Woods Hole Research Center

The Woods Hole Research Center’s seminar series features presentations on key issues surrounding the global environment. All lectures take place in the Center’s Harbourton Auditorium at 149 Woods Hole Road in Falmouth unless otherwise noted. Center seminars are free and open to the public; however, due to space limitations, reservations are required. For further information, please call Development at 508-444-1517 or . Parking is available on site, but is limited - carpooling is encouraged.

Upcoming Events

Eric A. Davidson, President and Wilhelm Merck, Chairman of the Woods Hole Research Center, will host a special reception honoring two eminent environmental leaders: Gro Harlem Brundtland and Lawrence S. Huntington, as we award the inaugural Lawrence S. Huntington Environmental Prize. The Lawrence S. Huntington Environmental Prize recognizes leaders in the public or private sector who advance and promote research and communication on climate, earth sciences, and conservation. These pioneers understand the interrelationships of global systems and think on a planetary scale. Their example inspires the pursuit and communication of science critical to the sustainability of the earth.

Gro Harlem Brundtland is the former Prime Minister of Norway. She was the leader of the World Commission on Environment and Development, which presented the groundbreaking report: Our Common Future in 1987, that led to the Rio Summit in 1992. Dr. Brundtland has been Director General of the World Health Organization, is a member of the Board of the United Nations Foundation, and a member of "The Elders," a group of global leaders called together by Nelson Mandela in 2007.

Lawrence S. Huntington has been a member of the Woods Hole Research Center’s Board of Directors since 1994, became Treasurer in 1995, and served as its Chairman from 1998 to 2011.  Mr. Huntington is Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Fiduciary Trust Company. He is active in civic and business organizations including the Josiah Macy Foundation and Continuum Health Partners. He is the former Chairman of the New York Law School, the New York City Citizens Budget Commission, and the World Wildlife Fund. Mr. Huntington is also a former member of the NASD International Markets Advisory Board and the New York State Common Retirement Fund Investment Committee.

A Presentation by Dr. Brundtland will follow:
Rio +20 Report Card and Our Common Future

Thursday, February 7, 2013
5:30 p.m. Cocktails
6:45 p.m. Award Presentation

New York Yacht Club
37 West 44th Street
New York City

RSVP by January 25, 2013

 

Recent Events

Wednesday, September 19
Science on Ice
by Chris Linder, Scientist and Photographer

The Woods Hole Research Center invites you to join us on September 19th for a rare look at science through the lens of environmental photographer, Chris Linder, as he takes us on his journeys through the rainforest of the Congo and the arctic ice sheets of Siberia.

Chris Linder is an oceanographer, award-winning science photojournalist and member of the International League of Conservation Photographers. Linder has photographed over a dozen scientific expeditions to the polar regions. His images have been featured in Geo, Nature’s Best Photography, Outdoor Photographer, and Wired. In his latest book, Science on Ice: Four Polar Expeditions, Linder brings to life the extraordinary journey scientists face in the remote and extreme environments of the Arctic and Antarctica.

Wednesday, May 30th, 5:30pm
Flying in Space: An Astronaut's Perspective on Climate Change
by Astronaut Dr. Piers Sellers

Join us for an inspiring scientific presentation by astronaut Dr. Piers Sellers, the deputy director for the Science and Exploration Directorate at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Dr. Sellers has been on three space missions in which he completed numerous space walks, travelled millions of miles and orbited the Earth hundreds of times.

Monday, May 21st, 12PM
WHRC and MBL co-host Telling The Climate Change Story
by Susan Joy Hassol, Director of Climate Communications

Even as the science of climate change has grown stronger and more compelling, public acceptance has grown weaker and more partisan. In this presentation, renowned climate change communications specialist Susan Joy Hassol will discuss the range of causes for this dilemma. She will also address how we can improve communication of climate change by what we say and how we say it, dealing with framing, psychological and cultural issues, and questions involving language.

