Past Lectures

Thursday, January 30, 2025, 7:30 p.m.
Hudson Concert Hall, Rogers Music Center
Free admission

Suzanne Simard is a Professor of Forest Ecology at the University of British Columbia and the author of Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest.

Suzanne is a pioneer on the frontier of plant communication and intelligence; and has been hailed as a scientist who conveys complex, technical ideas in a way that is dazzling and profound. Her work has influenced filmmakers (the Tree of Souls in James Cameron’s Avatar) and her TED talks have been viewed by more than 10 million people worldwide.

Sponsored by the Dempsey Foundation and the Willamette University Department of Environmental Science.

March 5 at 7:30 p.m.
Hudson Hall, Rogers Music Center
Free admission

Professor Priscilla Solis Ybarra (University of North Texas) will present, "The Idea of Wilderness to Mexican Americans."

What can be learned from the fact that wilderness looks like stolen land to some Mexican Americans? This lecture will examine the life work of three historical figures who amplify and challenge the idea of wilderness: Reies López Tijerina, Estella Bergere Leopold, and Enriqueta Vásquez.

Priscilla Solis Ybarra is associate professor of Latinx Literature at the University of North Texas and the 2020-21 senior fellow for the Study of Southwestern America at Southern Methodist University’s Clements Center.

Sponsored by the Dempsey Foundation and the Willamette University Department of Environmental Science.

March 6 at 7:30 p.m. 
Hudson Hall, Rogers Music Center
Free admission

On March 6 at 7:30 p.m. in Willamette University’s Hudson Hall, Amy Cordalis, general counsel for the Yurok Tribe of Northern California, will tell the story of the Klamath River and her tribe’s efforts to reclaim the river from farms for fish. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for “Reclaiming the Klamath,” which is free and open to the public. A question and answer session will follow the presentation.

In the Klamath Basin, tribes, farmers, and fisherman are vying for the scarcest resource — water — creating one of the most complex and unsettled disputes in the country. For decades, the basin has been saddled with near-constant litigation and high stakes political battles.

Cordalis will explain how federal management favored farms and ranches at the expense of the river and the basin’s fisheries, and she’ll discuss how a process of “adaptive management” is the future of the basin.

Cordalis’ family is from the village of Requa on the mouth of the Klamath River in Northern California. Her great-uncle’s Supreme Court case, Mattz v. Arnett, confirmed tribal boundaries and fishing rights in 1973. Cordalis continues her family’s legacy by working to restore the Klamath River while advocating for indigenous human, cultural, and religious rights and tribal sovereignty.

Before Cordalis delivers the 17th Dempsey Lecture at Willamette, the university will host a free showing of the documentary “A River Between Us” on March 5 at 7 p.m. in the Paulus Lecture Hall, within the College of Law’s Collins Legal Center.

Cordalis’ visit and presentation are sponsored by the Dempsey Foundation and Willamette University’s Environmental Science Department.

March 2 at 7:30 p.m.
Hudson Hall, Rogers Music Center
Free admission

On March 2, co-writer Anna Tsing, a professor in UC Santa Cruz’s anthropology department, will present "The Golden Snail Opera" in Willamette University’s Roger’s Music Center at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free, and no ticket is required.

"The Golden Snail Opera" is a multimedia presentation that uses video and performance to tell the story of the golden treasure snail, a species introduced to Taiwan in 1979 as a new food source. Instead, the snail ravaged rice paddies and became a major agricultural pest. The performance highlights rice farmers who forego poison. Instead, these “friendly farmers” manage and integrate the invasive species to bolster production.

"The Golden Snail Opera tells an important story in a new way" says Joe Bowersox, Willamette University environmental science professor and director of the Dempsey Lecture Series. "I hope our students and the public are inspired to incorporate lessons from the performance into their lives."

The event is sponsored by the Dempsey Foundation and Willamette University’s Environmental Science Department. For more information, contact Joe Bowersox at 503-370-6220.

Dr. Naomi Oreskes

Scholar, Author

Friday, March 10, 7:30 p.m., free admission
Hudson Hall, Willamette University

The Harvard professor and environmental scientist shared how industry-funded researchers can delegitimize scientific consensus — as in climate change — to mislead policy makers and the public.

About the speaker

Naomi Oreskes is Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences. She recently arrived at Harvard after spending 15 years as Professor of History and Science Studies at the University of California, San Diego, and Adjunct Professor of Geosciences at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Professor Oreskes’s research focuses on the earth and environmental sciences, with a particular interest in understanding scientific consensus and dissent.

