GeraldUrquhart, Lyman Briggs Col-lege.

The study focuses on agroup of villages on the Mos-quito Coast of Nicaragua.Before a road linking one ofthem to the capital, Managua

was completed in 2007, it took acharter ight followed by a long

boat ride to reach any of the vil-lages. The group will study theroads effects on household re-source use, farming and shing,

through comparisons to baselinedata collected before the road

was built.

Kramer said the group hasalready observed changes inthe villagers attitudes aboutdevelopment. When news ini-tially spread that a Japaneseaid agency had put up moneyfor building the road, the major-ity of villagers were very, very

excited, he said. But more re-cently, there was more negative

feeling, as they saw things theyhadnt anticipated, like damageto the road from heavy trucksand an inux of vendors selling

their wares on the roadside. Cellphone towers have even begunpopping up in the area.

Urquhart said another pro-posed road has met with hostilityfrom villagers.

The people in the town of

Monkey Point have been reallyresistant to it, he said. Whengovernment ofcials arrived in

the village to discuss plans forthe road, their helicopter waspretty much attacked.

There have also been notice-

able changes in local markets,Kramer said. Produce vendorsnow bring fruits and vegetablesfrom Managua markets to sell tothe villagers. Local shermen

have quit selling their shrimp towholesalers, and instead gatheron the roadside to sell to buyers

from the capital. Kramer saideasier access to markets couldadversely impact local ecosys-tems by encouraging farmersto plant crops that are suited to

export, but not suited to beinggrown in that part of Nicaragua.

Other studies have focusedon globalizations effects on na-

tions or regions, and have ig-nored the really complex set of

drivers that cause changes inhouseholds, Kramer said.

The MSU study will moreclosely examine factors likemarket access, technologicalchange and migration between

communities.Kramer said the groups nd

ings could have real world applications. By studying the effectsof globalization, he said, theyhope to assist communities in

anticipating those effects. Werehoping that some policy changescome out of this.

Urquhart said the project wilalso show how globalization is

affecting the last wild places onearth. Thats where we stand tolose the most species.

For more on the project, visiwww.globalchange.msu.edu/ni-caragua.

Photo courtesy of Gerald Urquhar

environment.msu.edu

274 Giltner Hall

East Lansing, MI 48824

t: 517-432-8296

f: 517-432-8830

Faculty research

all stories wrien by Andy McGlashen

design by Andy Balaskovitz

edited by Maya Fischhof


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Environmental Science andPolicy Program at MSU

Thomas DietzdirectorJoe Arvaiassociate directorMaya Fischhoffassistant directorMarcy Hebererassistant to the director

Derek Moy webmaster

Andy McGlashennews writerAndy Balaskovitz assistant web editor

Climate change and

sustainability science at MSU:

Building on strengths

This academic year is a time for look-ing forward and planning new directionsfor the future. At the national level, theenvironment, and in particular climatechange, is at the top of the agenda.The National Academies have been re-quested by Congress to conduct a major study of Americas Climate Choices(http://americasclimatechoices.org). Iam honored to serve as Deputy Chair ofthe Panel on Advancing the Science ofClimate Change and as a member of theCommittee on Americas Climate Choic-

es that will overviewthe process.There will be a Sum-mit on AmericasClimate Choices on30-31 March 2009in Washington. Atthe end of 2009 thenations of the worldwill meet in Copen-hagen to negotiatea successor to the

Kyoto Protocols.The science of climate change is shift-

ing from a primary focus on understand-ing the global dynamics of the climatesystem to more emphasis on mitigationand adaptation. MSU is well poised tobe a global leader in this new era. Wehave a well-honed approach to adapta-tion research that begins with downscal-ing climate models to the regional scale,linking with expertise in the coupled hu-man and natural systems that will be af-fected, deploying expertise in decisionmaking and engaging with stakeholdersfrom the start. This approach builds onour strengths at broadly interdisciplinarywork and will serve as a national modelof how to understand climate impactsand adaptation to them. We are alsodeveloping an approach to mitigation

based on developing a bio-based andsustainable economy.

