Illuminating Change · I recently returned from a trip to southern India, where I conduct a long-running research project on human interac-tions with nature in agricultural settings

WINTER/SPRING 2013

Illuminating ChangeCCR: 50 years at the forefront of climate science

For alumni and friends of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

FORCES AGAINST DEFORESTATION

WASTE TO ENERGY TO INNOVATION

SUSTAINABILITY PROGRAM A TRIPLE-WIN FOR MILWAUKEE

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2 In Common Winter/Spring 2013 3

I recently returned from a trip to southern India, where I conduct a long-running research project on human interac-tions with nature in agricultural settings such as coffee plantations. On each of my many visits to India over the last 20 years, I’ve been amazed by what is happening there, but never more so than on this latest trip. Contrary to what you might expect, many of these man-aged landscapes teem with wild animals – panthers, langur monkeys, antelope, and countless species of birds and reptiles, all able to adapt and thrive in the midst of human activities. Conservation is succeeding not by design but by happenstance, often where organized conservation programs have previously failed. It is happening, more astonishingly, in one of the most densely populated places in the world, amidst meteoric economic growth. What does this tell us about nature, and about ourselves? Perhaps that conservation is moving beyond the classic notion of wilderness, and that it can happen anywhere – in rural areas and in cities – at least under certain conditions and with the right kind of help. This means that new, imaginative approaches are essential in a rapidly changing world, one in which the climate will inevitably be warmer, more variable and more extreme; a world populated by as many as ten billion people, mostly concentrated in cities. There is no going back, and we need to figure out how to live and prosper in this new reality. There is room in this turbulent period not just for warnings and dire predictions, but also for hope! After my first six months on the job, I firmly believe that the Nelson Institute is well positioned to help meet this challenge. We will continue to produce knowledge that makes a difference in the world and to prepare young minds to become leaders in this effort. I’ll have more to share in coming months about how we plan to build upon and strengthen our excep-tional education, outreach and research enterprises. One of the latter, the Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research (CCR), recently marked its first 50 years, and we’re spotlighting its critically important work in this issue of In Common. We’re pleased to tell you about the remarkable range of research that has grown in reach and impact since the center’s founding by the pioneering climatologist Reid Bryson in 1962. Bryson, also the founding director of the Institute for Environmental Studies – later renamed the Nelson Institute – was well ahead of his time in understanding that environmen-tal issues could only be clearly seen through an interdisciplinary lens. Even so, I suspect he would be amazed at the breadth of the work done at CCR today. Our Land Tenure Center also hit the 50-year milestone in 2012, and we’re pleased to describe in these pages its role in a critical global conversation, finding ways to value the carbon stored in tropical forests. You’ll also find stories in this issue about a wide array of other accomplishments by Nelson Institute alumni, students and faculty. Finally, I would like to invite you to join us at the seventh annual Nelson Institute Earth Day conference on Monday, April 15. Our theme is “Conservation Everywhere: Sustaining Natural and Cultural Diversity,” and our keynote speaker will be world-renowned primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall. This one-day event will examine conservation across a range of environmental contexts: from forests and oceans to cities and farms. You can find information and register at nelson.wisc.edu/earthday. I hope to see you in Madison in April.

Paul RobbinsDirector, Nelson Institute

Planning continues for the seventh annual Nelson Institute Earth Day Conference on Monday,

April 15, at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center in Madison. “Conservation Everywhere: Sustaining Natural and Cultural

Diversity” will explore conservation opportunities, challenges, research and action across a range of envi-ronmental contexts: in forests and oceans, farms and communities,

and forward-thinking business models and sustainable urban areas. Renowned prima-tologist Dr. Jane Goodall will keynote an exciting daylong program that also features marine conservationist and filmmaker Céline Cousteau; Ken Bonning, senior execu-tive vice president of Kohl’s Corporation; Nelson Institute Director Paul Robbins; and a variety of other speakers, exhibits and activities. We hope you can join us – for more information or to register, visit nelson.wisc.edu/earthday.

CONTENTS

Around the Nelson Institute 3

SPECIAL FEATURE: Center for Climatic Research celebrates 50 years

In Common is published by the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Funding for production and distribution is provided through the generosity of our alumni and friends. Contact us at [email protected].

