The Nelson Institute Blog

As the Spring 2008 semester begins, we would like to extend a special welcome to our new Nelson Institute graduate students. To see a list of the new students and their advisors, please go to our New Graduate Students web page.

As the Fall 2007 term ends, we would like to congratulate our recent M.S. and Ph.D. graduates. A list of the recent graduates and their advisors can be found on our Recent M.S. and Ph.D. Graduates website.

First things first:

• PLEASE certify your effort!
• PLEASE replace you ID if it still uses your SSN!

Ok - enough of that.

I hope that you all had a good holiday season; that you ate some really good food; that you spent time with people you love, and maybe even enjoy; and that you have recovered from all of that and now feel somewhat rested and optimistic about the year to come.

As many of you are probably aware by now, the short list of candidates for the Director position has been announced. Public visits will take place during the 3rd week of February (Overpeck, 18-19 Feb; Costanza, 21-22 Feb). The Secretary’s Office is in the process of working out the details of the visits. Please let me know if you have special requests in this regard. I have requested the following meetings be arranged:

• APC plus academic program leaders
• Governance Faculty
• Students
• Centers (1 meeting for each center)

Each candidate will give a short talk followed by an opportunity for dialog - please make every effort to attend these sessions and take opportunities to interact with the candidates. They will also meet with the Dean’s Council and a range of senior campus leadership.

Our Earth Day preparations are advancing. We will host a conference at the Monona Terrace on 16 April. The conference will focus on mitigation with reports from on the Governors Global Warming Task Force and adaptation with reporting related to the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts (WICCI). The Governor is currently scheduled to open the conference and other details of the agenda are in development.

At our recent staff meeting, the Director’s Office staff brainstormed on our tasks and objectives for the Spring 2008 semester and came up with the following (click on the image for a better view, comments are welcome):

I have had 2 interesting meeting with representatives of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. They are interested in revitalizing Taliesin and in building a partnership with the Nelson Institute. We left our last meeting with the hope of holding a small workshop to consider the system drivers behind the transition of agricultural lands into dense housing settlements. They will send a first draft of an idea soon and I will circulate that as we consider team formation on our side of the project. At first blush there are great opportunities for both the BESR and WICCI projects as well as others to engage in thinking about the built environment and its relationship to sustainability.

I also had an interesting conversation with Roger Dower who is the new president of the Johnson Foundation. He is interested in adaptation to climate change and has asked me to gather ideas for advancing our thinking on that front. Any Ideas?

I met recently with Menzie Chinn and Mary Treleven in the La Follette school to discuss the design of an exchange program with Tromsø. We are working a draft of options and that will be circulated more broadly as it is developed.

Finally - there has been discord surrounding the printers in the student commons. I apologize to everyone who has been offended. I recognize that technical support for IT infrastructure continues to be a challenge. I look forward to meeting with the Student Reps again this semester and hope that we can develop an agenda for that meeting that will improve not only the details of student life, but also the larger framework of the relationship between students and the Institute. As always I am willing to meet more frequently with students on particular issues as well.

I hope that your semester is off to a good start and that the snow is not too deep around your boots, doors and modes of transport.

Decades of neglect in energy research will be hard to reverse, according to a report published recently by the journal Energy Policy.

The Chronicle of Higher Education, in a story about the report, quotes Gregory Nemet, co-author of the paper and an assistant professor in the Nelson Institute and the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW-Madison, as saying that a tenfold increase in energy research spending “is both warranted and feasible.” Read the story.

On Jan. 30 and 31, UW-Madison will participate in Focus the Nation, an unprecedented nationwide teach-in on global warming solutions with the aim of preparing millions of students to become leaders in responding to the one of the greatest civilizational challenges any generation has faced.

The teach-in is centered on three pillars embraced by today’s youth: education, civic engagement and leadership. To date, over 1,400 institutions around the United States have committed to participate in this ambitious nationwide effort.

“We are in a time where critical decisions need to be made on global warming, which means today’s leaders and the youth who will inherit the crisis need serious education on the issue,” said James “Gus” Speth, dean of Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. “Focus the Nation is our country’s foremost model to create that level of education and interaction with law makers.”

The teach-in will begin on the night of Wednesday, Jan. 30, when The 2% Solution, a live, interactive Webcast produced by the National Wildlife Federation will be aired by the Earth Day Network and screened at three locations on the UW-Madison campus. Students and other community members can view and participate in this web cast at 7:00 p.m. in 2650 Humanities, 105 Psychology, or 6210 Social Science. Panelists will include actor Edward Norton, Stanford climate scientist Steve Schneider, Hunter Lovins, CEO, Natural Capitalism, and environmental justice leader Van Jones, executive director, Ella Baker Center in Oakland, Calif.