For Michigan, the shift away fromfossil fuel use will be based on ef

ciency, wind power and biofuels. Ouemerging approach involves developing these three bases for the bioeconomy in an integrated way that takesaccount of how such technologies canbe phased in, the synergies and tradeoffs among them and the full set oenvironmental and social benets, costs

and risks associated with them.

I see these efforts as part of theemerging emphasis on sustainabilityscience at MSU. This approach buildson our successes. Graduates fromthe Doctoral Specialization in Environmental Science and Policy are nding

top-ight academic jobs. This summe

we will launch the new EnvironmentaPolicy Specialization that will be opento masters and Ph.D. students. Ourst students in the new program with

Zhejiang University are on campus. Anew course in Sustainability Science ismoving through the curriculum approva

process. Using these approaches asmodels we will continue to explore newcurricula and new ways of integratingresearch.

ESPP continues the self-assessmenprocess that began two years ago. TheProgram Advisory Group, the facultyteaching in the Doctoral Specializationthe faculty with appointments in ESPPand ESPP graduate students, as welas the partner deans are involved in active discussions of future directions foESPP. As part of this, we are currentlydiscussing how ESPP will be congured

to meet emerging challenges.I hope you will actively engage in

these visioning and planning processesover the coming semester.

Inside this issue...

1

2

3

4

MSU researchers studyglobalization with NSF grant

Letter from the Director

The Wildnerness DebateRages On

MSU researcher winsclimate change award

New faculty and students atESPP and MSU

News briefs: A roundup ofMSU environmental activities

ESPP staffer helps build

green oat

7-8

9

5-6

FROM THE EDITOR

This semester myrst as ESPPs news

writer has beenpacked with honors forfaculty and students,exciting work byMSUs environmentalresearchers and lots

of new faces in theESPP community. To better spreadsuch news in coming semesters, werere-tooling our Web site, and preparingto launch a blog that will allow us toshare information in a more dynamicand interactive format. Please watch forthese changes in coming weeks, and asalways, we would love to get your inputon our communications efforts. You canreach me at [email protected], and enjoy this edition of GreenInk!

Letter from the Director

green ink | vol. 4 issue 1 december 2008


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The Wilderness Debate Rages On: Scholar

invesgates conicts over meaning of wilderness

With his latest book, MichaelNelson aims to bring newdepth and civility to an oldand often stormy debate.

The associate professorof environmental ethics andphilosophy at Michigan Stateco-edited The Wilderness De-bate Rages On, now availablefrom the University of GeorgiaPress.

Its been10 yearssince Nelson,with co-editorJ. Baird Call-icott of theUniversity ofNorth Texas,released TheGreat New

Wilderness Debate, a wide-ranging collection of essayson the meaning of wildernessand the conflicts that can arisewhen people disagree on thatmeaning.

It included essays in sup-port of preservation and somein favor of wise use of wil -derness, with contributionsfrom scientists, contempo-rary environmental thinkers,and icons like Henry DavidThoreau, John Muir and

Aldo Leopold.Nelson said that, unlike the

previous book, The Wilder-ness Debate Rages On con-tains more narrative pieces

from Marilynne Robinson,Wendell Berry and others,and even includesfiction, in additionto more standardacademic essays.

It also includesseveral essays byearly 20th centuryecologists, whosewritings on wilder-ness as a venue forscientific study arevirtually unknown.

People mightknow the names of the scien-tists, but they dont know theywrote about wilderness, Nel-son said. Nobody listened to

them.Thats unfortunate, he

added, because generally

speaking, wilderness wouldhave a more solid foundationfor protection that way.

