SURPRISE! 🏞️ Minerva Sustainability Newsletter: Tellus Mater
Tellus Mater Issue 7, July 2024
July 2024, Issue #7
Editors’ Note
Dear Community,
Surprise, surprise! We are back for a summer issue. Did you miss us?
This time, we focus on how to sustainably gear up for the next academic year with reading recommendations, networking resources, and an exciting interview with Prof. Gale about the sustainability minor. Don’t miss the opportunities section; explore Minerva's new Sustainability Lab initiatives and more.
What have you been up to this summer? What do you want to hear about next year?
Share your ideas, suggest interviews, investigations, or anything you believe the Minerva community should be paying attention to - let us know via Tell Us, Mate! Form.
Happy summer break! 🌷
Editors,
Aru, Nara, and Zuza
Featured Community Stories
🪨 Chat with Prof. G 🪨
As the 2023-2024 academic year drew to a close, we interviewed Professor Gale about all things sustainability minor, NS166, and recommendations for places to visit in each rotation city.
Q: Sustainability minors take NS166. What are the cross-college connections in the course? What can sustainability minors look forward to in the course?
A: The spirit of NS166 has always been about the context and the stakeholders involved in ecology and environmental science issues. Long before the sustainability minor existed, we had the LO #socialframes. The course was built with these ideas in mind. Does nature have rights? How does economics play into this? Carbon tax? Who has a voice and who doesn’t when solutions are being considered? In the course, we evaluate the effectiveness of solutions from environmental, political, social, and ethical lenses. The strongest connections might be to policy and economics in social science and to ethical considerations in HCs in arts & humanities. Professor Yates has also helped modify assignments to think more deeply about ethics.
Sustainability minors can look forward to gaining basic science literacy regarding pressing concerns of our time. Many Minervans are interested in sustainability and green energy, but many students are still missing some science basics needed to work on solutions to these complex problems. In the course, you get to dig into issues like land usage while examining potential solutions. If you want to go into the field of climate, NS166 is the place to be!
Most importantly, I am always excited to have students from other colleges. We need your voice! The class is continually enriched by hearing about ethical considerations, game theory, and economics among many others.
We’ve also asked Professor Gale to recommend places to visit in each rotation city. Summer is the perfect time to start planning your bucket list!
Check out saverocks.org for more in Hyderabad!
Want to share your story with the Minerva community, too?
Get in touch with the editorial team!
📚✨ Summer reading & movie recommendations
Can’t find something cool to dive into this summer? Our Natural Sciences faculty has you covered!
We asked a couple of NS professors for their top sustainability reading and movie recommendations. Prof. Gale and Prof. Dosmann shared some fantastic picks that blend science with engaging stories. Check out their suggestions below:
“A Sand County Almanac” by Aldo Leopold
Prof. Gale highly recommends this 20th-century classic in land conservation, which features “sketches” from Leopold’s travels across North America and offers not only vivid descriptions of nature but also profound reflections on what it all means for land conservation. It’s a must-read for anyone interested in environmental science and the history of conservation efforts!
“The Sixth Extinction” by Elizabeth Kolbert
Another great pick from Prof. Gale is The Sixth Extinction. This book takes readers on a journey through time, examining fossil records and exploring the planet’s past shifts and extinctions, revealing clues about the ongoing changes we face today. According to Kolbert, Earth has experienced five major extinctions, and we are currently living through the sixth.
“Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Prof. Dosmann is a big fan of Braiding Sweetgrass for its blend of Indigenous and conventional scientific knowledge, calling it wonderfully written and comprehensive in its coverage of sustainability approaches—a sentiment shared by the Sustainability Collective SI, where it was a “required” reading!
“Speed & Scale” by John Doerr
Next on the list is Speed & Scale by John Doerr. Prof. Dosmann describes it as “a good book to get an overview of climate action.” It provides an excellent introduction to climate mitigation strategies and lays out a comprehensive plan with 10 objectives and 55 key results to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
“Dark Waters” (2019 film)
When it comes to movies, Prof. Dosmann recommends Dark Waters:
“It is a good movie if you like stories of fighting back against corporate misconduct. It follows the story of a lawyer who represents people in West Virginia whose water sources were knowingly polluted by Dupont Chemical. The movie illustrates how the complex balance between law, regulation, science, and business can make fighting for the environment an uphill battle. I have a personal connection to this story because I went to college in West Virginia during this time and had a classmate with a three-chambered heart due to growing up in the ‘Chemical Valley.’”
We thank our Natural Sciences professors for these valuable recommendations. Whether you’re looking for an inspiring book or a powerful movie, these picks are sure to spark your interest this summer!
Events and Opportunities
Upcoming Opportunities
The editorial team and CTD are super excited to share some amazing opportunities with you. We hope you’ll take a moment to check them out. Our editor spent over a week diving into the CCAI resources because they were just so cool and informative! And please let us know if you have more resources to share with students, faculty, alumni, and staff. Happy exploring!
⚗️ Minerva’s Sustainability Lab
Who? M26s and M27s
What? Minerva is now accepting applications for the Inaugural Sustainability Lab, a year-long initiative in which students tackle sustainability problems in rotation cities in preparation for a two-month project-based internship in Tokyo the summer of 2025. Students interested in using policy making, Artificial Intelligence, or satellite data to address sustainability challenges should apply.
When? July 13
🍇 Climatebase
What? A comprehensive database of climate-related jobs. Users can fill out a profile to enhance job matching. Set alerts based on preferences to receive tailored job recommendations.
🌳 Terra.do’s Learning Resources
What? Free and paid modules on climate science, carbon removal, economics, corporate sustainability, and more. Has merit-/need-based financial aid. It will also offer a community to connect with more climate and sustainability professionals.
🌳 Climate Change AI
What? Climate Change AI (CCAI) is an organization composed of volunteers from academia and industry who believe that tackling climate change requires concerted societal action, in which machine learning can play an impactful role. The website has interactive summaries on key climate topics and tutorials on applying AI/ML in climate contexts, such as Agile Modeling for Bioacoustic Monitoring and NLP Models for Climate Policy.
🤝 WorkOnClimate Office Hours & Open Door Climate
Who? Anyone looking to break into climate/sustainability work. Not just for students.
What? List of professionals in the climate space willing to have coffee chats with aspiring climate professionals
Tell us what you think here - we want your most honest thoughts!
The Sustainability Collective SI has worked throughout the 2023-2024 academic year to make Tellus Mater the sustainability communication hub at Minerva University. As we reflect on our progress and plan for the upcoming year, creating two-way communication is essential. We appreciate all your thoughts, contributions, and suggestions.
Acknowledgments
Thank you for tuning in!
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Aru, Nara, and Zuza