Smarty Pints! Farm Resilience, Climate Adaptation, and Gold Mining
Start: Monday, July 28, 2025•06:30 PM
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Masha Vernik
"Resilience in Diversity: Climate Change and Seed Selection Among Organic Farms in Western WA"
We know that crop diversity in our farm and food systems can help build resilience to a changing climate: if one crop fails, another might survive. But how do organic farmers think about and access seed diversity in the context of climate change, especially when there are so many other factors from pests to markets that affect seed selection? I will share results from interviews with organic farmers in western Washington about the role of seeds in coping with uncertainty.
Robin Ruhm
"The hidden cost of gold: mercury accumulation, forest degradation, and ecosystem-wide effects spread far throughout the Amazon"
"Resilience in Diversity: Climate Change and Seed Selection Among Organic Farms in Western WA"
We know that crop diversity in our farm and food systems can help build resilience to a changing climate: if one crop fails, another might survive. But how do organic farmers think about and access seed diversity in the context of climate change, especially when there are so many other factors from pests to markets that affect seed selection? I will share results from interviews with organic farmers in western Washington about the role of seeds in coping with uncertainty.
Gus Wettstein
"Beyond Prediction: Climate Adaptation as Future-making"
Preparing for the impacts of climate change through climate change adaptation is a critical task for communities and governments globally, and right here in Washington. However, adaptation is not a one-size-fits-all solution, and different schools of thought regarding what adaptation should entail can yield starkly different adaptation outcomes. In this talk, I briefly cover major theoretical approaches to adaptation and introduce a qualitative evaluation of adaptation planning on the Olympic Peninsula. I'll cover some results that detail how different desires for adaptation are wrapped up in different desires for the future and how adaptation as a creative act that leverages futures-thinking is gaining steam in research and community planning activities.
"Beyond Prediction: Climate Adaptation as Future-making"
Preparing for the impacts of climate change through climate change adaptation is a critical task for communities and governments globally, and right here in Washington. However, adaptation is not a one-size-fits-all solution, and different schools of thought regarding what adaptation should entail can yield starkly different adaptation outcomes. In this talk, I briefly cover major theoretical approaches to adaptation and introduce a qualitative evaluation of adaptation planning on the Olympic Peninsula. I'll cover some results that detail how different desires for adaptation are wrapped up in different desires for the future and how adaptation as a creative act that leverages futures-thinking is gaining steam in research and community planning activities.
"The hidden cost of gold: mercury accumulation, forest degradation, and ecosystem-wide effects spread far throughout the Amazon"
Despite international treaty banning mercury's use, unregulated mercury-fueled gold mines in the Global South continue to produce gold for the jewelry industry, national banks, investment, and technology in wealthy countries. This mining accounts for widespread forest degradation, impacts to human and animal health, and a restructuring of local economies and livelihoods now dependent on this extractive industry. After sharing background information on the socio-political context of small-scale gold mining, I will offer a few of our research results on the spatial scale of mercury's impacts in the Amazon.
This event is accessible
Event by
Burke-Gilman Brewing Company
Sponsored by
Washington, DC