Nelson said reaction to The

Great New Wilderness Debatewas at times hostile someenvironmentalistsaccused him ofgiving ammuni-tion to the enemy and that the de-bate itself has be-come sort of dog-matic, with bothsides resorting toname-calling andeven, as Nelsonand Callicott il-

lustrate in the in-troduction to The WildernessDebate Rages On, the occa-sional death threat.

The debate over the con-cept of wilderness has analmost religious tone to it in

many ways, he said, so positions have become prettyentrenched.

Such animosity has madethe wilderness debate, as welas discussion of other environmental topics, tragically

shallow, according to Nelsonwho added that a black-andwhite argument between supporters of preservation and owise use is outmoded, inac

curate, and a wee bit dangerous.

We fail to understandintellectual history, criticathinking, he said. We fail to

ask the really important questions, and, I would say, as aresult we fail to even under-stand or try to understandwhat our problems are in thefirst place.

Nelson said The Wilderness Debate Rages On ishighly accessible, and that hehopes it can spark informedcritical thinking that will yieldmore fruitful, civilized discussion.

I have a wild faith in the

ability of rational discourse toat least eventually lend civilityto nearly any discourse, hesaid, including this one.

The debate over the concept of wildernesshas an almost religious tone to it in manyways, so positions have become prettyentrenched.

Michael Nelson

Nelson

Faculty publication

3 green ink | vol. 4 issue 1 december 2008

Photo courtesy of Flick


4/10

MSU researcher wins international

competition for new climate policy designA paper by a Michigan StateUniversity researcher has beenawarded rst prize in an inter-national competition address-ing global climate change.

J i n h u aZhao, an as-sociate pro-fessor in theDepartmentof Agricultur-al, Food andR e s o u r c eEconomics ,

co-authored the paper withLarry Karp of the Universityof California, Berkeley. It wasone of 36 submissions, withauthors from 18 countries,to the Harvard Project on Inter-national Climate Agreements.

The paper puts forth aframework for a successor tothe Kyoto Protocol, an inter-national agreement to reducegreenhouse gas emissions that

is set to ex-pire in 2012.

W e v e

always beenbothered bymany aspectsof the KyotoP r o t o c o l , said Jinhua.Specifically,

he said, the United States isntpart of the treaty, and other ma-

jor nations fulll only minimal

obligations. The agreementalso lacks an effective enforce-ment mechanism. These are

sticking points that need to be

resolved, he added.Jinhua and Karps proposal

includes an escape clause,

under which countries canwithdraw from the agreement ifcutting emissions becomes toocostly. However, nations thatinvoke the clause would haveto pay a ne, which would be

split between member coun-

tries. As more nations join, thene could be increased, giv-ing further incentive for com-pliance. The ne would also

give nations a reason to moni-

tor other members emissions,thus providing an enforcementmechanism.

Jinhua said the need is greatfor an effective agreement tocut greenhouse gas emissions.Its something we know we

have to do. Otherwise, theresa very high probability thatwere on a track with disaster,he said.

But even if targets forgreenhouse gas emissions areexceeded, Jinhua said, climate

change will persist, and scien-tists must also study ways ofliving in a warmer world.

Now, in addition to abate-ment, we realize we have tostudy mitigation, he said. Ad-aptation, I think, is going to bea major issue.

Having worked for IowaState University since 1997,Jinhua came to MSU this year,drawn by opportunities for in-terdisciplinary research, espe-cially in the alternative energy

eld. I see lots of potential forcollaboration with colleagues,he said. I also see a lot of

potential for the bioeconomy

in Michigan.Jinhua was hired as part of

an MSU initiative focused onthe bioeconomy that is, aneconomy based on renewable

sources of energy and raw ma-terials. He described the eld

as a natural nexus between

energy and global climatechange, since it seeks to enddependence on greenhouseg a s - e m i t -ting fossilfuels.

While hesaid thereare majorchallengesin moving

toward ab i oecono -my, Jinhuar e m a i n sopt imist ic .When peo-ple realizetheres a problem, we work re-ally hard on the solutions, hesaid.

