March 30, 2021 – 7:00pm via Zoom
Paul Robbins, Director The Nelson Institute
We live in a time of environmental upheaval. Stranger still, many of the changes we see in the world around us, from invasive species to climate change, are sometimes irreversible, although they are manageable. In a sense then, we live in a world where there is “No Going Back”. This talk discusses how to study, understand, and manage environments in change, and ends with the lessons of how COVID might have changed urban ecologies in ways from which cities may not return. Surprise? That might be a good thing.
Paul Robbins, a native of Denver Colorado and UW–Madison alumnus, holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology, along with a master’s degree and doctorate in geography, both from Clark University. As director of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, he oversees the institute’s mission of serving as a world leader in addressing environmental change. His research spans locations from rural India to suburban America, where he studies human interactions with nature and the politics of natural resource management.