This weeks lecture was given by our very own Dr. Loren McClenachan. I have been fortunate enough to have taken a course with Loren during my sophomore year and I must say I was excited to see that she was participating in our lecture series. Dr. McClenachan gave a discussion on a new study that showed marine ecosystem health declining. As I know from the course I took with her, marine ecosystems have been heavily hit by impacts from climate change and continue to change on a yearly basis. The site that Loren used for her research was in the Florida Keys. Loren researched the history of marine ecosystem health in an attempt to formulate a better understanding of how the reefs and surrounding ocean in the Keys was in rapid decline. I especially enjoy Loren’s talks because I find that Loren does not only research very compelling topics but she uses images to draw contrast between timelines and uses figures that are easy to understand to all levels of audience. Loren focused on the smaller sizes of contemporary trophy fishes, the importance of coral reefs for the ecosystem, and the boom-bust fisheries.<\/p>\n
Although Loren focused largely on marine ecosystem health, her talk had a resounding theme that focused on the rapidly changing environment that is now a reality we live in. An important aspect of environmental health research is the transparency and efficacy of policies that are made to ameliorate environmental issues. If we do not raise awareness of the harm that we are afflicting on the environment, we are going to continue to see the issue of a constantly shifting baseline, that will likely deteriorate the environment further. One fascinating thing that I learned during this talk was that the US only hold environmental history from the 50s forward. This is less than 70 years of environmental history and we have already done so much to destroy it. If we had more history recorded, we could be more informed about the failures of certain policies or decisions. Loren was able to illustratively describe the deterioration and destruction on our environment both in the past and present. She advocates for the use of intersectionality when considering policy decisions that will effect not only domestic life but life globally.<\/p>\n
Loren’s talk was similar to themes seen in all environmentally related lectures. The earth is seemingly on a path to its destruction by the human race. We are literally going to kill ourselves off with the poor and greedy decisions we make as a species. Loren’s talk had some references of hope, though her topic shed a bad light on our treatment of marine ecosystems. She spoke about the Goliath Grouper and how we are still able to invest time and effort into protecting vital species and habitats.<\/p>\n
Dr. McClenachan’s talk really highlighted some of the issues that are continuing to plague our world unnoticed. We as humans have continued to exploit the lands and resources that have allowed us to survive. We need to radically change the way we view nature and change the way that we as a global community have been treating it. Loren’s research is vital to this movement towards a more environmentally secure future. Her work on the conservation and protection of marine systems plays a key role in understanding how we effect the ocean systems. If I could pull one thing away from this talk I would say that we need to raise more awareness on the issue of environmental degradation as a whole. I am very happy that Loren was able to participate in this lecture series and think that she should continue to be included in this in the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This weeks lecture was given by our very own Dr. Loren McClenachan. I have been fortunate enough to have taken a course with Loren during my sophomore year and I must say I was excited to see that she was participating in our lecture series. Dr. McClenachan gave a discussion on a new study that … <\/p>\n