For instance, though the en-vironmental credentials of corn-based ethanol have come underquestion, Jinhua sees an oppor-

tunity to kickstart long-term so-lutions. Through corn ethanol webegin to understand the scale ofeffort that is needed for the next

generation of biofuels, he saidJinhua said researching

biofuels is important becauseit can make nations and businesses start to think in the longterm about energy policy. Asrenewable fuels become moreviable, he said, they may beginto challenge the market poweof oil companies.

Born and raised in northernChina, Jinhua earned his bachelors degree from the University of Science and Technology inBeijing. He then went to Canada to pursue a newfound interest in agriculture, and earned amasters degree in agriculturaeconomics from the Universityof Guelph in Ontario.

He also holds a Ph.D. inagriculturaeconomicsfrom Berkeley, wherehe studiedunder hisfuture coll abo ra to r

Larry KarpFrom 2005to 2007 Jinhua was aco-editor othe Journaof Environ

mental Economics and Management. He still serves on theeditorial council of that journaland on that of the Review oDevelopment Economics.

CO2 photograph courtesy

of Ken Dorning, an academic

from the University of Sheffieldin England. This work can be

found at http://flickr.com/pho

tos/sorby/258577150/.

Jinhua Zhao

I see lots of potential for collaboration with col-leagues. I also see a lot of potential for the bio-economy in Michigan.

Jinhua Zhao

Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics

Faculty award

Karp



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Attendees at

ESPPs rst

environmentalresearch event

on sustainabil-

ity science.

Photo by

Andy

McGlashen

To most peo-ple, risk issomething tobe avoided.But for LouieRivers, en-vironmentalrisk has been

the basis of a career.The assistant professor,

jointly appointed by ESPP andCriminal Justice, comes to MSUfrom Washington, D.C., wherehe worked for two years in theNational Science Foundations

Decision, Risk and Manage-ment Sciences program.

Before that he was at OhioState, where he earned a mas-ters degree in natural resourc-es with a focus on environmen-tal education, and a doctoratein risk perception and decisionmaking especially among mi-norities in an environmentalcontext.

In the spring, Rivers will joinCarole Gibbs and MeredithGore in teaching three online

courses that constitute a mas-ters certicate in conservation

criminology: environmental riskperception and decision mak-ing; international environmentalrisk; and corporate environmen-tal risk.

This fall hell continue workon a ve-year research proj-ect undertaken by Ohio State,

Kentucky State and Purdue.The research examines theperception by black farmers inthe South of risks associatedwith microbial contaminants infood.

He may also join an MSUCriminal Justice project thatseeks to combat open-air drugmarkets.

Thanks to his fathers ca-reer in the Army, Rivers hasalso lived in Oklahoma, NorthCarolina and Kentucky; he ma-jored in biology and minored in

chemistry as an undergrad atKentucky State.

His latest move is a fairly low-risk venture; hes visited MSUfor seminars and research, andhas close ties to ESPP.

Rivers worked with Associ-ate Director Joe Arvai whenthey were both at Ohio State,and said hes excited aboutfuture collaboration with his for-mer colleague.

Of course we have a lot of

overlapping interests, he said.

Im really looking forward toworking more often with him.

Rivers said hes also excitedabout working with DirectorThomas Dietz, and about mov-ing to MSU.

Its a good institution, he

said. I think it will be a nice

change from D.C. Its a greatplace for outdoor activities.

Shes anIvy Leaguegraduate anda Ph.D., butLaura SchmittOlabisi is noelitist.

Of coursewe need science to work on theproblems associated with globalclimate change, she said, but

farmers have an equally impor-tant kind of knowledge.

The new assistant profes-sor, jointly appointed by ESPP

and the Department of Commu-nity, Agriculture, Recreation andResource Studies, said the bestwork on climate change usesboth of those kinds of knowl-edge, combining quantitativeresearch with public engage-ment.