Her 2004 essay “The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change” (Science 306: 1686) has been widely cited, both in the United States and abroad, including in the Royal Society’s publication, “A Guide to Facts and Fictions about Climate Change," in the Academy-award winning film, “An Inconvenient Truth,” and in Ian McEwan’s novel, “Solar.” Her opinion pieces have appeared in The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Times (London), Nature, Science, The New Statesman, Frankfurter Allgemeine and elsewhere. Her 2010 book, “Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco to Global Warming,” co-authored with Erik M. Conway, was shortlisted for the Los Angeles Time Book Prize, and received the 2011 Watson-Davis Prize from the History of Science Society.

Contact

This event was sponsored by the Dempsey Foundation, the Luce Scholars Program and Willamette University’s Department of Environmental and Earth Sciences.

For more information, contact Joe Bowersox at 503-370-6220.

Vandana Shiva

Scholar, author, and environmental activist

Thursday, March 17, 7 p.m.
Hudson Hall, Willamette University

About the speaker

Dr. Vandana Shiva is a scholar, author, and environmental activist. In 2003, Time Magazine named Dr. Shiva as an environmental ‘hero’ and in 2010, Forbes Magazine identified Dr. Shiva as one of the Seven Most Powerful Women on the Globe.

In 1982, Dr. Shiva founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology in Dehra Dun, India which is dedicated to independent research to address the most significant ecological and social issues of our times, working in close partnership with local communities and social movements. In 1991 she founded Navdanya, a national movement to protect the diversity and integrity of living resources – especially native seed – and to promote organic farming and fair trade. For the last two decades, Navdanya has worked with local communities and organizations, serving more than 500,000 men and women farmers. Navdanya’s efforts have resulted in the conservation of more than 3,000 rice varieties from across India, and the organization has established 60 seed banks in 16 states across the country. In 2004, Dr. Shiva started Bija Vidyapeeth, an international college for sustainable living in Doon Valley, in collaboration with Schumacher College, U.K.

Dr. Shiva has contributed to changing the practice and paradigms of agriculture and food. Her books, The Violence of the Green Revolution and Monocultures of the Mind pose essential challenges to the dominant paradigm of non-sustainable, industrial agriculture. Through her books Biopiracy, Stolen Harvest and Water Wars, Dr. Shiva has made visible the social, economic and ecological costs of corporate-led globalization. Dr. Shiva chairs the Commission on the Future of Food set up by the Region of Tuscany in Italy, she is a Board member of the International Forum on Globalization (IGF), and a member of the Steering Committee of the Indian People’s Campaign Against the WTO.

Dr. Shiva’s contributions to gender issues are nationally and internationally recognized. Her book, Staying Alive, dramatically shifts popular perceptions of Third World women. She founded the gender unit at the International Centre for Mountain Development in Kathmandu, and was a founding Board Member of the Women Environment and Development Organization. Dr. Shiva has also initiated Diverse Women for Diversity, an international movement of women working for food and agriculture.

Dr. Shiva advises governments worldwide, and is currently working with the Government of Bhutan to make Bhutan 100% organic. She is also working with the Governments of Tuscany and Rome to create a hopeful and livable future for young people in these times of crises.

She trained as a Physicist at the University of Punjab, and completed her Ph.D. at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. She later shifted to inter-disciplinary research in science, technology and environmental policy, which she carried out at the Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, India.

Contact

This event is sponsored by the Dempsey Foundation, the Luce Scholars Program and Willamette University's Department of Environmental and Earth Sciences.

For more information, contact Joe Bowersox at 503-370-6220.

Ma Jun

Chinese environmentalist, scholar and writer

Monday, April 20, 7:30 p.m.

• Smith Auditorium, Willamette University
• Free

About the speaker

Through his groundbreaking efforts to curb pollution in his homeland, Ma Jun is internationally renowned as one of China’s most successful environmental activists. 

As the founder of the not-for-profit Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE), he has exposed more than 97,000 air and water violations by local and multinational companies operating in China.

Ma Jun has convinced more than 600 companies in China — the world’s largest economy — to publicly disclose their plans and cleanup efforts, and he’s begun working collaboratively with Wal-Mart, Nike, GE and other major brands to adopt more sustainable business practices.

With the help of the Internet, staffers and a dedicated following of Chinese volunteers, Ma Jun is now launching a new app to provide public, real-time data on air and water quality in China.

