Past Events

When does science become justice? Scientific evidence, pesticides and food system justice

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Tuesday May 28, 2013

4:00-6:00PM

Engineering 2, 599

Panel guests:

Tyrone Hayes, UC Berkeley

Jill Harrison, Colorado-Boulder

Emily Marquez, Pesticide Action Network of North America

At the heart of disputes over pesticide use in agriculture are questions of evidence. Whose evidence is to be trusted? When causal relations between pesticides and human illness or ecological harm are disputed, who decides on their continued use? Is it appropriate for regulators to take into account matters of political economy and social justice when regulating agricultural practices or are there plainly empirical criteria of risk for regulators to use? This panel will bring together a social scientist, an activist organization, a natural scientist, and a pesticide regulator. We will search for shared insights into the meeting of scientific knowledge and democratic governance of food systems, giving credence to the positions of the many stakeholders in food systems—farmers, workers, neighbors and eaters alike.

 

Putting Earthquake Prediction on Trial: Lessons from the 2009 L’Aquila Earthquake

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In spite of recent advances, predicting earthquakes remains difficult and uncertain, challenging scientists both to predict and to communicate the probability of earthquakes to policymakers and to the general public. In October, 2012, seven Italian earthquake scientists were found guilty of manslaughter for their role in failing to communicate the risk of a possible earthquake, shortly before a powerful 2009 earthquake killed more than 300 people in the city of L’Aquila, Italy. This trial has become an international cause celebre; in today’s event, Professor Susan Schwartz (Earth and Planetary Sciences, UCSC) will talk about the state of current knowledge in earthquake prediction, and about her experience of communicating this to multiple audiences in Costa Rica. Professor Massimo Mazzotti, (History, UC Berkeley) will talk about the political and institutional context which led to the seven scientists’ being put on trial, and how their conviction was affected by popular understandings of what scientists and the Italian state should have done.

Following the event, there will be a reception in the Science & Justice Research Center with refreshments and featuring works from our artists in residence.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013 | 4:00-6:00 pm | Oakes Mural Room

Bruce Ames — Nutritional deficiencies and trace synthetic chemicals: Putting health risks into perspective

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Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Humanities 1, Room 210

Bruce N. Ames (Senior Scientist, Nutrition and Metabolism Center, Children’s Hospital of Oakland Research Institute (CHORI) and Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, UC Berkeley)

Bruce Ames’ research in nutritional biochemistry has examined exposure to health risks from a number of perspectives. Early in his career he developed the Ames test, an inexpensive method to measure the mutagenic and carcinogenic potential of chemicals which has become an essential tool of contemporary biochemistry. Although it contributed to public fears about synthetic chemicals, the common carcinogenic effects of ‘natural’ chemicals led Dr. Ames to assert that these fears were largely unfounded or exaggerated. More recently, his research has focused on the hidden biochemical costs of vitamin deficiencies, which are widespread even in wealthy nations. His triage theory posits that the human body protects against short term consequences of essential vitamin deficiencies by reducing the production of longevity proteins that are markers of long term health. This discovery led to his lab’s creation of CHORI-Bars, nutritional food bars that provide high densities of essential vitamins and minerals with very few calories. Preliminary research indicates that resolving nutritional deficiencies in this fashion can have positive effects on a wide range of health problems in wealthy and poor economies alike.

In this presentation, Dr. Ames will discuss the triage theory and what it means for the relative risks of competing nutritional strategies. Have food system reformers significantly over-stated the risks of synthetic chemicals to human health? Does the emphasis on reducing synthetic chemicals actually lead to more negative health outcomes, such as cancer, by making fresh fruits and vegetables more expensive? Can highly-engineered foods such as CHORI-Bars provide the least expensive solutions to a wide variety of negative health outcomes?