I think the most cutting

edge institutes are going in thatdirection, including MichiganState, she said. Thats the

kind of work that Im most ex-cited about.

Its also the kind of work shesbeen doing since early 2007 asa post-doctoral researcher atthe University of Minnesota.

Schmitt Olabisi has beenworking with a project calledMinnesota 2050, which com-bines public input with quan-titative studies on issues likeenergy use, home construc-

tion and food production. Bycreating multiple scenarios owhat the states mid-centuryenvironment might look like, thegroup hopes to form strategiesto make communities more resilient and adaptable in the faceof environmental change.

The idea is to help these

communities set their prioritiesnow, so they can get on theright track, she said. Its abou

scientists serving the community and working on issues thamatter to them.

After earning a bachelorsdegree in environmental science from Brown Universityshe got her Ph.D. in systemsecology from the State University of New York in Syracuse.

At some point in college

had the epiphany that the largest problems facing humanityat the turn of the millennium areenvironmental problems, shesaid.

Environmental awarenessmust run in the family; her siste

is a graduate student in MSUsDepartment of Fisheries andWildlife.

And when Schmitt Olabisstarts work at MSU in January, iwont be just a family reunion osorts, but also a homecomingshe grew up in another universitytown in Michigan that shall go unnamed here.

Louie Rivers

ESPP welcomes two new joint hires dedicated to interdisciplinary research

Laura Schmitt Olabisi

New faculty at ESPP

green ink | vol. 4 issue 1 december 20085

ESPP launches rst round of networking events

Given Michigan States sprawling cam-pus and the wide-ranging interests ofits environmental researchers, its use-ful occasionally to get members of theESPP community together in one roomwhere they can talk about their workand nd new ways to collaborate.

Thats the idea behind a series ofnetworking events, begun this year,organized by ESPP and held monthly

in the Kellogg Center. Each focuseson a particular area of research andfeatures short presentations by facultyexperts.

Events last semester covered sus-tainability science, water, environmen-tal policy, and coupled human and nat-ural systems. Check the ESPP Website for details on more networkingevents in the spring semester.


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New students at ESPP

For newE S P Ps t u d e n t

Jessica Fry, it wasa busy beginning tothis fall semester.

Just four daysbefore arriving in

East Lansing, Fry was in the Netherlands where she was born and has spent muchof her life successfully defending her mas-

ters thesis, which concerned new methodsof regulating hog manure.

She earned her bachelors in ecologyand biodiversity from the University of Am-sterdam, and worked for a short time as apolice ofcer in that city, but missed the

science component of her education, andwent back to earn a masters degree in fo-rensic science.

While at Michigan State last fall, takingadvantage of a University of Amsterdampolicy that allows students to fulll elective

requirements abroad, Fry met Carole Gibbs,an assistant professor of criminal justice.

Gibbs sparked her interest in conservationcriminology, an emerging eld that draws onmultiple disciplines to examine environmen-tal crimes, harms and risks.

If I hadnt met her I wouldnt have known

how to proceed from there, she said ofGibbs.

Fry said shes broadly interested in en-vironmental crime, and hopes to narrowher focus as she gets accustomed to the

social science thinking in the Criminal Jus-tice program. And given her educationalbackground, she said, shes eager to get toknow ESPP students and faculty who studyagriculture.

John Cle-

ments i ss tak ing ou t

a career wheree n v i r o n m e n t a lpo l i cy meets hu-man hea l th .

Clements plansto earn his Ph.D. in sociology from MSUby studying environmental public health inthe Caribbean and Central America. One

potential project would study the health ofworkers in the chemical-intensive bananaindustry.

For me the interest is nding out what

theyre exposed to and what effect it hason their health, he said.

By educating workers, business ownersand public ofcials about the health effects

of chemicals, Clements said he hopes tohelp improve the lax environmental regula-tions of some Caribbean nations.