Time magazine named Ma Jun as one of the World’s 100 Most Influential People in 2006. In 2012, he won the Goldman Environmental Prize and made the list of Foreign Policy Top 100 Global Thinkers.

A former investigative journalist, Ma Jun is the author of “China’s Water Crisis,” which has been compared to Rachel Carson’s trailblazing book, “Silent Spring.”

His lecture at Willamette University marks Ma Jun’s first — and only — public appearance in the United States this year.

Contact

This event is sponsored by the Dempsey Foundation, the Luce Scholars Program and Willamette University's Department of Environmental and Earth Sciences.

For more information, contact Joe Bowersox at 503-370-6220.

Annie Leonard

Writer and Director, "The Story of Stuff"

Thursday, April 17, 7:30 p.m.

• Hudson Hall, Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center, Willamette University
• Free
  

About the speaker

Writer, director and former Greenpeace activist Annie Leonard is the creator of the 20-minute online movie, “ The Story of Stuff,” which has been viewed more than 40 million times since its 2007 release and spawned a community and movement of environmental change-makers.

Leonard sheds light on America’s consumption craze as she connects the dots between all the stuff in our lives and the environmental, economic and social issues we face. Drawing on two decades of experience traveling the globe visiting the places where our stuff is made and the places where it’s dumped, Leonard’s rapid-fire, fact-filled stories lend humor and hope to what is all too often a bleak situation.

Never one to dwell on the negative, Leonard also shares her thoughts on how we get ourselves out of this mess and move closer to a more just and sustainable future.

Leonard is currently on the boards of GAIA (Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives) and Public Citizen and has previously served on the boards of the Grassroots Recycling Network, the Environmental Health Fund, Global Greengrants India, Greenpeace India, and the International Forum on Globalization. She did her undergraduate studies at Barnard College, Columbia University and has a master’s in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University.

Contact

This event is sponsored by the Dempsey Foundation and Willamette University's Department of Environmental and Earth Sciences.

For more information, contact Joe Bowersox at 503-370-6220.

Joel Salatin

Owner and Operator of Polyface Farm in Swoope, Va.

Tuesday, Feb. 12, 7:30 p.m.

• Hudson Hall, Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center, Willamette University
• Free

About the speaker

Featured in Michael Pollan's best-selling book "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and the film "Food, Inc.," Joel Salatin is a third-generation family farmer in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley who has become one of the most well-known spokespeople for the local and sustainable agriculture movements.

The alternative practices Salatin uses at his family farm, Polyface, Inc., have become a model for sustainable farmers across the country. Polyface serves more than 10 retail outlets, 3,000 families and 50 restaurants through on-farm sales and metropolitan buying clubs, and it has been featured in Smithsonian Magazine, National Geographic and Gourmet, among other media outlets.

A prolific writer and sought-after conference speaker, Salatin will discuss how he believes local food can rescue our society from a wide range of problems, including animal abuse, pollution, nutrient deficiency and rural economic decay. A self-described “lunatic farmer,” Salatin’s humorous and conviction-based speeches are akin to theatrical performances.

Willamette University will host a free showing of “American Meat," a documentary featuring Joel Salatin, on Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. in the Paulus Lecture Hall (Room 201) at the Willamette University College of Law.

The film highlights the state of the country's livestock industry. After the showing, filmmakers and local experts in sustainable agriculture and the locavore movement will lead a roundtable discussion.

Contact

This event is sponsored by the Dempsey Foundation and Willamette University's Center for Sustainable Communities.
For more information, contact Joe Bowersox at 503-370-6220.

James E. Hansen

Climatologist
Adjunct Professor, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University

Tuesday, March 20, 2012 7:30pm

• Hudson Hall, Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center, Willamette University
• Tickets are no longer available
• The Willamette Store will be available in the lobby with books and James E. Hansen will be available to autograph books following the lecture.

Abstract

By squeezing oil from tar sands, drilling in the Arctic and hydrofracking to extract natural gas, mankind is actively contributing to global warming. Only by increasing the cost of fossil fuels — and thereby limiting their appeal — will people have a chance of protecting their future, says Climatologist James Hansen. “This is a moral issue,” he says. “Today’s adults cannot say they do not know the consequences of allowing continued fossil fuel addiction, they can only pretend they don’t.”

Hansen, an adjunct professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University, says mankind is entering a planetary crisis, but governments are turning a blind eye to the problem. The solution, he adds, lies in imposing a rising fee on carbon collected from fossil fuel companies — namely at domestic mines and ports of entry.