On Thursday, Jan. 31, UW-Madison faculty and guest speakers will present an intensive teach-in on global warming in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union. The teach-in begins at noon with a kick-off lecture by Jon Foley, founder and director of the Nelson Institute’s Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment. Civic leader Nino Amato will then introduce Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, who will give a speech entitled “Green Madison Plan” at 1:10 p.m. This will be followed by short presentations by more than a dozen experts from the UW-Madison faculty until 5:00 p.m.

The day’s events will culminate in Green Democracy, an evening round-table discussion between students and elected leaders called, focusing on solutions to the climate crisis. The conference will take place at 6:00 PM in the Lowell Center, located at 610 Langdon Street. Confirmed guests include State Representatives Spencer Black and Mark Pocan and State Senator Mark Miller. Other invited guests include Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton, State Senators Robert Cowles and Fred Risser, and State Representatives Brett Davis and Sondy Pope-Roberts. Should certain members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives not be able join the event in person, Focus the Nation will hold a discussion among students and other organizations.

The final piece of Focus the Nation’s teach-in model will be the Choose Your Future vote. All students, faculty and community participants will be encouraged to vote on what they think are the top five solutions from a list of ten to fifteen that will be available Jan. 21, 2008 at www.focusthenation.org. Vote results will be presented nationally in mid-February. All students who vote on the Choose Your Future ballot will be eligible to win a $10,000 leadership scholarship for a project to be completed by end of August 2008.

“We are thrilled to be a part of this initiative. This is education at its finest,” said James Pawley, professor of zoology at UW-Madison. “It represents the enormous power that youth have when they use their education to create positive change in the world.”

Tentative List of Speakers

Jon Foley - “Living on a Shrinking Planet: Challenges and Opportunities for a Sustainable Future”
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz - “Green Madison Plan”
Jonathan Patz - “Health Effects of Climate Change”
Pete Anderson - “Reducing the Carbon Footprint of Your Diet”
Rick Lindroth - “The Effect of Climate Change on Insects and Plants”
Jack Kloppenburg - Topic TBA
Warren Porter - “Climate Change and Animal Change: Calculating Consequences of Adaptation Mechanisms Influencing Future Distributions”
Joe Elder - “India and Global Warming”
Dan Anderson - “Sustainability Risk Management-Global Warming Risks”
Linda Graham - “Aquatic Algae”
Ben Grady - “Biodiversity Loss and Extinction of Plants”
Teri Balser - Topic TBA
Chris Vaughn - Topic TBA
Tom Eggert - “The Stern Report: The Cost of Business as Usual”
James Pawley - Topic TBA

For more information about UW-Madison’s Focus the Nation events, contact one of the following students:

Yang Xie, xie1@wisc.edu
Lea Levernier, levernier@wisc.edu
Caitlin Krois, krois@wisc.edu

Senator Gaylord Nelson (left) enjoying a Packer Mobile Games in 1962 with some friends you may recognize. For full details, visit WHS Wisconsin Historical Images.

The task of organizing, preserving, and making accessible the papers, photos, and audio & video recordings of Gaylord Nelson is moving along under the expert guidance of Wisconsin Historical Society archivist Jennifer Graham.

Jennifer will be giving a tour of the Nelson Archives on Thursday, January 17th at 1:00 p.m. The group will meet in the first-floor Sellery Room at the Wisconsin Historical Society, 816 State Street, and move up to the archives where the work of preservation is being done. This is a great opportunity to see what it takes to preserve and communicate Wisconsin history, and the Nelson Legacy, to future generations.

If you can’t come to the tour, please visit the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Turning Points in Wisconsin History site to explore their resources on the modern environmental movement, including photos of Gaylord Nelson.

Community Engagement in Science and Environmental Issues

This new brownbag is for anyone at UW-Madison or in the Madison community who is interested in and/or involved with community engagement in scientific and environmental issues. Addressing these issues in the community involves many challenges that go beyond community engagement in less “technical” issues, e.g., bridging the divide between laypeople and research scientists/other “experts,” communicating about complex and uncertain risks related to invisible environmental toxins, negotiating risk regulatory politics, and many more.

This brownbag is an opportunity to discuss challenges and opportunities of community engagement in science and environmental informally with others who are dealing with similar issues (while eating and sharing food). Please join us!

When: 12:00 p.m. Friday, January 25th (we meet on the 2nd and 4th Friday of the month.)

Where: Room 102 (kitchen), Bradley Memorial Building, 1225 Linden Drive (map), home of the Nelson Institute’s new Center for Culture, History, and Environment.