The basic policy (of banana plantation

owners) is, If the workers dont want toput up with it, well nd people who will,

he said.His interest in policy was sparked whilehe was working as an environmental con-sultant, after earning a bachelors degreein biology from Aquinas College. Thatwork gave Clements a glimpse of the ma-

jor inuence exerted by oil companies on

state and national bodies that developedregulations for pollution cleanup.

And I thought, This just isnt right.

There have to be other ways of develop-ing policy, he said.

He then went to Oregon State tostudy how agricultural chemicals get intogroundwater, and earned his mastersdegree from Grand Valley State by exam-ining the economic impact of Michigansenvironmental nonprots. He has spent

the last 10 years developing educationalprograms and researching public healthfor Saginaw-based Synergy Medical.

Clements enjoys painting and travel,and is married with two kids, aged 12 and17. When Im not studying, Im hanging out

with them, he said.

Sara Tanis

came toM i c h i g a n

State to protecwhat she loves.

The main rea

son I came back toschool is because love working in my

yard, she said. I love trees.

Tanis has been working particularly

hard to save trees from the emeraldash borer, an invasive insect that haskilled count-less ash trees inMichigan alone.Her mastersthesis observedhow insecticidesmarked with car-bon-14 movethrough ashtrees, to deter-mine where bestto make anti-ash

borer injections.She also focus-es on trying to

learn how to livewith it and edu-cate people notto move rewood, to stop the expan

sion of the pests range.Tanis said shes excited about the

ESPP specialization in part because oits policy dimension.

Itll be really interesting for me, be

cause the emerald ash borer is morethan just an environmental problemIts a policy problem. Its a politicaproblem.

The Ludington, Mich. native earnedher bachelors degree in biology fromWestern Michigan University and hemasters in horticulture from MSUwhere shes now working toward aPh.D. in forestry.

Tanis is married with dogs, and

enjoys gardening, shing, hiking and

spending time with family.

The emerald

ash borer ismore than

just an en-vironmentalproblem. Its apolicy problemIts a political

problem.

Sara Tanis

Students in ESPPs doctoral specialization explore how diverse disciplines conceptualize environmentalscience and policy. Some of our new students are proled below; more proles will be in the Spring newsletter

Fry to study conservationcriminology

Clements explores intersection of

environment and health

Tanis protects forests throughscience

More student proles

available atenvironment.msu.edu



7/10

NEWS briefs

Biofuels research inuencing science and policy

Policymakers have a brief opportunityto protect the environment from po-tential harm caused by the edgling

biofuels industry,Phil Robertson(Crop and SoilSciences) and co-authors wrote inthe October 3 is-sue of the journalScience.

Environmen-tal standards areneeded now, before

the industry moves out of its researchand development phase, Robertsonsaid. We can soften the environ-mental impacts by using strategiessuch as no-till farming to minimize erosion and planting cover cropsto sequester carbon and reduce nitrogen and phosphorus run-off. Butfew farmers use all of the best available practices because there arelimited incentives and many disincentives for them to do so.

Robertson and Doug Landis (Entomology) also testied last sum-mer before Congress on the sustainability of cellulosic biofuels.

New center to help farmers turn waste into energy

MSUs new Anaerobic Digestion Research and Education Center willdevelop technologies to help small and mid-sized farms turn animalwaste into electricity, heat and other valuable products. The Centerseeks to improve quality of life for rural residents and turn an environ-mental and economic liability into a public and private asset, said leadinvestigator Wei Liao (Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering).

ESPP director advises Congress on climate policy

It seems all but certain that the next Congress will take legislative ac-tion on climate change, and when it does, ESPP Director Thomas Di-etz will be among its advisers.

The National Academy of Sciences tapped Dietz to help lead a $6million study called Americas Climate Choices. The two-year studywill assess short and long-term strategies for slowing and adaptingto climate change, and will identify challenges and new directions forresearch.