The funds would be distributed to the public on a per capita basis. People whose carbon footprints are smaller than average would receive more in their monthly dividend than they’d pay in increased energy prices. “As the fee rises, people will need to move toward cleaner energy sources or energy efficiency if they want to stay on the positive side of the ledger,” Hansen says. “The effect would stimulate our economy, modernize our energy systems and give us a competitive advantage internationally.”

By attending his lecture, Hansen says people will learn more about the science used to measure global warming and the solutions that must be implemented for the sake of future generations. He will be available to autograph books after his talk. The books will be sold by the Willamette Store in the lobby.

“Individuals cannot solve the problem themselves,” Hansen says. “Real solution will require people to begin affecting government policies.”

Sponsored by the Dempsey Foundation and the Center for Sustainable Communities
Contact: Andrea Foust afoust@willamette.edu | phone: 503-370-6654

Majora Carter

Economic Consultant, Public Radio Host, and Environmental Justice Advocate

Environmental justice advocate Majora Carter will deliver the 2011 Dempsey Lecture at Willamette University’s Smith Auditorium on April 28 at 7:30 p.m. Entitled, "Home(town) Security," the discussion is free and open to the public.

As one of the nation’s pioneers of successful urban green-collar job training and placement systems, Carter addresses public health, poverty alleviation and climate-adaptation by focusing on the value of local economic development on all aspects of our civic and personal lives.

Carter currently hosts the special public radio series “The Promised Land” and serves on the boards of The Wilderness Society, Ceres and the U.S. Green Building Council. Her work has earned numerous honors including Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People In Business, a MacArthur Fellowship, Essence Magazine’s 25 Most Influential African-Americans and NY Post Liberty Medal for Lifetime Achievement.

The event marks the series' 10th anniversary and is co-sponsored by Willamette's Center for Sustainable Communities.

03-22-2011

Dr. Maria Fadiman

Assistant Professor, Department of Geoscience at Florida Atlantic University
Ethnobotanist
2006 Emerging Explorer, National Geographic

February 11, 2010
7:30pm, Smith Auditorium

Distinguished ethnobotanist and professor Dr. Maria Fadiman will explore the human relationship with the environment in two South American communities by examining sustainable agriculture in the Galapágos and the relationship between indigenous tribes and oil companies in the forests of Ecuador.

The discussion, entitled “Igniting Hope in the Galápagos and the Amazon: How Coffee and Shamanic Trees are Balancing Humans and Nature,” is free and open to the public. It is part of Willamette University’s annual Dempsey Environmental Lecture Series and will be held in Smith Auditorium.

Fadiman will discuss how shade-grown coffee helps forge a more balanced relationship between human inhabitants and the island ecosystem of San Cristóbal in the Galápagos. Residents inspired by recent increases in the price of coffee have turned from fishing to replanting coffee fields. This new economic opportunity could alleviate the pressure on an overfished marine ecosystem while providing a livelihood for island residents without the need to clear more land.

Fadiman will also discuss the Amazon region of Ecuador, concentrating on oil companies’ effects upon local mestizos and indigenous groups of Kichwa, Huoarani and Achuar. She will focus on how these indigenous communities seek to protect both their people and the ecosystems in which they live while dealing with the environmental consequences of oil extraction, including open oil pits.

While not working in Africa, Ecuador or the Galápagos Islands, Fadiman is an Assistant Professor of Geosciences at Florida Atlantic University. Fadiman earned her doctorate in geography from the University of Texas at Austin, and, in 2000, she received a grant from the National Science Foundation to begin research in Ecuador. Fadiman has been published in various academic journals, including the Journal of Latin American Geography and the Journal of Economic Botany. In 2006, National Geographic named her one of eight Emerging Explorers for her continuing work to resolve issues of deforestation and environmental justice in Ecuador and Africa.

For more information please contact Andrea Foust at (503) 370-6654.

Dr. Steven Schneider

Biography

Stephen H. Schneider (born c. 1945) is Professor of Environmental Biology and Global Change (Professor by Courtesy in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering) at Stanford University, a Co-Director at the Center for Environment Science and Policy of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and a Senior Fellow in the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. He has served as a consultant to Federal Agencies and/or White House staff in the Nixon, Carter, Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Clinton and George W. Bush administrations.