For more information, contact Cassandra Garcia or Maria Powell, 890-1740.

Congratulations to Nelson Institute graduate student Holly Gibbs, who has been offered a David H. Smith Conservation Research Fellowship by the Society for Conservation Biology. Only a handful of students nationally each year are so honored.

“This is one of the most prestigious postdoctoral fellowships in the country, period — involving insanely strong candidates, detailed reviews from the toughest folks in the country, and an exhaustive two-day interview in Washington, D.C.,” says her adviser, Professor Jon Foley.

Gibbs plans to finish her Ph.D. in the Nelson Institute’s Environment and Resources (formerly Land Resources) Program this year. The Smith Fellowship will support her postdoctoral studies at Stanford University starting in the fall.

Alumnus John Francis (PhD, 1991, Land Resources, ) will be one of the featured speakers at next month’s TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conference to be held February 27 - March 1 in Monterey, California. This 2008 conference will be addressing some of the truly big questions like Who are we? What is our place in the universe? What is life? Is beauty truth? How do we create? How can we change the world?�

John will be joining an array of writers, artists, scientists, and policymakers including Paul Collier, Amy Tan, Brian Cox, Louise Leakey, Nellie McKay, Walter Isaacson, and Al Gore. For more information, see the conference announcement and program.

Dear Colleagues:

Last term I assumed the Directorship of the Land Tenure Center (LTC), an institution I’ve long admired. It’s been a busy first semester and I’d like to update you on LTC programs and activities, and invite your participation.

The University Academic Planning Council (UAPC) renewed the status of the Land Tenure Center (LTC) as a research and training center based in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. This allows us an opportunity to build on LTC’s distinguished global reputation for research on land rights and land use, and incorporate a new emphasis on environmental sustainability in developing countries. The Nelson Institute is committed to LTC and is providing general operating costs, office space in Science Hall (Room 21), and support for Kurt Brown as communications director, and Carol Enseki as Financial Administrator.

Thanks to the strong leadership of Prof Matthew Turner (previous Director), and a flurry of proposals from associated faculty and staff, LTC is now engaged in an exciting set of research and outreach activities, including:

Linking Natural Resources, Economic Growth and Good Governance. LTC is a partner in a 5 year USAID project, Translinks, meant to increase social, economic, and environmental benefits through healthy ecosystems and sustainable resource management in developing countries. LTC is taking a leading role in the applied research and environmental governance aspects of the program.

LTC Spring Forum: Designing “Pro-Poor” Rewards for Ecosystem Services. In April 2008, the Land Tenure Center will host a forum on “Designing Pro-Poor Rewards for Ecosystem Services”. This forum will engage UW multi-disciplinary expertise on innovative strategies to reward local ecosystem stewards in developing countries, particularly in places of poverty and high biodiversity. This will be a two-day event, and will feature cutting edge research by UW faculty and students, as well as the field experience of practitioners from international NGOs and donor agencies.

Human Dimensions of Biodiversity Conservation. LTC is partnering with the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science (of Conservation International) to conduct research and analysis on the human dimensions of biodiversity conservation.

Assessing Climate Change Impacts in Tropical Andes. LTC is collaborating with the Center for Climatic Research (of the Nelson Institute) and the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science to predict climate change impacts on ecosystems and rural communities in the Tropical Andes. This investigation is led by Prof. Jack Williams (UW - Geography and LTC affiliate).

Environmental Intern Program: The Greening of Wisconsin Business. This proposed student intern program adapts the model of LTC’s successful “Land Law and Tenure Security Extern Program” to environmental issues in Wisconsin.

Wildlife-Friendly Enterprise. LTC is collaborating with an international consortium of grassroots organizations, private companies and NGOs to support rural entrepreneurs around the world who produce food and fiber without harm to wildlife and natural habitat. The consortium has designed an eco-label and certification process to celebrate and reward these producers for their wildlife stewardship.

Other. LTC’s other initiatives include linking UW experts to leading NGOs and policymakers, reviving the Visiting Scholar program and the Speakers Series, and digitizing all of LTC’s several hundred publications and reports currently available only in hard copy. Further details and policy briefings are available at: www.nelson.wisc.edu/ltc.

I am currently recruiting a six-member Advisory Board to guide LTC’s new program development. I also welcome ideas and feedback from LTC associates on and off campus regarding research and outreach opportunities. I look forward to collaborating with many individuals and programs to advance environmental conservation and promote more sustainable and equitable development.

Best regards,

Lisa Naughton, Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Geography
www.geography.wisc.edu/faculty/naughton/index.htm

Director, Land Tenure Center
www.nelson.wisc.edu/ltc