Susan Joy Hassol has worked for over 20 years to help communicate the science of climate change to a wide variety of audiences. She has written and edited numerous high-level reports, testified before Congress, written an HBO documentary, and appeared on national radio and television shows. Her current focus is on helping climate scientists improve their communication and on improving media coverage of climate change.

Not to be missed, this presentation will include up-to-date information on what the American public thinks about climate change and how that should be considered in science communication efforts.

Wednesday, April 18 at 6 pm
Going with the Flow: A River-Centric View of Our Changing Planet
by Senior Scientist Dr. Max Holmes

Drawing on examples from around the world, Dr. Holmes will use stunning photographs, compelling video, and maps to show that just as human health can be evaluated by analyzing the blood, so can the health of watersheds can be evaluated by monitoring river water. He has studied many of the world’s largest rivers, including the Amazon, Congo, and Kolyma, and much of this work is motivated by an interest in understanding the causes and consequences of global climate change. Dr. Holmes will emphasize the implications of permafrost thaw in the Arctic and deforestation in the tropics.

Thursday, October 13, 2011
Walking on Water: Reinventing the Environmental Movement

The Woods Hole Research Center hosted a lecture and reception with world renowned conservationists, John Francis and Jon Waterhouse. John Francis, nicknamed the Planetwalker, is an environmentalist who has dedicated his life to changing the world one step at a time. Jon Waterhouse is Director of the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council, an Indigenous grassroots organization dedicated to the protection and preservation of the Yukon River Watershed. For more information on the speakers please visit: www.nationalgeographic.com/field/explorers

Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Pantropical Scholars Event

The Woods Hole Research Center hosted a reception in the main commons of the Woodwell building to showcase the 15 visiting Pan-Tropical Scholars, from three different continents, that were attending a two week workshop at the Center. The event served as an opportunity to educate WHRC local donors on the Pan-Tropical Scholars program and a chance for donors to meet the group of scholars. The evening began with a welcome from Deputy Director, Scott Goetz, followed by an introduction of the scholars by Scientist, Nadine Laporte. Dr. Laporte then turned over the stage to three scholars, one representing each continent of Asia, Africa and South America, to share their story and give an insider’s look into WHRC’s Pan-Tropical Scholars Capacity Building program. Click here to read more information about our Scholars Program.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011
From Cancun to Durban: Is the 2011 United Nations Climate conference the place to seal the climate deal?

The Woods Hole Research Center will present a Community Climate Forum entitled, “From Cancun to Durban: Is the 2011 United Nations Climate conference the place to seal the climate deal?” The 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will take place in Durban, South Africa, this fall, from November 28th through December 9th. The WHRC Community Climate Forum will offer a glimpse into past COP negotiations, the Center’s role at the UNFCCC conferences, and what lies ahead for climate change policy at COP17 in Durban.

The Community Climate Forum will be chaired by Dr. Eric A. Davidson, the Center’s newly appointed President and Executive Director, and Dr. Kilaparti Ramakrishna, Director of the Center’s Policy Program and holder of the Sara Shallenberger Brown Chair in Environmental Law and Policy.

Thursday, April 21, 2011
African Agricultural Green Revolution 2.0

Dr. Pedro Sanchez, the Director of the Tropical Agriculture and the Rural Environment Program, Senior Research Scholar, and Director of the Millennium Villages Project at the Earth Institute at Columbia University, will give a lecture entitled African Agricultural Green Revolution 2.0, on Thursday, April 21, at the Woods Hole Research Center.

February 2, 2011
A special lecture co-sponsored by Woods Hole Research Center and Marine Biological Laboratory

Wes Jackson, Founder and President of The Land Institute and one of the foremost figures in the international sustainable agriculture movement, discussing his new book: Consulting the Genius of the Place: An Ecological Approach to a New Agriculture.