Steve Pomplun, Executive EditorMeghan Lepisto, Managing EditorDanielle Lamberson Philipp, DesignerAmanda Lucas, Writer

Around the Nelson Institute

COVER:This image of Asia and Australia at night is a composite assembled from data acquired by the Suomi NPP satellite (named for UW-Madison satellite meteorology pioneer Verner Suomi) in April and October 2012. The new data was mapped over existing Blue Marble imagery of Earth to provide a realistic view of the planet. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Robert Simmon

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Earth Day conference features Jane Goodall

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Grabbing headlinesGregory Nemet, UW-Madison assistant professor of public affairs and environmental studies, was lauded in a December article in The Atlantic titled “The Kind of Energy Research I’d Like to See More Of.” Visit nelson.wisc.edu/news to view the article and more Nelson Institute news, including:

• Nelson Institute Director Paul Robbins on Wisconsin Public Radio’s Kathleen Dunn Show, discussing the political will to confront climate change.• A five-part series spotlighting Wisconsin Ecology and a new cohort of professors continuing the Wisconsin tradition of collaborative ecological research and education. • A profile of student volunteers helping restore the site of the former Badger Army Ammunition Plant and a service learning capstone class solving local, community-scale composting challenges.

Faculty, partnership honoredCongratulations to these Nelson Institute faculty and students recently recognized for their achievements:

• Hydrogeologist Jean Bahr, appointed by President Barack Obama to the federal Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board. • Tracey Holloway, associate professor of environmental studies, named deputy leader of the NASA Air Quality Applied Sciences Team and recipient of the first-ever Department of Energy Clean Energy Education and Empowerment Initiative (C3E) award for education and mentorship. • Rob Nixon, professor of English and environmental studies, recipient of a 2012 American Book Award for Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor. • The Corps of Community Park Guards, named a Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund Conservation Hero. Nelson Institute associate professor Adrian Treves and Environment and Resources Ph.D. candidate Becky Zug help lead this collaboration with Fundación Cordillera Tropical to protect the endangered Andean bear.

Knox, research pioneer in streams and soils, diesJim Knox, 70, Evjue-Bascom professor emeritus of geography and a dear friend and colleague of the Nelson Institute, died at his home in Madison on Oct. 6. Knox was a much-loved teacher to thousands of students during his 43 years as a faculty member. His best-known research was on the sometimes dramatic changes in the magnitude and frequency of floods and the behavior of streams. Knox also played an important role in encouraging the developers of climate models to compare their simulations of past climates with data from the field.

Environmental studies a “college major with a future”For the second year in a row, U.S. News & World Report has named environmental studies – with specific mention of UW-Madison’s new environmental studies and environmental sciences programs – one of nine “new college majors with a future” and a defining issue of the century. More than 270 students are pursuing the environmental studies major and 130 students have already earned the designation since its debut in September 2011.

Conservation Everywhere

Scientific (r)evolution 6Research center stays ahead of changing climate

Climate archivists 9Mining the past for clues to the future

Carbon capacity 12Unearthing nature’s climate controls

Modeling with impact 15A close-up view of climate change

Forces against deforestation 16As trees fall in the tropics, researchers cultivate solutions

Waste to energy to innovation 20Students fuel sustainability and public health in Uganda

Triple-win for Milwaukee 22 Alumnus Erick Shambarger leads urban energy program

Home small home 24Alumna Sonya Newenhouse holds the blueprint to green living

Investing in Nelson 26Gifts provide crucial source of student, program support

Insights 29 Eco-athlete Grace Latz brings lasting change to UW

Alumni notes 30Letters, catching up with graduates

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Around the Nelson Institute

NELSON RESEARCHERS EXPLORE INTERDISCIPLINARY SOLUTIONS TO GLOBAL, LOCAL CHALLENGESDozens of grant-supported projects are under way in the Nelson Institute at any time. Below are a few examples of the broad spectrum of research generated by our centers, faculty, staff and students over the past six months.

Using the meticu-lous phenological records of Henry David Thoreau and Aldo Leopold, emeritus profes-sor Stan Temple and research-ers from Boston and Harvard Universities have demonstrated that native plants in the eastern United States are flowering as much as a month earlier in response to a warming climate. The study, published in January in PLOS ONE, may help predict climate effects on impor-tant agricultural crops, which depend on flowering to produce fruit. Temple and Environment and Resources Ph.D. candidate Chris Bocast also used Leopold’s field notes to recreate a “sound-scape” of birds as heard at the iconic naturalist’s Sauk County shack in the 1940s (listen at go.wisc.edu/f2spg3). The soundscape is the first to be recreated from actual data and fits into an emerging field known as soundscape ecology.

