Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023 1 – 5 pm
All in-person attendees choose one mobile workshop through the conference app – click here to access the conference app; choose your workshop from the agenda – USE THE LINK IN THE WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION TO SELECT YOUR MOBILE WORKSHOP – clicking “Add to my agenda” will not reserve your space on the bus
1. Deep Mapping: Bridging Story-Telling and Science at Tyson Research Center
Tyson Research Center is the environmental field station of Washington University in St. Louis. During this field trip, participants will learn about Tyson’s unique history of human impacts on the land, explore current research sites, hear stories from the invisible landscape, and complete an introspective guided writing piece.
Presenters: Katy Didden, Ball State University; Susan Flowers, Tyson Research Center; and Suzanne Louis, Washington University
2. Cultivating the Bench: Developing a climate resilient and inclusive workforce for the agriculture and plant science industries
The Midwest is on the front lines of ensuring global food security and protecting the land, water, and other natural resources for future generations. The incoming generation of farmers, plant scientists, and innovators must visualize, devise, and uphold the transformation of our natural and working lands to ensure a pathway for regenerative and sustainable production. This undertaking necessitates that the education, industry, and non-profit sectors authentically engage and leverage diverse stakeholders and historically excluded groups. One thing is certain: Failing to connect with these groups will have negative consequences for our climate and conservation efforts. As this workshop will showcase, we steadfastly believe the agriculture and plant science industries are in a race for relevance, and the time to act is now. The purpose of this workshop is to define and develop strategies that cultivate a climate-resilient and inclusive workforce, and includes a walking tour of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center.
Presenters: Justin Raymundo, BioSTL; Michael Woods, IL Dep’t of Agriculture; Kristine Callis-Duehl, Danforth Plant Science Center; Tyler Strom, IL Agri-Food Alliance
3. Designing the 2028 Anti-Flood Control Act: The intersection of climate resilience, water quality, and commerce on the Mississippi River
This mobile workshop will engage the intersectionality of research, design, and policy in the Midwest by visiting key sites in the St. Louis region. We will visit the Audubon Center at Riverlands, Melvin Price Locks and Dam, National Great Rivers Research and Education Center with an additional stop at the Chain of Rocks and hear from key stakeholders along the way. Participants will be led through a thinkshop by two designers, Derek Hoeferlin and Matthew Bernstine where we will ask participants to produce an on-the ground journal to generate questions, ideations, and provocations centered on the forthcoming 100-year anniversary of the Great Flood of 1927. As a collective, we will begin to envision a Midwestern approach to the next flood-control or Anti flood-control act to surface questions of research priorities, interdisciplinary approaches, and the unknowns of climate change impacts.
Presenters: Derek Hoeferlin, Washington University; Matthew Bernstine, Washington University
4. Genuine Engagement Makes Better Projects and Connected Communities
Join local public agency Great Rivers Greenway and national nonprofit Civity to discuss the human element to community development. First, visit two local park/greenway projects and hear from staff, residents and stakeholders about how Great Rivers Greenway’s approach to community engagement informed Trojan Park on the St. Vincent Greenway, and the Brickline Greenway’s new art installation at the new Major League Soccer CITYPARK Stadium. Then head to the City Foundry for a two-hour workshop from Lucy Hancock of Civity, an organization dedicated to supporting community leaders who want to create a welcoming culture. Attendees will get help to build ‘social muscle’ in their community, cultivate relationships of respect, empathy and trust across differences by learning how to deepen conversations, establish authenticity through storytelling and active listening, and ‘put difference on the table.
Presenters: Emma Klues, Great Rivers Greenway; Lucy Hancock, Civity
5. Cultural Collaboration: Zoo Museum District Working Together on Climate Solutions
Learn how the Saint Louis Zoo Museum District (ZMD) works across institutions to advance sustainability and climate solutions. In 2022, this collaboration culminated in the “summer of sustainability,” a Green Living Festival event series. Travel to the Saint Louis Zoo and Missouri Botanical Garden to see first-hand, ground-breaking sustainability, conservation, and biodiversity efforts. Highlights will feature visiting Arctic & Antarctic residents and the new Jack C. Taylor Visitor Center, a biophilic and green building showcase. Leave with fresh ideas for collaboration within your own community!
Presenters: Wanda Kolo, Saint Louis Zoo; Joyce Gorrell, Missouri Botanical Garden; Rachel Greathouse, Missouri Historical Society
6. Preparing Future Scientists to Battle Climate Change with Green Chemistry
Come see how MilliporeSigma incorporates Green Chemistry education into our Design for Sustainability. This workshop will introduce faculty and students to Beyond Benign’s Green Chemistry curriculum and the Green Chemistry Commitment. A tour of our Laclede facility will be followed by a presentation by Ettigounder Ponnusamy, PhD, creator of the MilliporeSigma DOZN™ tool, as well as an introduction to Green Chemistry curriculum and the Green Chemistry Commitment by other attendees. The workshop is targeted for Chemistry/Sustainability/Engineering faculty and students interested in Green Chemistry.
Presenters: Ettigounder Ponnusamy, MilliporeSigma; Dr. Rebecca DeVasher, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Mr. Greg Sloan, Woodrow Wilson Elementary School