Monday, August 22
Tiara Moore
The Nature Conservancy
A WOC SPACE
More information coming soon
Originally from Greenwood, South Carolina, Dr. Tiara Moore completed her B.S. in Biology in 2011 at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina, where she developed an interest in marine science during a research trip in Costa Rica. She received her M.S. in Biology with a concentration in Environmental Science in 2013 from Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia, where she conducted research on the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay linking sediment oxygen demand and nutrient cycling to the eutrophication of the Bay.
After completing her M.S., she spent 2 months in Bali, Indonesia identifying the diversity and abundance of meiofauna in marine sediments across the coral triangle. Dr. Moore earned her PhD in Biology from UCLA, where she conducted research in Mo’orea, French Polynesia, Carpinteria Salt Marsh, and Upper Newport Bay. In Mo’orea, she observed the effects sedimentation and nutrient pollution have on the proliferation of coral reef macroalgae. In Carpinteria and Newport, she explored the effects of macroalgal decomposition on sediment biogeochemistry and the microbial community using environmental DNA (eDNA) to assess the biodiversity of entire ecosystems with only a soil sample. Dr. Moore completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington and The Nature Conservancy where she used soil eDNA to develop a biodiversity census of Ellsworth Forest comparing species diversity across management treatments over the past 10 years.
Currently, Dr. Moore is the Black In Marine Science Program Lead at The Nature Conservancy. Inside and outside of the lab, Dr. Moore hopes her research in biodiversity will translate to increasing the overall diversity in science. She dedicates her time to mentoring minority women in the lab and in after school programs. Founder of A WOC SPACE, Dr. Moore aspires to make a safe and inclusive workplace for women of color (WOC) through WOCShops, individual personal trainings, and community outreach. To round things off Dr. Moore combines her experiences as a WOC Scientist with her upbeat personality in her Academic Standup Shows, both communicating science and the struggles of being a minority in STEM.
Thursday, August 25
Kenneth Shockley
Colorado State University
Kenneth Shockley
Lessons from Leopold: Gathering perspectives for knowledge and right
It is rare that meanings are not shared. Yet it is even more rare that the meaning of a place, idea, or practice is identical between two people. In reflecting on what fish mean to us it is worth remarking on both the significance of fish to individuals, and the diversity of perspectives on all things ichthyological. Without the shared stew of economics, history, religion, culture, science and practice; fish, fishing, and fisheries would not have the meaning they have to us, to all of us.
There is a clear epistemic advantage to these multiple points of view, an advantage advocated by no less a figure than Aldo Leopold. Leopold hoped we might see ourselves as citizens of the biotic community; this is at the heart of his Land Ethic. Leopold thought that through a better integration of the wide range of perspectives – human and otherwise – that make up or represent an ecological community we would be more likely to understand that community. On Leopold’s view, once we take seriously the inclusion of other points of view we cannot help but approach other members of our ecological community with respect. Respect moves us from the epistemic advantage of multiple points of view, through the modest humility that taking seriously the perspectives of others requires, to the more inclusive ethical framework characteristic of Leopold’s worldview. Yet even if one does not endorse a comprehensive Leopoldian ethic, one can recognize the pragmatic value of integrating a diversity of viewpoints. Expressing that value is the goal of this talk.
I will begin by expanding these reflections on the work of Aldo Leopold. I will then suggest the diversity of perspectives underlying our shared meanings yields not only an epistemic advantage, but also supports a more ethical approach to addressing the diverse viewpoints of stakeholders. This approach may give us obligations as well, obligations to understand and develop a more comprehensive shared meaning of “fish.”
A few relevant publications:
“The Ethical Dimensions of Stream Restoration,” with Alan Rabideau, in Ben Hale and Andrew Light, eds., Routledge Companion to Environmental Ethics, Routledge, forthcoming.
“The Environmental Constituents of Flourishing: Rethinking External Goods and the Ecological Systems that Provide Them,” Ethics, Policy & Environment, 25:1 (2022), 1-20, DOI: 10.1080/21550085.2020.1848193
“The Great Decoupling: Why minimizing humanity’s dependence on the environment may not be cause for celebration,” Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 31.4 (2018), 429-442.
“Distinguishing collaboration from contribution in environmental research.” w. Lash-Marshall, W. G., Friedman, K. B., & Hirsch, P. D. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 7.2 (2017), pp. 336-345.
Kenneth Shockley, the Holmes Rolston III Endowed Chair in Environmental Ethics and Philosophy, is Professor of Philosophy, Faculty in the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, and Affiliate Faculty in the School of Global Environmental Sustainability at Colorado State University. His research interests are in ethical theory, the expression of environmental values in public policy, and the intersection of climate change, sustainable development, and environmental ethics. He has published widely in these areas and has endeavored to make his research relevant in practice. He has served in the Peace Corps, taught in Semester at Sea, and launched an experiential educational program in the environmental humanities at CSU’s Mountain Campus. Shockley teaches courses in environmental ethics, sustainability, environmental justice, philosophy of ecology, and a range of topics in theoretical, practical and applied ethics.