Critical Nutrition Symposium

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March 8, 2013

9:00AM-5:30PM

261 Social Sciences I

Advice about what to eat for health and well being is pervasive in the modern world, and such advice is delivered as if it were uncontroversial, universally applicable, welcome, and effective. When it appears not to work, rather than reflection on the scientific, cultural, and sociological underpinnings of the endeavor, the response has been for more informative food labels and more emphasis on food education. What’s wrong or missing in conventional nutritional practice? What are its effects in terms of human health and social justice? What other approaches might work better? This symposium will bring together scholars from multiple disciplines and perspectives to comment on the content and delivery of nutritional science. Invited guests include Charlotte Biltekoff (American Studies and Food Science, UC Davis), Jessica Hayes-Conroy (Women’s Studies, Hobart and William Smith Colleges), Adele Hite (Public Health, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill), Aya H. Kimura (Women’s Studies, University of Hawai’i-Manoa), Hannah Landecker (Sociology and Center for Society and Genetics, UCLA), and Jessica Mudry (Center for Engineering in Society, Concordia University). UCSC food scholars Julie Guthman, Melissa Caldwell, Nancy Chen, and Jake Metcalf will provide commentary.

This event is sponsored by the Multi-campus Research Program on Food and the Body and the “Knowing Food” Research Cluster of the Center for Global, International, and Regional Studies. Additional support has been provided by the Community Studies Program, the Science & Justice Research Center, the Department of Environmental Studies, and the Department of Sociology.

Please RSVP to Lisa Nishioka (global@ucsc.edu) if you plan to attend.

For questions regarding the program contact Julie Guthman (jguthman@ucsc.edu)

Measuring and Predicting Carbon Absorbed in Reforestation and Averted Forest Fires: Problems of communicating uncertainty about landscape change

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Karen Holl (UCSC, Environmental Studies)

Maggi Kelly (Dept. of Environmental Sciences, Policy & Management, UC Berkeley)

Tim Forsyth (Department of International Development, London School of Economics)

 

Over the last few years the contribution of deforestation and forest fires to climate change has come to be of increasing interest, even as new technologies of remote sensing and modeling have made it possible to measure and predict landcover change with unprecedented accuracy. These technologies have made it possible to imagine environmental policies which compensate landowners for averted deforestation (known as REDD, Reduced Emissions through Degradation and Deforestation), or to support thinning forests in order to prevent forest fires. However, increased precision also introduces new problems of communicating uncertainty to policymakers and of gaining the trust of the general public. Professor Holl will talk about the challenges of including tropical forest restoration in proposed markets in carbon offsets, Professor Kelly will talk about her work with remote sensing technologies such as LIDAR in order to measure California forests and to inform the general public about forest conditions. Tim Forsyth is a specialist in political approaches to environmental change and international development, and will moderate a conversation about the challenges of communicating uncertain knowledge about forests to policymakers and other audiences.

Rap Report > Measuring and Predicting Carbon Absorbed in Reforestation and Averted Forest Fires: Problems of communicating uncertainty about landscape change

February 26, 2013 | 4:00-6:00PM | Engineering 2, Room 599

Seeding Sustainability: Hunger, BioTech, and the Future of Food Systems

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Saturday February 23, 2013

7:00-10:00PM

UCSC Media Theater

Confirmed Speakers:

Miguel Altieri (UC Berkeley)

Eric Holt-Gimenez (Food First)

Kent Bradford (UC Davis)

Moderator: Jacob Metcalf (UCSC Science & Justice Research Center)

Registration (free) is kindly requested.

In collaboration with the UCSC Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, the Science & Justice Research Center will host a panel discussion on the role of genetically modified crops within sustainable food systems in the global South. Food and agroecology activist and scholar Dr. Vandana Shiva will headline a panel with diverse perspectives from crop science, philanthropy. This panel will cap the CASFS weekend-long gathering and seed exchange event Strengthening the Roots: Seeds and Justice Convergence.