Mike Amato, a doctoral candidate in psychology and environmental studies, was lead author of a recent study in coordination with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services that links lead exposure to lower test scores among Wisconsin fourth graders. The research, published in the journal Annals of Epidemiology, also revealed that African American and Hispanic students were twice as likely to be exposed as white students. “Part of the racial achieve-ment gap may be directly due to lead in the environment,” says Marty Kanarek, a professor of population health sciences.

Lydia Zepeda, a professor of con-sumer science, is conducting a USDA Ag Marketing Service research project on mobile food markets to measure their effects on healthy food choices. For those who live in “food deserts” – areas where food stores and produce aren’t readily available, in part because retail stores have left poor neighbor-hoods – access to fruits and veg-etables is an obstacle to healthy eating. “We know that poor people have higher incidences of food-related diseases,” Zepeda says. “It’s so important that every American has access to healthy foods.”

Timothy Van Deelen, an associate professor of wildlife management, is supervising two radio-collaring projects in collaboration with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to study changes in the white-tail deer population and predation by wolves.

A primary justification for the 2012 Wisconsin wolf hunting season, the first in more than 60 years, was to reduce wolf depredation on deer. Van Deelen says the Wisconsin

deer population is doing well, even as wolf numbers have grown. Meanwhile, environmental studies associate professor Adrian Treves and col-

leagues Lisa Naughton-Treves and Victoria Shelley revealed an eight-year decline

in tolerance for wolves, from 2001 to 2009, based on surveys of residents in Wisconsin’s wolf range.

Limnologist Jake Vander Zanden is one of several UW-Madison scien-tists deploying a novel lake-mixing technology in northern Wisconsin to see if warmer water will drive out the cold water-loving rainbow smelt, an invasive sardine-sized fish. Finding an efficient and environmentally safe way to eliminate the smelt is impor-tant because spring floods can potentially move them to nearby lakes, compounding an already serious management problem. The ongoing experiment also provides a window into how a warming world will affect lake ecosystems.

A new analysis by anthropolo-gist Karen Strier, published in September in the journal Public Library of Science One (PLOS ONE) with UW-Madison math-ematical ecologist Anthony Ives reveals increases in both fertil-ity and mortality in a northern muriqui monkey population – a surprising combination, espe-cially in a population that has grown from just 60 individuals to some 300, now comprising almost a third of this critically endangered Brazilian primate species. Though muriquis are typically arboreal animals, Strier’s field team has observed increased use of the ground. Strier sus-pects this behavioral innovation could help explain the rises in fertility and mortality. The ground expands the monkeys’ pool of available habitat and food resources, but exposes them to additional dangers.

A growing body of evidence, including research by Tony Goldberg, a professor of pathobiological sciences in the School of Veterinary Medicine, is pointing to the American robin as the primary culprit for spread-ing West Nile virus in the U.S. Northeast and Midwest. Goldberg has been leading a National Science Foundation-supported study of West Nile transmission in the suburbs of Chicago for nearly a decade. The work involves trapping mosquitoes and checking their blood meals to see what animals they’ve been feeding on. With the aid of tiny, tempo-rary featherweight transmit-ters, his group has found that robins roost at night in groups, which seem to be ideal feeding grounds for Culex mosquitoes, West Nile’s primary insect vector.

Richard Keller, a professor of medical history and bioethics, is compiling a detailed account of the 2003 heat wave that killed an estimated 70,000 people in parts of Europe. France was hardest hit when temperatures surpassed 100 degrees Fahrenheit on seven days. Contributing to the death toll were social variables such as age of the victims, social status, gender and where they lived. In Paris, many victims were elderly women who lived alone, usually on the top floors of cheap, poorly ventilated walk-ups. The social dynamics of death from extreme heat can be instructive as heat waves occur more frequently and with greater intensity and duration.