His research includes modeling of the atmosphere, climate change, and "the relationship of biological systems to global climate change." He has helped draw public attention to the issue of climate change. He is the founder and editor of the journal Climatic Change. He has authored or co-authored over 450 scientific papers, proceedings, legislative testimonies, edited books and book chapters; some 140 book reviews, editorials, published newspaper and magazine interviews and popularizations. He was a Coordinating Lead Author in Working Group II IPCC TAR; and is currently a co-anchor of the Key Vulnerabilities Cross-Cutting Theme for the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). During the 1980s Schneider emerged as a leading public advocate of sharp reductions of greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming. In 2007 the IPCC shared the Nobel Peace Prize with former US vice president, Al Gore, "for efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change."

Abstract

The number of people in the world is increasing, and they will undoubtedly demand higher standards of living that likely will be fueled by cheap, available energy sources such as coal for electricity generation and petroleum for gas-consuming large automobiles—sources which emit large amounts of green house gases. There is strong consensus that if this is the case, the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere will double or triple by 2100. Many potentially serious impacts (although not all are negative) are expected. These impacts will be unevenly distributed with the most severe effects being experienced in poorer, warmer places, high mountains and polar regions or in “hurricane alley.” Local, regional, and international actions to put in place both adaptation and mitigation policies are already beginning and much more could be done if there were political will to substantially reduce the magnitude of the risks.

Terry Tempest Williams

The 2005 Dempsey Environmental Lecture was delivered by Terry Tempest Williams. Ms. Williams is perhaps best known for her book, "Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place," where she chronicles the epic rise of Great Salt Lake and the flooding of the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in 1983, alongside her mother's diagnosis with ovarian cancer, believed to be caused by radioactive fallout from the nuclear tests in the Nevada desert in the 1950's and 1960's. This book is now regarded as a classic in American Nature Writing a testament to loss and the earth's healing grace. Her most recent book, "Red: Patience and Passion in the Desert" traces her lifelong love of and commitment to the desert and the spiritual and political commitment of preserving the fragile redrock wilderness of southern Utah. Ms. Williams has testified before the U.S. Congress twice regarding the environmental links associated with cancer, and has been a strong advocate for America's Redrock Wilderness Act. She is the recipient of a Lannan Literary Fellowship in creative nonfiction, as well as a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Lila Wallace - Readers Digest Community Grant.

In conjunction with Ms. Williams lecture, the Dempsey Environmental Conference was also held. It explored connections between the professional lives and broader motivations, meanings, and implications of the life's work of an array of exceptional individuals working for the environment. Conference panelists included: Ed Begley, Jr., Robin Morris Collin, Dave Foreman, Dale Jamieson, Jane Lubchenko, Carolyn Merchant, George Miller, Andrew Revkin, and Elizabeth Woody

Dr. Michael Soule

The 2003 Dempsey Environmental Lecture was given by Dr. Michael Soule. Dr. Soule is one of the world's leading experts in population biology and island biogeography theory. He has written and edited nine books on biology, conservation biology, and the social context of contemporary conservation. He has written more than 150 articles on topics such as population and evolutionary biology, population genetics, island biogeography and nature conservation and ethics. Soule has received numerous recognitions including being elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, receiving a Guggenheim Fellowship, and being the recipient of the National Wildlife Federation's 2001 National Conservation Achievement Award.

Dr. Soule was the founder and first president of the Society for Conservation Biology, has served on the board for the National Research Council and is a founding and active member of the Wildlands Project.

Bruce Babbitt

The 2002 Dempsey Environmental Lecture was presented by Mr. Bruce Babbitt. Mr. Babbitt was appointed by President Bill Clinton to be the US Secretary of the Interior in 1993, he is also the former governor of the state of Arizona and the former Attorney General for that state as well.

The 2002 Dempsey Environmental Conference focused on "Forest Futures: Science, Politics, and Policy for the Next Century." Governor John Kitzhaber opened the conference and provided the keynote address. Panel discussions included: Sustainable Forestry, Science and Policymaking, Endangered Species and The Future and Challenges of the Northwest Forest Plan. The success of and continued interest in this conference prompted the creation of the Forest Futures Roundtable, which meets informally twice a year to further discuss the ideas generated at the conference and other related topics.

Paul Hawken

Conference - "Greener Institutions for a Changing Environment"

The Dempsey Environmental Lecture and Conference Series began in September 2001. Paul Hawken delivered the inaugural lecture titled, "The Quest for Sustainability."

The one-day conference titled, "Greener Institutions for a Changing Environment" convened four panels to discuss topics such as: Low Cost Options for Reducing Greenhouse Emissions, Green Buildings and Technology, Fostering Institutional Commitment, and Calculating a Climate Footprint.