(Note: If you were unable to attendĀ the lecture on September 26, you can find a link to the video of the presentation .)

The College of Earth, Life, and Health Sciences and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences are thrilled to welcome author, journalist and environmentalist Colin Woodard to deliver the sixth Libby Lecture in Natural Resource Policy.

The lecture ā€“ titled American Democracy on the Brink: How We Got Here and the Implications for the Natural Environment ā€“ is scheduled to take place at 3:00 PM on September 26 in the Bangor Room of the Memorial Union on the 91±¬ĮĻ campus. This event is free and open to the public, with a reception and book signing to follow at 4:00 PM.

(Note: There will be a Zoom option for those unable to attend in person. The link can be found .)

“”ĢżNew York TimesĀ bestselling author and award-winning journalist, Woodard has reported from more than 50 countries and seven continents, with extensive reporting on environment and climate issues. He won a 2012 George Polk Award and was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 2016 for his investigative work at theĀ Portland Press HeraldĀ and received the Tides Foundation’s Jane Bagley Lehman Award for his coverage of the global crisis in the oceans. His six books — including American Nations, Lobster Coast, Ocean’s End and The Republic of Pirates — have been published in a dozen foreign languages and inspired a prime-time NBC television series and an Ubisoft video game. Currently, he is the director of Nationhood Lab at Salve Regina University’s Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy.

A native of Maine, Woodard is a graduate of Mt. Abram High School, Tufts University and the University of Chicago, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and a former trustee of the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences.

Mr. Woodard graciously agreed to answer a few questions ahead of his lecture. The following has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

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What drew you, as an investigative journalist, to delve into environmentalĀ reporting?

I was on a study abroad program in Eastern Europe in 1989 when communism collapsed and the environmental problems were just stunning. Towns where the trees, houses, and people were stained black from industrial fallout. Tap water that couldn’t be used to clean many objects because it corroded metal. Rain so acidic Gothic statues and facades were melting away like candles. I moved back after graduation and lived in the region for most of the ā€˜90s (my twenties) and couldn’t help but cover it because it was such a huge front and center issue.

This resulted in my becoming a fellow at the Regional Environmental Center in Budapest, in covering the collapse of the Black Sea, and ultimately, when I moved back to the U.S., specializing in environmental coverage ā€“ especially climate change and ocean issues ā€“ around the world. My first book, Ocean’s End, was on the environmental collapse of the oceans and my second, Lobster Coast, dealt with coastal Mainer’s co-dependence on marine ecosystems. I’ve since been a Pulitzer Finalist for a Portland Press Herald series on the warming of the Gulf of Maine and a trustee of the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Boothbay.

How did you come to lead the Nationhood Lab?

Also my time in Eastern Europe, including covering immediate postwar Bosnia. This was a region where nationalism, mythic stories of peoplehood, historical memory and forgetting, totalitarianism and big lies, demagoguery and atrocity were all playing out in a big way and I became a student of all of it, writing my master’s thesis on the topic and ultimately writing books about how it applies to North America. The ideas in these books ā€“ Ā American Nations, American Character, and Union ā€“ had all sorts of real world ramifications, so I founded Nationhood Lab, a think tank project at Salve Regina University’s Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy, to delve into them.

What are some of the fundamental themes you’ll be addressing with this lecture?

The U.S. remains on the verge of a collapse into authoritarianism. I’ll be showing why we’re vulnerable ā€“ and have always been vulnerable ā€“Ā to democratic backsliding and territorial disintegration ā€“ and what that will mean for environmental policies and conditions. Then I’ll share one important thing we can do about it, powered by our research at Nationhood Lab.

What prompted you to begin researching/writing about the overlap between political and environmental issues?

They’re clearly one and the same, whether in the Balkans, Soviet Russia, the Amazon or the United States. I guess my professional focus really shifted from the environment to U.S. politics in the early aughts, when it became clear the former couldn’t be effectively solved until the latter’s pathologies were better treated. I must be doing something wrong, though, as they’ve gotten progressively worse since then.

What are some of the ways in which these crises – democratic and climate ā€“ are interconnected?

In this country, failures and structural obstacles in our political system have hampered efforts to address climate change. When I started reporting on this issue 30 years ago it was already clear what we needed to do and there was still time to do it. Now a lot of bad outcomes are baked in and we’re trying to mitigate the scale of disruption. and that’s a failure of our democratic system. And if you look around the world, autocracies are not generally interested in environmental or climate issues because they’re by definition not particularly interested in what happens to most people living under their regime. In other parts of the world causality is largely reversed: climate disruptions will destabilize economies and societies, creating environments where demagogues and dictators can thrive.

Are there any specific takeaways you’re hopingĀ to deliver to this audience?