Two decades of experience with GMO crops, including mixed assessments of environmental impact and increased yield, indicate that controversies about biotech agriculture is not just (or even primarily) about the modified plants themselves. Rather, a complex social system travels with the plants. This system includes intellectual property, legal and political regimes, chemical inputs, industrialized and centralized food processing, farmer debt and much more. As the debate over GMO crops has evolved, particularly in the global South, the controversies have shifted from genetic modification techniques to the appropriateness of that social system for providing environmentally beneficial and economically secure food systems. Thus, this panel seeks to investigate the question of under what conditions ag-biotech is capable of providing sustainable—in all its ecological, cultural, and economic connotations—food systems in the global South? And are achieving those conditions both plausible and worth whatever trade-offs may be made in pursuit of extending and improving upon more traditional modes of growing food?

Mast Fruiting and Ectomycorrhizal Associates: How Looking Below Ground Reshapes Above Ground Ecologies and Politics

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February 19, 2013

4:00-6:00PM

Engineering 2, Room 599

Lisa Curran (Woods Institute for the Environment/Department of Anthropology, Stanford University)

Respondents: Anna Tsing (Anthropology, UCSC) and Andrew Mathews (Science & Justice Research Center and Anthropology, UCSC)

Lisa Curran is an anthropologist and tropical ecologist who, over the last twenty five years, has carried out extensive research on forest ecology and plant/mycorrhizal relations in Indonesian forests. Through her engagement in policy research and advocacy she has participated in key forest policy conversations, including through her criticism of oil palm plantations in Latin America and South East Asia. Lisa’s current interdisciplinary research programs examine the effects of land use change, climate, drought and fire on carbon dynamics and biodiversity; and impacts of governmental policies and industrial practices on ecosystems and rural livelihoods in Asian and Latin American tropical forests. Today she will talk to us about her research on the relationship between below ground ectomycorrhyzal associates and above ground mast fruiting by important dipterocarp tree species. In a public conversation with Anna Tsing (Anthropology, UCSC) and Andrew Mathews (Science & Justice Research Center and Anthropology, UCSC) she will talk about how this research has informed her engagement with and criticism of oil palm plantations, and about how it broadens competition models that have historically been dominant in ecology.

Green Neuroscience: Re-envisioning how we Study the Brain and Ourselves

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Rap Report > Green Neuroscience: Re-envisioning how we study our brains and ourselves

In this Science and Justice Working Group event, Dr. Ann Lam and Dr. Elan Liss Ohayon present the story of establishing the Green Neuro Lab. They will outline some of the key issues facing the neurosciences and describe the lab’s efforts to advance a sustainable and inclusive neuroscience. They will also outline how their current research directions, in studies of neural imaging, cognition, and computational neural modeling, address their objectives. They hope to engage the audience in a discussion of how neuroscience can be re-envisioned in the context of science, justice and the environment.

There is an urgent need for the neuroscience community as a whole to reexamine its purpose and approach to research. Simply put, the overall trajectory of neuroscience research today is generating toxic waste, causing harm to other species, and creating fractured categories of human health that result in unnecessary stigmatization and marginalization. Many of these issues stem from long-established and largely unchallenged belief systems about the brain and brain-environment interactions. These problems are also systemic in nature in that much of neuroscience research is driven by funding structures and other factors that run counter to individual and community interests.

The aim of the Green Neuroscience laboratory is to advance our understanding of the brain by posing questions and conducting careful research in a sustainable and creative manner. The lab strives to demonstrate that neuroscience research can be less harmful to the environment and improve health while simultaneously recognizing the importance of neurodiversity, community, and the environment. Another central goal of the lab is to improve the dialogue between researchers and the publics they strive to help.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013 | 4:00-6:00 PM | Engineering 2, Room 599

Bios

Dr. Ann Lam received her PhD from the University of Saskatchewan and completed her postdoctoral research at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. She is Director and Founder of the Green Neuroscience Laboratory. Her work has focused on brain development and cognitive conditions, including Williams Syndrome. She is currently working on developing an open atlas of brain metals to study the relationship between metals and cognition.

