Collaborative for the Earth Releases Second Season of Podcast
Climate change is being talked about across campus — even in some unexpected places.
The Collaborative for the Earth (C4E) will release a second season of its podcast, “C4E Presents”, to harness these conversations with Stony Brook researchers and scholars who are working to address changes in the environment locally and globally.
Host Heather Lynch, C4E director and the endowed chair for ecology and evolution in the Institute for Advanced Computation Science (IACS), said the focus of this season will be interdisciplinary to recognize diverse efforts at Stony Brook to respond and implement solutions to address the contributions and impacts of climate change.
“ I’m really excited to dig in to meet more of my fellow colleagues here on campus and particularly those that we may not think of as having a huge role in climate or environment but are in fact approaching this from new and exciting ways,” Lynch said. “It’s really meant to give listeners a sense of the range of disciplines that are really involved in environmental work.
“And also I hope the students will see that there isn’t just sort of one model for an environmental scientist,” she added.
The podcast began having conversations for the new season during the fall semester and will continue through the spring, in a partnership between Lynch and students and faculty at the School of Communication and Journalism.
J.D. Allen, journalism lecturer and climate communication specialist, has created academic programs for journalism undergraduate and science communication graduate students to become involved in producing the podcast through coursework and assisting with content strategy and engagement through an internship with the Office of Marketing and Communications at Stony Brook.
“Being able to communicate science through podcasting — especially the human and planetary impacts of climate change — is a crucial skill to make research more accessible to decision-makers and everyday people,” said Allen, an internationally award-winning science communicator and podcaster.
In the coming weeks, C4E Presents will have new episodes every other week about fossil fuels, genetically modified crops, and the roles of policymakers and corporations in helping fight climate change, and more.
The team has also moved nearly all of the conversations to its in-person recording space in the Collaborative for the Earth’s offices on the second floor of the Melville Library — although some guests have joined the show from across the U.S., Latin America and beyond.
In addition, the podcast will feature bonus episodes with different instructors in each module of the new one-credit pop-up course, ‘Climate Change and You’, this spring.
“We have a special interview that offers students — and our entire audience — an opportunity to learn more about what each of these instructors are working on and how it relates to their week of material in the course,” Lynch said.
Faculty involved this season include:
- Michael Tondre, associate professor in the College of Arts and Sciences Department of English
- Wenbo Li, assistant professor, School of Communication and Journalism
- Joeva Sean Rock, assistant professor in the College of Arts and Sciences Department of Anthropology
- David Taylor, assistant professor, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences
- John Shandra, professor in the College of Arts and Sciences Department of Sociology
- Rasheed Davis, clinical assistant professor in the School of Health Professions Physician Assistant Program
- Elizabeth Hewitt, associate professor in the College of Arts and Sciences Department of Technology and Society
- Gary Halada, associate professor in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering
- Liliana Dávalos, professor in the College of Arts and Sciences Department of Ecology & Evolution
- Sharon Pochron, assistant professor, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences
- Mary Collins, associate professor, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences
- Karina Yager, associate professor, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences
- Guanyu Huang, assistant professor in the Program in Public Health and the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences
- Michael Rubenstein, associate professor in the College of Arts and Sciences Department of English
Listen to the podcast on Spotify, or wherever you stream audio.