If the republic falls, everything you care about is at risk, certainly to include the future climate on this planet. The good news is that most of us do not want any of that to happen ā€“ there’s a pro-democracy supermajority in U.S. ā€“ so it’s a matter of getting people woken up, aware of the stakes, and motivated to prevent the worst.

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For more, listen to this with Colin Woodard on Downtown with Rich Kimball.

This event is free and open to the public.

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Dr. Eric Roy will present the 91±¬ĮĻā€™s fifth annual Libby Lecture in Natural Resource Policy at noon on November 8 at the Buchanan Alumni House.

Royā€™s talk, titled ā€œWe Understand the Problem. Now What? The Opportunity for Scientists to Pursue Advocacy & Entrepreneurshipā€ will discuss why scientists are uniquely positioned to lead advocacy efforts and develop entrepreneurial solutions to the ā€œbig problemsā€ that face our world and discuss examples of the types of unique challenges, opportunities, and lessons learned that accompany these types of public-forward pursuits.

Dr. Roy is the founder of Hydroviv, a water filtration company that will analyze a customerā€™s specific needs and tailor custom filters to them. Roy built the company from a nights-and-weekends side gig, crafting filters in his apartment and selling them at farmersā€™ markets and other DIY locations, to a significant ecommerce success. He appeared on the ABC show ā€œShark Tankā€ and ultimately sold the company to global water innovation company Culligan, though he remains in the role of chief scientist. Roy received his PhD from the 91±¬ĮĻ in 2009.

In a brief Q&A, Dr. Roy shared thoughts on what drew him to the water filtration space, the overlap between advocacy and entrepreneurship, and what it means to share his experiences with his alma mater.

(The following has been lightly edited for length and clarity.)

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What first drew you to the water filtration space?

I’ve been doing research on aquatic chemistry in some way for the better part of 20 years, going back to my undergraduate research in 2002.Ā Water filtration is a more applied slant on the types of research I did at Colby College, 91±¬ĮĻ, and at Orono Spectral Solutions.Ā The idea that you could incorporate technology into a device that a massive number of people could use every day in their home was something that was exciting and felt impactful.

How would you describe the process of building Hydroviv?

It felt a lot like someone who is carrying too many boxes and is always in a state of dropping or picking them up.Ā This was in part because I had never worked in ecommerce, but mostly because Hydroviv was a nights and weekends side project for me (I kept a demanding full-time job for the majority of Hydroviv’s existence to pay the bills & fund the company). Almost all of the commercial aspects of the business were things I had never dealt with before – ecommerce, digital marketing, consumer products, etc. Honestly, the only area where I really felt like I knew what I was doing was in dealing with the underlying science behind building water filters.Ā Just about every other aspect of the business was learning by doing ā€¦ and it usually wasn’t pretty.

Why do you think you’re so connected to the advocacy/policy side of science?

Part of it was because I saw how much confusion and bad information was being pushed through the media during the Flint lead fiasco, including from what we’d view as credible sources. People were confused and anxious and hearing contradictory things through the rumor mill and the press.Ā And even though Flintā€™s situation first rose to prominence almost a decade ago, there continues to be a massive gap between what the general public believes to be true and what is actually true when it comes to drinking water.

What does it mean to be returning to your alma mater for an event like this?

I don’t have words.Ā 91±¬ĮĻ was where I underwent scientific training, and this area is where I kicked off my professional career.Ā I’ll do my best not to tear up when I inevitably see folks in the audience –Ā  people that I haven’t seen in a long time – that had such a deep and profound impact on my life.

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The annual Libby Lecture in Natural Resource Policy was established with a gift from Lawrence W. Libby ā€˜62 and Lois Murdock Libby ā€˜63. The annual lecture is a collaborative event coordinated by theĀ Ā and theĀ College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

The event is free and open to the public. A reception with refreshments will follow the lecture. To request an accessibility accommodation, call 207.581.1212 or emailĀ libby-lecture-group@maine.edu.

The post 2023 Libby Lecture: We Understand the Problem. Now What? The Opportunity for Scientists to Pursue Advocacy & Entrepreneurship appeared first on Libby Lecture Series.

Peter Ellis will present the 91±¬ĮĻā€™s fourth annual Libby Lecture in Natural Resource Policy at 3 p.m. on Sept. 21 at the Buchanan Alumni House.

Ellisā€™ talk, ā€œSmarter logging for good: Sustainable, low-impact forestry as a natural climate solution,ā€ will discuss the role of forest management in achieving global environmental, economic, and social goals. He will also elaborate on how the forest sector can help meet more local climate change policy objectives.Ā Ā Ā 

Ellis is the Global Director of Climate Science for The Nature Conservancy. He leads a global team of scientists that conduct research to motivate and inform the design and implementation of natural climate solutions. Ellis currently investigates the climate and biodiversity impacts of forest management. He works with field programs throughout the world to measure the climate performance of reduced impact logging.

