Topic: Environment
Professor launches first academic journal on ecopsychology
Thomas Doherty, professor of counseling psychology:
In April, the premier issue of Ecopsychology was launched online. Doherty, editor-in-chief, believes this online journal will offer psychological solutions through the use of ecological psychotherapy. “Ecopsychology will raise provocative questions about consciousness, identity, health, and ethical living,” he said. “The role of the journal is to foreground these questions and create a space for dialog.”
Ecopsychology places psychology and mental health disciplines in an ecological context and recognizes the links between human health, culture, and the health of the planet. With its groundbreaking and diverse collaboration of psychotherapists, social science researchers and contributors from other environmental-related fields, Ecopsychology is the only peer-reviewed journal of its kind.
Doherty developed the ecopsychology studies program at Lewis & Clark and runs his own private practice.
Read an interview in The Oregonian featuring Doherty discussing ecopsychology.
Economics professor quoted in U.S. News
Professor of Economics Eban Goodstein is quoted in a recent in U.S. News & World Reports about a trend in educating youth about conservation. Goodstein, co-director of National Teach-In on Global Warming Solutions, led 804 institutions and 250,000 people in a “day of engagement” on February 5. The teach-in was designed to bring college students together to discuss global warming and policy solutions and included student participation with members of Congress through videoconferences. On the generation this teach-in targeted, Goodstein said, “Students have a truly heroic task that they have no choice but to fulfill in their lifetimes. [The task is] saving the planet as we know it, so that their children can also inherit a beautiful and rich planet.”
US News (Washington, D.C.) The Future of Climate Change: How to Teach Children to Conserve
Students contribute to study on Oregon’s dying trees
Ecological data collection conducted by undergraduate students during a College Outdoors trip has been included in a Science journal paper titled “Widespread Increase of Tree Mortality Rates in the Western United States.” The paper discusses the mortality rate of trees in the Pacific Northwest and southern British Columbia. Studies show that the rate of tree death in this area has doubled in only 17 years. This can partially be attributed to the fact that temperatures have risen over one degree Fahrenheit over the past 30 years, leading to droughts and an abundance of insects and disease. Their research contributions on the changing dynamics of western forests has recently drawn the attention of a number of high-profile national and international media outlets.
Lewis & Clark students have collected data for the Franklin lab every August since 2006 as part of the Environmental Service Project. Alum and 2006 Break Away trip leader Brian Erickson ‘06 said, “We returned to plots that were established 30-plus years previously and remeasured every five to 10 years to provide an ongoing image of forest dynamics over time. The students collected high-quality data, worked extremely hard, learned a lot, and had a good time in the process.”
New York Times (New York, NY) Environment Blamed in Western Tree Deaths
Seattle Times (Seattle, Wash.) Regional warming hurting NW forests, study says
BBC News (London, UK) Climate shift ‘killing US trees’
Alum named Sustainability Program Manager
Alum Marjorie Lifsey has been named the Sustainability Program Manager for the Oregon Department of Transportation. Lifsey, a lawyer with a background in environmental science, worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Oregon Department of Justice in the National Resources Division before attending law school. Among many in the environmental policy arena, Lifsey’s dedication to sustainability and her expertise in law make her the perfect candidate for this position. As the Sustainability Program Manager, Lifsey will “work with committee members and other state agencies to further the governor’s effort to become a sustainable, climate-friendly state.” To read more from BikePortland’s Q&A session with Lifsey, click here.
Preparing students for lives as public leaders
Eban Goodstein serves as a professor of economics at Lewis & Clark. He also directs the National Teach-In on Global Warming Solutions, a project designed to harness the energy and interests of today’s college students to pressure political leaders to cut carbon emissions and pursue climate change policies. Goodstein insists that his role as educator requires him to help students build critical thinking skills to face the most difficult political, scientific and economic challenges of our time. In this commentary, he calls on his peers to see their roles as not only educators in their fields but guides to our citizenry and future public leaders.
The National Teach-In takes place on February 5 and includes more than 700 colleges, universities, and faith and civic organizations around the country who will discuss the goal of cutting current carbon levels by 40 percent by 2020. This teach-in will include lectures, faculty and student symposia, theater performances, and active engagement with political leaders and their environmental policies.
Watch this video of Eban Goodstein and colleagues discussing the importance of youth involvement in the National Teach-In on Global Warming Solutions:
Inside Higher Ed (Portland, Ore.) Education or Advocacy? Engaging a Hotter World
The Oregonian (Portland, Ore.) National “global warming teach-in” returns to Oregon
Professor questions proposed pipeline in Mt. Hood National Forest
A proposed 47-mile natural gas pipeline through Mount Hood National Forest has raised questions about the Forest Service’s role in upholding environmental standards governing protected areas. According to Forest Service estimates, the Palomar pipeline, slated for construction in 2011, would require clearing more than 700 acres of national forest land, including 100 acres of old-growth forest.
Law professor Dan Rohlf, director of the Pacific Environmental Advocacy Center (PEAC), challenges the Forest Service’s role in the $800 million project. Administrative changes put into effect by the Bush Administration have eased the approval process for pipeline projects, he said.
“When FERC shows up at the door and says we want to put the pipeline here, the Forest Service…says, ‘OK, how do we have to amend our plans to get this done.’ They don’t take as hard a look as they used to,” Rohlf said.
The Oregonian: Forest Service plans to clear legal path for pipeline in Mount Hood forest
Greg Smith awarded environmental education grant
Greg Smith, professor of teacher education:
Smith has received a $19,380 grant from the Gray Family Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation to train teachers in the West Linn School District on environmental issues. The Environmental Education Program seeks to encourage a strong local land ethic, sustainable communities, and stewardship of the natural environment by citizens throughout Oregon. The Fund is committed long term to institutionalizing a series of age-appropriate experiences that build a sense of place and responsibility towards Oregon and the region.
The Sustainability Education Initiative is a program of professional development coursework and activities for K-12 teachers in the West Linn-Wilsonville School District. During three courses offered in 2009, Smith will prepare 50-60 teachers to incorporate sustainability issues into their classrooms and help them implement school or community projects that will enhance local natural and social environments. Participants will be eligible for small seed grants to fund start-up projects. The grant aims to increase the number of teachers implementing sustainability projects in schools, and increase student and educator awareness of local natural systems, ecologies, and social needs.
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