Environmental Speaker Series

The Environmental Speaker Series, at WWU's College of the Environment, presents topics of environmental concern for the WWU and surrounding communities. Winter quarter talks are co-presented with the Salish Sea Institute and The Foundation for WWU & Alumni.

Talks are held Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. PT on campus in Academic Instructional West (AW-204). Winter quarter talks will also be live streamed via Zoom. 

Public are invited to attend in person or online. Parking is available in lot C. Register online through The Foundation for WWU & Alumni to receive a Zoom link. 

Disability Accommodations

WWU is an equal opportunity institution. 

For inquiries or disability accommodations, contact Professor Michael Medler at (360) 650-3173 or Michael.Medler@wwu.edu. 

The views expressed by our speakers do not necessarily reflect those of Western Washington University.

Students in the class must attend in person.

Parking is available in lot C

Did you miss one of our Environmental Speaker Series talks? Most are recorded and archived on Vimeo and YouTube.

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Past Environmental Speaker Series

Environmental Speakers Series: 2025-26

Fall Quarter

Energy in the Next 20 Years and Why It Matters

Darrin Magee
Darrin Magee

The dendroclimatology of bristlecone pine: the Earth’s oldest living trees

Dr. Bunn
Andy Bunn

Building resilience: Helping communities survive and thrive in hazardous environments

Dr. Paci-Green
Dr. Rebekah Paci-Green

Picturing Environmental Resistance and Resilience

Dr. Teena Gabrielson
Dr. Teena Gabrielson

The Secret Lives of Harbor Porpoises

Cindy Elise
Cindy Elliser

Shorebird Migration Geography: A Framework for Research and Conservation

Audrey Taylo
Audrey Taylor, PhD

Sustainable and Inclusionary Planning: from Odysseus’ Island to Washington’s Ceded Territories.

Nicholas Zaferatos
Nicholas Zaferatos, Ph.D., AICP

The most contaminated and dangerous area in North America: the health, safety and environmental risks from nuclear weapons production at Hanford and the struggle to protect Treaty rights.

Gerry Pollet
Gerry Pollet, JD

*CANCELED* Climate Obstruction, the Dismantling of Environmental Justice, and the War on Wokeness

A loosely framed headshot of the speaker in an outdoor space.
Laura Pulido

Winter Quarter

Moving toward solutions: Measuring positive change in urban seas

Kathryn Sobocinski
Dr. Kathryn Sobocinski

Basking Sharks in the Salish Sea: A Multidisciplinary Story

Kelly Bushnell
Kelly Bushnell Ph.D.

Exploring the entwined lives of Southern Resident killer whales and the humans who seek to protect them through video storytelling

Jessica Plumb
Jessica Plumb

Beaver in tidal marshes of the Pacific Northwest

Gregory Hood
Gregory Hood

Puget Sound Kelp Forest Conservation and Recovery

Jeff Whitty
Jeff Whitty

Port of Bellingham climate resiliency

Adrienne Douglass-Scott
Adrienne Douglass-Scott, MSc.

Linking Samish Culture to Restoration and Science in the San Juan Archipelago

Todd Woodward
Todd Woodard, Andrew Delaney, Scott McIntosh and Elena Fisher

Puget Sound Energy’s Transition to Cleaner Energy

Liz Purdy
Liz Purdy

The Sea Remembers Us: Living Indigenous History and Stewardship at STOLȻEȽ (San Juan Island)

Josiah Feld
Josiah Feld and Erin Audrey Corra

Spring Quarter

Phenomenology of (gendered) knowledge: Lessons from Fiction and Non-fiction

Headshot of speaker with colorful jacket and woods background
Gigi Berardi, PhD

Learning and Working Together Across Cultures

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Shirley Williams (Kusemaat), Travis Tennessen, Gene Myers, and Kwastlmut – Sadie Olsen

What is the Future of Environmental Governance?

Three headshots
Troy Abel, Kendra Dupuy, and Mark Neff

Notes from the Field: CENV Alumni

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Avery Garritano, Kenna Kuhn, Julián Medina-Schroeder, and Martine Pfefferwright

Challenging Assumptions about Gender, Sex, and Vulnerability

Top center: person with glass, green jacket, grey background. Bottom right: person with pink shirt, grey jacket, neutral background. Bottom Right: person with glasses and button-down blue shirt, neutral background.
Tammi Laninga, Rebekah Paci-Green, Ruth Sofield

ESCI Scholars Week Short Talks

Mosaic with seven photos of researchers working in forested areas with equipment including tape measures, notebooks, and computers
Prof. John McLaughlin and ESCI students

First-year Environmental Studies Graduate Student Research

Four people in a grid. Top left: snowy background, person with red hat and backpack with skis on back. Top right: on hiking trail in mountains, wearing black clothing. Bottom right: mountain background, portrait in neutral hat with a braid. Bottom left: headshot with neutral background, person with glasses and black shirt.
Finley Bell, Ingrid Capes, Caitlin Fass, and Ireland Streeter

Past Speaker Series

2024-25

2024-25

2023-24

2022-23

2021-22

2020-21

2019-20

2018-19

2017-18
2016-17
2015-16
2014-15
2013-14