Dr. Elan Liss Ohayon received his PhD from the University of Toronto and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California San Diego. He is currently a research associate at the Salk Institute. He is also Co-Director and Founder of the Green Neuroscience Laboratory. He is a neurocomputational researcher, with research projects relating neural network structure to activity in epilepsy and social cognition.

Climate Data, Dams, and Water Demand: A Cross-Disciplinary Conversation

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Science & Justice Working Group Meeting

November 27, 2012, 4:00-6:00pm

Engineering 2, Rm. 599

Panelists:

Ruth Langridge: Legal Studies/ Politics Department, UCSC

Lori Pottinger: International Rivers Network

Bruce Daniels: Earth and Planetary Sciences, UCSC; Soquel Water District Board of Directors

Decades of anti-dam activism around the world have generated a greater public awareness of the social and ecological consequences of large dams. But urbanization and increasing fears over the hydrologic effects of climate change have slowed this anti-dam momentum. Climate models play a crucial role in the decision-making process, meaning that an understanding of the limits and possibilities of these models is more important than ever. This event addresses this problem by bringing together a water policy analyst, an advocate for healthy rivers, and a climate modeler to explore the relationship between hydrologic climate modeling and regional water resource planning. The event will explore how data are constructed, analyzed, and used to make water resource planning decisions; what challenges arise in this process for scientists, policy makers, and everyday people in affected watersheds; and what possibilities for social and environmental justice arise from a better understanding of these factors.

We will hear from Ruth Langridge, an expert on water law and policy in the Politics and Legal Studies Departments at UCSC; Lori Pottinger, an advocate for healthy rivers with the International Rivers Network in Berkeley; and Bruce Daniels, a PhD Candidate working on hydroclimatology in the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department at UCSC and a member of the Soquel Water District Board of Directors. The event will explore how data are constructed, analyzed, and used to make water resource planning decisions; what challenges arise in this process for scientists, policy makers, and everyday people in affected watersheds; and what possibilities for social and environmental justice arise from a better understanding of these factors.

Co-Sponsored by the UCSC Department of Anthroplogy

We are all lichens: How symbiosis research has reconstituted a new realm of individuality

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Scott Gilbert (Howard A. Schneiderman Professor Swarthmore College)

UCSC Philosophy Department Colloquium

Thursday, November 15, 4 – 6 pm. Humanities 1, rm. 210

The notion of the “biological individual” is crucial to studies of genetics, immunology, evolution, development, anatomy, and physiology. Each of these biological sub-disciplines has a specific conception of individuality, which has historically provided conceptual contexts for integrating newly acquired data. During the past decade, nucleic acid analysis, especially genomic sequencing and high-throughput RNA techniques, has challenged each of these disciplinary definitions by finding significant interactions of animals and plants with symbiotic microorganisms that disrupt the boundaries which heretofore had characterized the biological individual. Animals cannot be considered individuals by anatomical, or physiological criteria, because a diversity of symbionts are both present and functional in completing metabolic pathways and serving other physiological functions.

Similarly, these new studies have shown that animal development is incomplete without symbionts. Symbionts also constitute a second mode of genetic inheritance, providing selectable genetic variation for natural selection. The immune system also develops, in part, in dialogue with symbionts, and thereby functions as a mechanism for integrating microbes into the animal-cell community. Recognizing the “holobiont”—the multicellular eukaryote plus its colonies of persistent symbionts– as a critically important unit of anatomy, development, physiology, immunology, and evolution, opens up new investigative avenues and conceptually challenges the ways in which the biological sub-disciplines have heretofore characterized living entities.

COLLOQUIUM CO-SPONSORED BY:

History of Consciousness Department, Center for Cultural Studies, and Science & Justice Working Group