Dietz said MSU takes a unique approach to climate change re-search, and that the appointment speaks highly of the MSU model.There is a lot being done around campus on climate change, and this

is a huge validation of that, he said.

Students take award for renewable argument

A team of MSU students wonsecond place in a student envi-ronmental challenge at the Airand Waste Management Asso-ciations annual conference inPortland, Oregon in August. Thechallenge required students to ar-gue for or against a proposed In-tegrated Gasication Combined

Cycle coal facility meant to servethe Pacic Northwest. MSUs team decided against the plant, opt

ing instead for a medley of renewables. Kudos to Rebecca Hullman(ESPP and Environmental Engineering), Michael Collins (Journalism)Lauren Olson (CARRS), Tan Zhao (Environmental Engineering), andBrandon Knight.

ESPP student wins NASA fellowship

Carolina Santos, a doctoral student in Geography and ESPP, earneda two-year Earth Systems Science Fellowship from NASA. Shell receive $30,000 per year to pursue her research on land use in Colombia. The fellowship supports training of interdisciplinary scientists tosupport the study of the Earth as a system, with a particular emphasison using observations and measurements from NASAs Earth orbitingsatellites.

Students earn agricultural economics honors

Wei Zhang and Daniel Mooney, both of MSUs Department of Agri-cultural, Food, and Resource Economics, received awards for environment-related theses from the American Agricultural Economics Association at its 2008 meeting. Zhang won Honorable Mention for herdissertation, Optimal Pest Management in the Presence of Natura

Pest Control Services, while Daniel Mooney took Honorable Men-tion for his thesis entitled The Economic Impact of Disease-Resistant

Bean Breeding Research in Northern Ecuador.

Leopold Leadership Fellow to focus on public communi-

cation of science

Scott Swinton, professor in the Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, was oneof 19 environmental researchers from across NorthAmerica selected as an Aldo Leopold LeadershipFellows for 2008. The program helps scientistsbecome stronger communicators with audiencesoutside of academia, including journalists and policymakers. Swintons areas of research include environmental economics, ecosystem services, pes

Its impossible to capture all the environment-related work occurring at MSU in one newsletter. Below are briefsabout some activities and achievements. More information is posted on the ESPP Web sites Breaking Newssection. We also send out monthly updates: to subscribe, contact [email protected].

Environmen-tal standards areneeded now... Butfew farmers use allof the best availablepractices becausethere are limited in-centives - and many

disincentives - forthem to do so.

Phil RobertsonCrop and Soil Sciences

Robertson

Swinton



8/10

management, sustainable agriculture, natural capital and agriculturalissues.

Like many MSU professors, Ive learned how to reach academic

audiences via classroom teaching, journal article publications andconference presentations, Swinton said. But making scientic learn-ing accessible to the general public and to policymakers is a greater

challenge.

National Wildlife Federationapplauds MSUs sustainability

efforts

MSU received high marks in a new na-tional report card from the National Wild-life Federation that gauges how well insti-tutions of higher education are recycling,conserving energy and water, protectingwildlife habitat and teaching environmentaleducation. MSU is widely acknowledgedfor diverse environmental efforts, from the

Ofce of Campus Sustainability to the Be Spartan Green operations

initiative. In 2006, the university joined the Chicago Climate Exchange

and committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Green roof guru recognized for research

Brad Rowe (Horticulture) received the ResearchAward of Excellence from Green Roofs for HealthyCities (GRHC) at the 2008 International Green RoofConference. Brad is an outstanding researcher

and green roof advocate. His works impact hasranged across different cultures and scientic dis-ciplines and he has shared his knowledge of greenroofs with people from undergraduates to Membersof Congress, says the GRHC Web site. He is also

a very personable scientist, taking time to give tours

of his own Michigan State University green roofs, as well as give talksto other organizations about the benets of green roofs.