Mutlu Ozdogan and Chris Kucharik of the Nelson Institute Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment and Alan Robock of Rutgers University have found that the climate effects of a hypothetical nuclear war between India and Pakistan would greatly reduce yields of staple crops, even in distant countries. Their model, published in the journal Climatic Change, showed that soot and smoke from the war would travel around the world and block some sunlight. That would cause cooling, altered weather and precipitation patterns, and shorter growing seasons for a full decade. In the Midwest the research-ers calculated decreases in corn yields of 10 to 40 percent and soy yields up to 20 percent, with reductions gradually declin-ing over the decade following the war.

An international research consortium including Peter McIntyre, assistant professor of zoology, has developed inno-vative new high-resolution maps to help guide environmental remediation of the Great Lakes. The study, reported in December in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, indexes 34 environmental

stresses affect-ing the lakes. “The Great Lakes have been dying a death of a thousand cuts,” says McIntyre. “The maps we’ve produced, the

first of their kind, can help us devise better ways to stem

the bleeding.”

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Half a century at the cutting edgeFor 50 years, the Land Tenure Center (LTC) has propelled programs on emerging environmental topics of international interest. At an anniversary celebration in April, nearly 100 affiliates gathered to review this work and explore new directions (see video of the events at nelson.wisc.edu/ltc/program.php). One of the discussions, on large-scale land concessions and acquisitions – often called land grabbing – capped a semester-long speaker series on the topic. The popular series has continued into the 2012-13 academic year. “At the Land Tenure Center, we want to be doing things at the cut-ting edge that are topical in the present day. This is designed to build on that,” says Ian Baird, an assistant professor of geography and envi-ronmental studies who leads the series with Peter Swift, a master’s student in geography and student representative to the LTC board. Land concessions and acquisitions – when corporations or other investors seek large plantations in the developing world – carry envi-ronmental and social justice impacts, changing the control of millions of hectares of land and frequently displacing local people. The series has attracted attendees from across campus and guest speakers from around the world to discuss research and significant trends in the field. Discussions have also broached the potential impacts of land concessions in Wisconsin – for example, with regard to mining. Baird says the series is just one example of how, 50 years running, researchers carry forward LTC’s history. “We want to continue with whatever the important topics of the day are, both internationally and in Wisconsin,” says Baird.

The Land Tenure Center welcomes your support to help continue their research, education and outreach initiatives. For more information, visit nelson.wisc.edu/giving.

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See video of fall eventsLarge and enthusiastic crowds joined us at our many fall events, including the first annual Jordahl Public Lands Lecture, founded in honor of Harold “Bud” Jordahl, a Wisconsin conservation leader and long-time professor of urban and regional planning and environmental studies. Video of the inaugural Jordahl lecture by Dayton Duncan, writer and producer of numerous Ken Burns documentaries for PBS including The National Parks: America’s Best Idea and The Dust Bowl, is available at nelson.wisc.edu/jordahl. The three-part Community Environmental Forum series, “Fracking: The Wisconsin Connection,” explained the process of fracking (short for hydraulic fracturing – a controversial technol-ogy for opening natural gas deposits); the economic and environ-mental impacts in Wisconsin, the nation’s leading producer of frac sand; and fracking’s role in the energy economy. To view video of the sessions: nelson.wisc.edu/forum


Scientific (r)evolutionNELSON RESEARCH CENTER STAYS AHEAD OF CHANGING CLIMATEBY STEVE POMPLUN

I t was the year in which the Beatles released their first single, “Love Me Do.” The space race was heating up,

the civil rights movement was growing and U.S. involvement in Vietnam was escalating. Casting a shadow over everything, amplified by the Cuban missile crisis, was the ongoing Cold War. It was 1962 and climate change was nowhere to be found on any list of public or political concerns – and yet that was the year the Center for Climatic Research (CCR) was established at UW-Madison. Its scien-tific mission: to under-stand how the climate works and why it chang-es. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide – now understood to be a key determinant of future climate – were not widely thought to play a significant role. “There was a recogni-tion that climate had changed in the past, manifested in events like the ice ages,” says John Kutzbach, former CCR director and an emeri-tus professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences. “But the things that people were primarily thinking of as causes of recent change were aerosols, volcanoes, perhaps solar activity. The long-term effort to monitor the rise of carbon dioxide had just begun.” In fact, says Kutzbach, the notion that human activities could in any way affect the climate had little support in the scientific community. But Reid Bryson saw things differently. Bryson, an atmospheric scientist who had established UW-Madison’s meteorology

department in 1948, had long been interest-ed in the role of climate in the rise and fall of human cultures. He had come to believe that climate change had determined the fate of a number of societies – for example, the Viking settlements in Greenland – and that human activities could, in turn, influence the climate.

