Next Semester

What’s needed to solve the really hard environmental problems? One of the most complex environmental issues we face has to do with conserving pollinators—the birds, insects, and other creatures that are essential to food production as well as the health of plants across the globe. Finding solutions to pollinator decline requires a sound scientific understanding. But conservation isn't just science: in involves an interplay of policy, environmental attitudes, activism, economy, education, and history. In addition to the science, workable solutions must draw on an understanding of the economic, legal, and even cultural factors that contribute to the problem, and can affect the chances of solving it. In other words, thinking about pollinator conservation calls for an interdisciplinary approach. This seminar will use this issue to help you understand what’s involved in approaching an environmental question in an interdisciplinary way. We will bring together work from biology, social science, economics, law, and ethics, in order to explore the various forces that affect pollinators and impact how conservation happens. Along the way we will consider topics including

• ecological restoration

• novel ecosystems

• endangered species regulations

• agricultural economics

• cultural norms

• and environmental justice.

Our readings will represent a variety of perspectives and stakeholders, and will lead us toward work produced by interdisciplinary teams. Thus you will come away from this class not only with a better sense of why pollinators are in decline and how to conserve them, but also with an appreciation of how multiple types of knowledge are required to understand the issue, and of the challenge in synthesizing what you learn into a comprehensive view.