April 28, 2010
Shooting with the Radar Gun: Another Radiological Tool to Diagnose and Monitor Patient Earth
Dr. Josef Kellndorfer, Associate Scientist, Woods Hole Research Center

March 25, 2010
From Fazenda Tanguro, Brazil: The Story of Scientists and Teachers Bringing Research in the Amazon to Falmouth Schools
Dr. Michael T. Coe, Associate Scientist, Woods Hole Research Center
Christine Brothers, Science Dept. Head and Biology Teacher, Falmouth High School
Kelly Garrett, Biology Teacher, Falmouth High School

February 11, 2010
Manure Happens!
Environmental Consequences of Feeding About 6 Billion Carnivorous Humans
Eric Davidson, Senior Scientist, Woods Hole Research Center

September 3, 2009
Book Talk: The Nature of a House
George M. Woodwell, Founder and Director Emeritus, Woods Hole Research Center

 

Past Center Symposia

The Great Issues of Environment: Ecology and the Public Good (2008)
A Symposium Honoring George Masters Woodwell in Celebration of his Eightieth Birthday
Dean Abrahamson, Professor Emeritus of Public Affairs and Planning, Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota in Minneapolis
John H. Adams, Founding Director and former President, Natural Resources Defense Council
F. Herbert Bormann, Emeritus Professor of Forest Ecology, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies
Paul R. Ehrlich, President, Center for Conservation Biology and Bing Professor of Population Studies, Stanford University
John P. Holdren, President and Director, Woods Hole Research Center
Thomas E. Lovejoy, President, Heinz Center
Daniel Nepstad, Chief Program Officer, Environmental Conservation Programs, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
Frederica P. Perera, Director of the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health
Kilaparty Ramakrishna, Policy Advisor, United Nations Environment Programme
J. G. Speth, Dean, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Science
Sandra Steingraber, Distinguished Scholar in Residence, Division of Interdisciplinary and International Studies, Ithaca College

Twentieth Anniversary Symposium - Environmentalism: Retrospect and Prospect (2005)
Paul R. Ehrlich, President, Center for Conservation Biology and Bing Professor of Population Studies, Stanford University
John P. Holdren, President and Director, Woods Hole Research Center
J. G. Speth, Dean, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Science
Sandra Steingraber, Distinguished Scholar in Residence, Division of Interdisciplinary and International Studies, Ithaca College George M. Woodwell, Founder and Director Emeritus, Woods Hole Research Center

Panel Discussion: Scientific Integrity in Policymaking (2004)
Kilaparti Ramakrishna, Deputy Director, Woods Hole Research Center
John Farrington, Vice President, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Peter Frumhoff, Director, Global Environment Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists
John P. Holdren, Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government
Jerry Melillo, Co-Director, Ecosystems Center of the Marine Biological Laboratory
George M. Woodwell, Director, Woods Hole Research Center

Report on the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg 2002
Kilaparti Ramakrishna, Deputy Director, Woods Hole Research Center
Eric Davidson, Senior Scientist, Woods Hole Research Center
George M. Woodwell, Director, Woods Hole Research Center

 

Past Presentations and Speakers

 

(Alphabetical by speaker’s last name; title reflects affiliation at time of presentation.)

Finding the Right Balance: The Disposal of Nuclear Waste
Garry Brewer, Frederick K. Weyerhaeuser Professor of Resource Policy and Management, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and the Yale School of Management

People and Forests: The Human Signature on an Ancient Landscape
David G. Campbell, Henry R. Luce Professor in Nations and Global Environment, Grinnell College; author of, The Crystal Desert: Summers in Antarctica.

