September 10, 2019
Overview of quantitative work done by the lecturer in the last few years with different modelling tools to better understand the economic impacts of combating climate change. It includes the analysis of unilateral (e.g. emission targets) and multilateral policies (e.g. carbon taxation) and the promotion of climate change mitigation technologies (e.g. smart agriculture).
November 7, 2019
One of the most challenging aspects of the Anthropocene and ongoing climate change is the aspect of change. Environments change, we change environments, so now humanity needs to change. Change our perceptions of the planet and the self, our research and working methods, our idiom and visual narratives, and also teaching methods. Drawing from experiences of artists collective Satellietgroep and the educational pilot project called Beyond Technology, Dutch artist-curator Jacqueline Heerema shares methods that target at inclusive co-creation of knowledge to enhance professional and public climate-consciousness.
November 19, 2019
Different lines of evidence suggest that divergence in plasticity plays a key role in adaptation to global environmental change. Many scientists argue that genetic variation in plastic responses to the environment (G × E) could be an important predictor of species' vulnerabilities to climate change. But there is not a general pattern among either experimental or theoretical studies. Plasticity acting at the level of the individual is considered a rapid mechanism for surviving under rapidly changing conditions. But plasticity can also retard adaptation by shifting the distribution of phenotypes in the population, shielding it from natural selection. We know that not all plastic responses are adaptive. I will illustrate some examples of ecological traps, and, for the case of plants, the paradoxical decision regarding roots that we are far from understanding and modelling. Plasticity may buy time for populations, but whether it will be enough, given the rate of environmental change, is unknown.
September 21, 2021
For the last two decades we have been spinning around the same problem with maladaptation – we know what it is, but we rarely know when it is happening in real time. Most examples of maladaptation are only detected after the fact when it is too late to prevent them from doing damage. Still we are fascinated by this concept. This talk addresses maladaptation and its various understandings, and discusses why it matters so much.