Events

Past Event

Emerging Voices in the Geosciences & Society - Suzanne Pierre, PhD

February 16, 2023
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
America/New_York
Faculty House, 64 Morningside Dr., New York, NY 10027 Garden Room 2

Please note that this is a hybrid event! Please register to receive the Zoom link.

Title: Global Ecological Change and Plantation Slavery: Addressing the Biophysical and Social Roots of the Anthropocene

Abstract:

Dr. Suzanne Pierre is an ecosystems ecologist and biogeochemist and founding director of the Critical Ecology Lab. She is focused on plant and microbial carbon and nitrogen cycling in the context of global change as a socially-produced phenomenon. Pierre will introduce critical ecology as an emerging approach to global environmental change research. Derived from fundamental science and liberation-focused social theories, Pierre's work in critical ecology provides a framework for integrating social critiques of imperialism, enslavement, and modern racial capitalism into the quantitative analysis of human oppression as a process organizing the biophysical drivers of global environmental change. Her work aims to document patterns in relationships between societal oppression/extraction and resultant ecosystem perturbations and feedbacks at multiple scales.

In this talk, Pierre will introduce research from the Ecological Scars of Plantation Slavery Initiative, a multifaceted project addressing Caribbean plantation monocultures driven by chattel slavery as unique ecological disturbances affecting soil biogeochemistry, microbial ecology, and vegetation succession processes. This research aims to describe spatial patterns in past plantation slavery as relevant to present ecosystem responses to environmental changes. Pierre will also introduce her nonprofit research organization, the Critical Ecology Lab, as a locus for reflexive critique, methods development, and original research by interdisciplinary scientists, students, and the public.  

If you would like to meet with Dr. Pierre, please email Natalie Trotta ([email protected])

PLEASE NOTE: 

All visitors attending in-person are required to comply with Columbia University's health and safety guidelines, including mandatory primary COVID-19 vaccination for all eligible individuals. Visitors should be prepared to provide proof of primary if asked.

 

About Emerging Voices in the Geosciences & Society:

The Emerging Voices in the Geosciences & Society seminar series amplifies early-career scientists from underrepresented groups whose research lies at the intersection of climate and social science. Through campus visits, strategic planning sessions, and transdisciplinary lectures, Emerging Voices advances the Climate School Office of Research's goals of deploying research to forge a more inclusive future for all.

Emerging Voices is a partnership between the Climate School and Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement

Contact Information

Natalie Trotta