Bryson, who died in 2008, argued that human-induced climate change could threaten food supplies and other critical resources – but his focus was primarily on land use patterns rather than the green-house effect. Case in point: the fall of a once-thriving culture in India nearly 3,000 years ago. “Reid had this idea that the rise and fall of Harappan civilization had been related to climate” says Kutzbach. “He developed the idea of a feedback process: Overgrazing of an area along the Indus River, which had

once been a green, moist environment, caused loss of vegetation, which caused a dusty atmosphere, which reflected sunlight, which caused additional lack of rainfall.”

Widening the field Bryson had a voracious appetite for

observational data. He measured land cover in India, solar reflectance in northern Canada, ice cover on Lake Mendota and other phenomena in far-flung locations. He saw the climate as sys-temically linked to land and water, to vegetation, phenology and agricul-ture, to human activities and the fate of civiliza-tions, driving the science of climatology in new directions and broaden-ing its reach. But investigating all these links required a broad set of evidence – data that could only be gathered from things like lake sediments and fossil pollen, using radiocar-bon dating and other tools and techniques beyond those typically

employed in atmospheric science. Bryson wrote a proposal to the National Science Foundation to establish an interdisciplinary climate research center that would include laboratories to study tree rings, pollen and sediments and perform radiocarbon analyses. “Up until that time, something like that would have been housed in a geology or archaeology department, and the chance of it being fostered by a climate scientist was close to zero,” says Kutzbach. “It was absolutely a first.”

Bryson’s revolutionary ideas drew Kutzbach back to his alma mater in 1963 to earn a Ph.D. Kutzbach joined the faculty in 1966, having developed a statistical technique to sort through volumes of data and identify large-scale weather patterns such as the North Atlantic Oscillation. He joined one of the world’s leading meteorology departments, with internation-ally known faculty that included Verner Suomi, Robert Ragotzkie, Heinz Lettau and Lyle Horn. Bryson, meanwhile, continued to pioneer the establishment of interdisciplinary research into the environment – during a time when most scientists were content to work in their own labs with few collabora-tors. He organized a university-wide com-mittee that ultimately recommended the creation of an interdisciplinary environmen-tal studies program. In 1970, the university established the Institute for Environmental Studies – later renamed the Nelson Institute in honor of the late U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson – with Bryson as its first director. He appointed Kutzbach to lead CCR.

Cause and effect Bryson’s ideas about climate were gain-ing traction as part of a broader recognition that people were altering the planet on a scale never seen before. Widely considered one of the world’s leading climate scientists, he testified before Congress on the issue in 1974. But he was not focused on global warm-ing, even as greenhouse gas emissions were beginning to be seen as a potentially serious issue among other scientists. He remained an outspoken advocate of the idea that humans were causing a lot of changes, and that global cooling was also possible due to rising levels of aerosols – particles or droplets of pollution from combustion and industrial activity. In 1977, in the midst of his federally funded Climate and Food Project, Bryson published Climates of Hunger: Mankind and the World’s Changing Weather, in which he and co-author Thomas Murray argued that climate change driven by aerosols was causing shifts in rain belts and agricultural regions, leading to

starvation. The book, written for a popular audience, sold well and echoes today in the public discourse over climate change and food security. Kutzbach, too, was engaging in the grow-ing international conversation about global change, but from a different perspective. He was invited to serve on a National Academy of Sciences committee to assess the scien-tific basis for climate change resulting from anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. The groundbreaking 1979 “Charney report,” as it is often called, “really put the finger on carbon dioxide as a very important consideration for future climates,” says Kutzbach. Its comprehensive review of the state of climate modeling and the poten-tial for models to test hypotheses about the causes of climate change was deeply influential to policy makers and the scientific community, setting research agendas for the following decade. “There had been a national emphasis on developing a high-quality climate model that would mimic the behavior of the world and allow you to do, in a sense, laboratory exper-iments for the first time,” he says. “What happens if we change carbon dioxide? What happens if we change aerosols? We could then compare that with the data.” Kutzbach says climate models, along with the parallel development of satellite obser-vation capabilities, were reaching a point where they could produce plausible results – especially when they could prove their validity by reproducing the past. Kutzbach was the first to use these powerful computer models as quantitative tools to investigate climate history. “The bulk of the climate community was thinking of climate models as a way to simulate the present, year-to-year vari-ability, and to look at the future,” he explains. “But I was fascinated to look backward, to ask, ‘What did cause ice ages? What caused the Sahel to be wet 6,000 years ago?’ Models could help quantitatively answer those kinds of questions.”

