Communicating Climate Change, Composing Hope

Noted ecologist and science writer Cornelia Mutel will visit Grinnell on April 25-26 to discuss the challenges of confronting climate change. Her campus visit will include a lecture, a presentation in the biology department’s weekly seminar series, class appearances and a nature walk at the College's Conard Environmental Research Area. The events are free and open to the public.

Mutel’s most recent book, A Sugar Creek Chronicle: Observing Climate Change from a Midwestern Woodland (2016, University of Iowa Press) is an account of Mutel's exploration of climate change's impact on a woodland near her home in east-central Iowa. Her previous books include A Watershed Year: Anatomy of the Iowa Floods of 2008 and The Emerald Horizon: The History of Nature in Iowa.

7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 25, Rosenfield Center, Room 101

Lecture: "Communicating Climate Change, Composing Hope."

"Climate change is alive and active in the Midwest and around the globe," Mutel says. "What is it already touching? What are its effects? How can we address the growing challenges?" In the lecture, Mutel will provide a summary of the basic character of climate change and its most recent expressions.

11 a.m.  Tuesday, Noyce Science Center, Room 2022

Panel discussion: "Communicating Science-based Problems to the Lay Public," part of the biology department seminar series

2 p.m. Tuesday, ARH, Room 102

Class Visit: Professor Emeritus Doug Caulkins' Sustainability of Social Responsibility of Organizations class.

2 p.m. Wednesday, April 26, Conard Environmental Research Area (CERA)

Informal Nature Walk: led by CERA Manager Elizabeth Hill. 

CERA is in rural Kellogg, Iowa.

Driving directions: Take Interstate-80 west from Grinnell to Exit 173. Go north on Highway 224 and take the first gravel road on the right (S. 12th Ave. E). Follow it east about 1.5 miles to the main entrance of CERA. Watch for CERA's main entrance sign.

Mutel's most recent book, A Sugar Creek Chronicle: Observing Climate Change from a Midwestern Woodland is an account of Mutel's exploration of climate change's impact on a woodland near her home in east-central Iowa. Her previous books include A Watershed Year: Anatomy of the Iowa Floods of 2008 and The Emerald Horizon: The History of Nature in Iowa.

Mutel's visit is sponsored by the Center for Prairie Studies.