Finding the local angle

“I think there can be a collective exhaustion around thinking about climate change, but there’s not an exhaustion about thinking about and reading about the impacts of climate change,” said Shankman. “Whether that’s flooding, whether that’s gross water in the Charles, those are things that people care about, no matter what.”

The discussion was moderated by Amber Williams (BC ’10), senior editor at the New York Times, and also included BC faculty members who shared how their own research and teaching bring awareness to global issues through local stories. The series is co-sponsored by the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society and the Environmental Studies and Journalism programs, and supported by a grant from the Institute for the Liberal Arts.

Catherine Hoar, assistant professor in the Department of Engineering, explained that she will bring in local examples to provide context for her lectures. When teaching about flooding and urban systems, Hoar explained, she did research with the Charles River Watershed Association on an urban stream in Newton to make the issue relevant and potent for BC students.

Neil McCullagh, executive director of the Carroll School of Management’s Joseph E. Corcoran Center for Real Estate and Urban Action, also uses a local lens to help students understand  housing problems. “Our work is decidedly local,” McCullagh said. “When we do projects with students, we try to focus on a local project.”