Proving the past Kutzbach was also the first to use models to verify that slow “wobbles” in the Earth’s orbit – manifested in the shape of its orbital path and in the angle and orientation of its axis – were primary drivers of climate change over thousands of years, a phenom-enon first known as Milankovitch cycles. These cycles, it turned out, drove both the advance and retreat of ice sheets in the high latitudes and the waxing and waning of monsoonal rain in the subtropics. “These variations would change seasonal sunlight that could, on the one hand, make the monsoons stronger,” he says. “If you had warmer summers, you’d get strong monsoons. But if you had really cold sum-mers, you had the chance that snow cover wouldn’t melt in Canada and you might begin to build up ice ages.” The idea that orbital variations might cause ice ages was proposed as early as the 1870s, but Kutzbach was the first to test it quantitatively – pioneering work that would later see him elected to the National Academy of Sciences. “We were able to show that these orbital variations

are a big Reid Bryson (left) and a colleague take samples on the ice of Lake Mendota in 1958.

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Climate archivists

To better understand the present – and more accurately predict the future – you must understand

the past. Such is the inspiration for those in the Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research (CCR) who study paleoclimatology and paleoecology. By combining powerful climate models with data from ancient clues such as fossil pollen, lake sediments and tree rings, these historical ecologists work to reconstruct past climates and ecosystems. Their findings can help us understand the causes of 21st century climate change – which may result in new and strange

climates very different from any experienced today – and the effects on plant and animal communities. “I really think about this as a tool for aid-ing climate adaptation efforts,” says Jack Williams, director of the Center for Climatic Research and a professor of geography. “But there’s also the broader question of understanding how the climate system works. The geologic record has been incred-ibly valuable for that.” Williams says the pre-industrial past offers a baseline for analyzing the impacts of human activities like carbon emissions and deforestation. “You can’t understand how humans are affecting the climate system without having an understanding of the natural processes at play,” he continues. For example, that we now know how greenhouse gases drive up global tempera-tures is, in a very significant way, “founded on our understanding of past climates and the drivers of past climate variations,” he says. Williams is one of many CCR scientists who lead the way in this field, building on the legacy of researchers like Reid Bryson, the center’s founder and a pioneer of modern climatology, and John Kutzbach, an emeritus professor of atmospheric and oce-anic sciences and environmental studies.

Paleo perspective “We live in these little slices of time and our science is funded in little slices of time, so I use the past to get perspective – not necessarily as an analog for the future, but

as a wider range of perspectives for thinking about the future,” says Sara Hotchkiss, an associate professor of botany and CCR faculty affiliate. Hotchkiss studies how rare climatic events and slow changes shape the eco-logical history of landscapes. “Ecological systems have legacies built into them,” she says. “I look for events beyond our experi-ence and look at how systems respond.” Hotchkiss conducts research in Wisconsin as well as the Hawaiian islands, which she says provide a model system for studying cli-mate change. “The nature of the problems they have are the same as global problems; they’re just felt more intensely and sooner because it’s a little place,” she says. Throughout history, she explains, Polynesian cultures have experienced some of humanity’s greatest successes and failures of living within limits. For example, Hotchkiss is part of an interdisciplinary team studying how Hawaiian agricultural practices changed as the state developed and intensified dryland agriculture, and how vulnerability to drought may have ultimately put society at risk. “It has real implications for the world, including how cultures respond to sensing their limits,” she says. “People are con-cerned about the response of ecosystems to climatic change. That’s where our resilience lies culturally, as well as in terms of natural systems.” On the island of Maui, Hotchkiss is study-ing the climate sensitivity of the forest’s upper limit – a critical ecosystem boundary. In Hawaii the upper forest line is mainly con-