Kay Gross honored by Ecological Society of America

Kay Gross (Kellogg Biological Station andPlant Biology) received the Ecological Societyof Americas (ESA) Distinguished Service Cita-tion. Gross is renowned in the ecological com-munity for both her scientic contributions to

plant ecology and her contributions to develop-ing the institutional infrastructure of the eld,

according to the ESA.

Researcher wins award for work on water and health

Joan Rose (Fisheries and Wildlife) is the winner ofthe International Water Associations (IWA) Hei-jinWoo Award, which recognizes outstanding workby a woman engineer or scientist in the water eld.

Rose has advanced the eld by examining key

parasites and viruses as waterborne pathogens,according to IWA. Her work has had local, national

and international impacts and she continues to

strive to promote water safety and global health.

Salchow, Link, Kinch help students design eco posters

An interdisciplinary effort led to students creating posters that put anenvironmental twist on popular political slogans. Students taking cours-es in Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures (WRAC) and Art andArt History designed posters with slogans like I Like Bike and Wind

Power to the People to coordinate with the presidential election. Posters are available online through MSUs Ofce of Campus Sustainability(www.ecofoot.msu.edu). Course leaders were Kelly Salchow (Art andArt History), John Kinch (WRAC), and Terry Link (Ofce of Campus

Sustainability).

Announcement

Call for Doctoral Recruiting Fellowships

Each year, ESPP offers several two-year Doctoral RecruitingFellowships for entering students. The goal of these fellowshipsis to attract the strongest possible cohort of students to pursuedoctoral education focused on the environment at MSU.

Students must be nominated by their intended home depart-ment; departments, in turn, are limited to two nominations. Students may not apply directly for these fellowships but shouldwork with their intended home department to prepare their ap-plication materials.

Departmental nominations are due January 30. For more information, contact Joe Arvai at [email protected].

Rowe

Gross

Rose



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East Lansing High Schoolused to spend about $750 perclass on homecoming oats.

But among the oats that came

rolling down Burcham Drive inthis falls parade, there wasone with a much smaller pricetag roughly 50 bucks.

ESPP staffer Marcy He-berer, an adviser to the ju-nior class at ELHS, said theschool has tried to be moresocially and environmentallyconscious in recent years.Instead of building a oat for

each class, the school nowbuilds only two one for fresh-men and sophomores, anothershared by juniors and seniors.

Theyve donated the savingsto charities.

But Heberer still wasnt sat-ised.

I started thinking, Why

spend any money on a oat?

she said.She pitched the idea of a

green oat to students, who

she said really embraced it.

To t this years disco theme,

the upperclassmen built theiroat almost entirely from re-cycled materials.

With the help of MSUs Of-ce of Campus Sustainabil-ity, students gathered empty

water bottles to form a skirtaround the oat. Flat, Black

and Circular, a used recordshop in East Lansing, donated

old album covers for deco-ration. Foil from a previousyears oat was used to make

a disco ball.Clancey Disa, ju-

nior class presidentat ELHS, said there

was positive reactionto the oat from the

community and fromstudents.

We were really

happy with it, shesaid.

It was a lot easier

than dealing with allthe chicken wire andstuff. Plus, we couldget really creative without feel-ing bad about wasting any-thing.

The students didnt justavoid waste by saving mon-ey on building materials, theywere able to give $1,000 worthof non-perishable food tothe Greater Lansing FoodBank.

Heberer said this yearsgreen oat could be the be-ginning of a trend at ELHS. I

think it could get to be competitive this way, she said. Who

can be cheapest and make thewackiest stuff?

Local high schoolers, ESPP staer build green oat

Photos courtesy of Marcy Heberer


We were really happy with it.

It was a lot easier than dealingwith all the chicken wire and

stuff. Plus, we could get reallycreative without feeling badabout wasting anything.

Clancey Disa

East Lansing High School

junior class president

Promoting sustainability


10/10

michigan state university274 giltner halleast lansing, mi 48824


green ink newsletter, december 2008

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