The Amazon River: How Choices Now Shape Its Future
Michael T. Coe, Associate Scientist, Woods Hole Research Center

Our Health in a Warming Climate
Devra Lee Davis, Director of the Health, Environment and Development Program, World Resources Institute

The Humanity Crisis: Focusing on the True Nature of Our Dilemma
Dianne Dumanoski, Journalist and Author

Newly Emerging Diseases in a World
Laurie Garrett, Author; former science correspondent for National Public Radio

Toward a Real Kyoto Protocol
Ross Gelbspan, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author
Paul Epstein, Associate Director, Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard Medical School

Business on a Small Planet
Paul Hawken, Author

Bombs, BTUs, and the Biota: Priorities for the Next Four Years
John P. Holdren, Visiting Distinguished Scientist, Woods Hole Research Center; Class of 1935 Professor of Energy, University of California, Berkeley; Member, President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology

The Coming Energy-Environment Train Wreck: Why Energy Supply Remains the World's Biggest Environmental Problem; What Could and Should Be Done About It; Why We're Not Doing It
John P. Holdren, Visiting Distinguished Scientist, Woods Hole Research Center; Class of 1935 Professor of Energy, University of California, Berkeley; Member, President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology

Tropical Forests and Global Climate Change: Connections and Remedies
John P. Holdren, President and Director, Woods Hole Research Center
Daniel Nepstad, Senior Scientist, Woods Hole Research Center

Science, Education, and Policy in Action: Adventures and Climate Change in the Arctic
R. Max Holmes, Associate Scientist, Woods Hole Research Center
Anya Suslova, Undergraduate Intern, Siberia

Nitrogen pollution of coastal waters: Sources, rates of change, and possible solutions to the problem
Robert Howarth, David R. Atkinson Professor of Ecology and Environmental Biology, Cornell University

Agriculture's Ten Thousand Year Old Challenge
Wes Jackson, Co-founder and President, Land Institute of Salina, Kansas

Sustainable Development and Conflict Management in Latin America
Yolanda Kakabadse, President of the World Conservation Union (IUCN)

Assessing Human Vulnerability to Global Environmental Change
Roger Kasperson, Chair, International Geographical Union Commission on Critical Situations/Regions in Global Environmental Change (1992-1996)

Design, Ecology, Ethics, and the Making of Things
William McDonough, principal architect for William McDonough + Partners,

What If the Sky Fell and Nobody Noticed? Convincing the Public About Global Change
Bill McKibben, Author; former New Yorker staff writer

A Vision of U.S. Security in the 21st Century
Robert S. McNamara, U.S. Secretary of Defense 1961-1968; former president, World Bank

The Science and Rescue of the Amazon
Daniel Nepstad, Senior Scientist, Woods Hole Research Center

Great Transition: The Promise and Lure of the Times Ahead
Paul Raskin, President, Tellus Institute and Director, Stockholm Environment Institute-Boston

Beyond Johannesburg: Bridging the Gulf between Ecology and Environmental Law
Nicholas A. Robinson, Founder, Pace University's Environmental Law Programs

Tropical Economy and Economic Development
Jeffrey Sachs, Director, Harvard's Center for International Development

Climate Change: Learning from the Past, Planning for the Future
Daniel P. Schrag, Professor, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences; Director, Harvard's Center for the Environment

The New Political Landscape
David M. Shribman, 1995 Pulitzer Prize winner for national political reporting; columnist and Washington Bureau Chief of The Boston Globe

Reflections on Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction: A UN Inspector's Experiences
Jørn Siljeholm, United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission

Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment
Sandra Steingraber, author of Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer

Understanding the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)
Thomas Stone, Senior Research Associate, Woods Hole Research Center

Book Talk: Sippewissett, or Life on a Salt Marsh
Tim Traver, Author

The Earth's Cryosphere and Global Environmental Change
Richard S. Williams, Jr.
Senior Research Geologist, Woods Hole Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey
Vice Chairman Emeritus, Committee for Research and Exploration, National Geographic Society, Adjunct Senior Scientist, Woods Hole Research Center

Wild Lands, Endangered People
Art Wolfe, photographer and author of, Migrations: Wildlife in Motion and, Light on the Land.

Russia’s Environmental Health: Role of Civil Society
Alexei Yablokov, Russian Academy of Sciences
Vladimir Zakharov, Center for Russian Environmental Policy