The annual Libby Lecture in Natural Resource Policy was established with a gift from Lawrence W. Libby ā€˜62 and Lois Murdock Libby ā€˜63. The annual lecture is a collaborative event coordinated by the Ā and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

The event is free and open to the public. A reception with refreshments will follow the lecture.

More information about the lecture and speaker is available . To request an accessibility accommodation, call 207.581.1212 or emailĀ libby-lecture-group@maine.edu.

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We are pleased to announce that Dr. Catherine L. Kling, Tisch University Professor in the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management and Faculty Director at the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future at Cornell University, will be presenting the third annual Libby Lecture in Natural Resource Policy on Wednesday, September 22 at 3 p.m. in the McIntire Room of the Buchanan Alumni House.

The event is free and open to the public. A reception with refreshments and food will follow the talk.

Dr. Kling is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, chair of the academyā€™s Water Science and Technology Board and has been a member of six National Research Council studies. She served as president of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, has held editorial positions at ten economics journals, and is an elected Fellow of multiple environmental economics associations. In addition to a long list of other accolades, Dr. Kling served ten years on the EPA Science Advisory Board.

Her talk, ā€œImproving Water Quality: Are Economics and the Environment Always at Odds?,ā€ will describe trends in water quality and the benefits and costs of regulations associated with the Clean Water Act. This will be followed by a discussion of the gaps in knowledge needed for a more accurate understanding of the efficiency of water quality regulations.

The annual Libby Lecture in Natural Resource Policy was established with a gift from Lawrence W. Libby ā€˜62 and Lois Murdock Libby ā€˜63. The annual lecture is a collaborative event coordinated by the and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

For more information about the lecture, our speaker, or to request a disability accommodation, call 207.581.1145, email libby-lecture-group@maine.edu, or visit .

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We are pleased to announce that Dr. Noelle Eckley Selin will be giving the annual lecture on Tuesday, April 10th at 4 pm in the McIntire Room of the Buchanan Alumni House. A reception featuring refreshments and food will begin immediately preceding the lecture at 3:30 pm directly outside the McIntire Room in Leadership Hall.

Dr. Selinā€™s talk will focus on her work as an Associate Professor in the Institute for Data, Systems and Society and the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Her research uses atmospheric chemistry modeling and interdisciplinary methods to inform decision-making on air pollution, climate change and hazardous substances such as mercury.

Dr. Selin will describe multiple partnership and engagement models for doing research in ways that inform people making decisions about environmental policy in local, state, and federal contexts. This talk will be of interest to those who are working to connect science with decision making to inform policy and will provide the audience with tangible examples and engagement strategies. For more information on Dr. Selinā€™s work, please visit .

The Libby Lecture in Resource Policy was established at the 91±¬ĮĻ Foundation in 2016 with a gift from Lawrence W. Libby and Lois Murdock Libby. The annual lecture is a collaborative event coordinated by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture. It is free and open to the public.

Lawrence and Lois Libby are both alumni of 91±¬ĮĻ. They have dedicated their careers to resource economics, public policy, and in improving civil rights and economic conditions for minorities, women and the disabled.

For more information about the lecture or to request a disability accommodation, call 581.1176 or email:Ā libby-lecture-group@maine.edu.

The post 2018 Libby Lecture: Air Pollution in a Changing World: Designing Research for Impact appeared first on Libby Lecture Series.

The integration of science and policy will be the focus of the 91±¬ĮĻā€™s inaugural Libby Lecture in Resource Policy on Wednesday, April 19.

Byron Kenneth Williams, executive director of The Wildlife Society, will present the 4 p.m. lecture, ā€œUncertainty, Learning, and a Framework for the Integration of Science and Policy,ā€ in the McIntire Room of the Buchanan Alumni House. A 5 p.m. reception with refreshments will follow the lecture.

Williams joined The Wildlife Society in March 2013 after retiring from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) as chief of the Cooperative Research Units, a natural-resources science program with units at 40 universities in 38 states. He also was co-director of the USGS Science and Decisions Center, where he focused on adaptive management, valuation of ecosystem services, and advancing the use of science in natural-resources decision making.

Williams holds masterā€™s degrees in mathematics from the University of Oklahoma and statistics from Colorado State University, and a Ph.D. in rangeland ecology from Colorado State.

The Libby Lecture in Resource Policy was established at the 91±¬ĮĻ Foundation in 2016 with a gift from Lawrence W. Libby and Lois Murdock Libby. The annual lecture is a collaborative event coordinated by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture. It is free and open to the public.

Lawrence and Lois Libby are both alumni of 91±¬ĮĻ. They have dedicated their careers to resource economics, public policy, and in improving civil rights and economic conditions for minorities, women and the disabled.

For more information about the lecture or to request a disability accommodation, call 581.1176.

The post 2017 Libby Lecture: Uncertainty, Learning, and a Framework for the Integration of Science and Policy appeared first on Libby Lecture Series.