RESEARCHERS MINE THE PAST FOR CLUES TO THE FUTUREBY MEGHAN LEPISTO

Images of fossil pollen. Data from these ancient clues can help reconstruct past cli-mates and prepare for future climatic change.

enough factor to account for the large-scale climate changes of the last million years,” he explains. Paleoclimatology – the study of past climates – was a fast-growing field, and CCR was at the forefront, building on the interdis-ciplinary foundation laid by Bryson. In 1977, Kutzbach and Thompson Webb, a Bryson Ph.D. student who went on to his own illustrious career at Brown University, came up with an idea that would put CCR at the center of the first “big science” project in paleoclimatology. They landed a major grant from the National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Energy to charac-terize and map global climate, vegetation and hydrological changes spanning 21,000 years, since the peak of the last ice age. The Cooperative Holocene Mapping Project (COHMAP) was an enormous under-taking, involving nearly 50 scientists at five universities. They set out to reconstruct and map the past climate using evidence such as fossil pollen, marine plankton and lake sediments, creating snapshots at 3,000-year intervals in locations around the planet. Kutzbach’s innovation – using climate models to explain the observed changes – was the critical glue of the project. Both the sharing of data among scientists and the building of interdisciplinary teams of climate modelers, oceanographers, ecologists and geologists was revolutionary, and a precur-sor to the modern practice of integrated earth system science. This effort ultimately gave rise to the Paleoclimate Model Intercomparison Project, whose results are used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to understand the natural and human drivers of climate change. CCR continues to be a world leader in his-torical climate modeling, led by Zhengyu Liu. Liu, a professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences, succeeded Kutzbach as CCR director in 2002 and has received his own accolades, elected a fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society. Liu and staff scientist Feng He were part of a team that recently completed a project decades in the making: a comprehensive and continuous simulation of the climate from the last glacial maximum to the pres-ent, showing how meltwater from receding

ice sheets could trigger abrupt changes in the ocean and atmosphere.

New science, new challenges Climate models are always evolving, riding on ever-faster computer processing capabili-ties and developing higher-resolution and ever-increasing realism in their representa-tions of the earth system. At the same time, the urgency of climate change now calls for new science and a closer connection to decision-making. For example, in the COHMAP days, the most advanced climate models treated the

world ocean essentially as an inert slab – able to exchange energy with the atmo-sphere, but with no ability to circulate. At CCR, Liu has pioneered the development of ocean-atmosphere and ocean-atmosphere-vegetation models that show how feedbacks between these systems are a crucial cause of climate variability, past and present. One of CCR’s strengths has been its long-standing relationship with UW-Madison’s Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, one of the strongest such pro-grams in the world. And the blending of disciplines from across campus, essential to the center from its inception, has never been stronger, with more faculty members, scientists and student researchers involved than at any point in CCR’s past, with access to unprecedented capabilities from models, satellites and other tools. “The brainpower in CCR today is incred-ible,” says Kutzbach, describing how CCR

has expanded beyond its early roots in climatology into wide-ranging studies across the new field of Earth system science. The areas of research on which the center was founded still thrive, but a new array of interdisciplinary projects have blossomed on topics like carbon cycles in the Great Lakes, oceans and forests; long-term oscillations in the oceans; Arctic climate feedbacks; and the climatic effect of land use changes thousands of years ago. And increasingly, CCR’s mission is work-ing with decision-makers to assess climate vulnerability and develop strategies to help society adapt. “In the 1990s and maybe early 2000s, the goal was stopping climate change,” says current CCR director Jack Williams. “I would say we’ve passed the moment where that goal is possible. Now we’re in a conversation about slowing the rate of climate change and adapting to the changes that are happen-ing now and are going to continue over this century.” Again, CCR has helped lead the way, developing innovative new partnerships among climate scientists, decision-makers and stakeholders, particularly through the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts. “CCR has a really important role to play, particularly on adaptation,” Williams says. “A lot of people need the best available science and information about what climate changes are expected over the next several decades, and CCR – because it’s got such a top notch group of scientists from the atmospheric sciences, the biological sciences and the geological sciences – is in a key position to help with this effort.” It all goes back to Bryson’s vision more than 50 years ago, when he began to stretch the boundaries of climate science. He was well ahead of his time, but others would soon follow. “Reid’s idea had legs,” says Kutzbach. “When he set up CCR, it was unique. There was nothing like an interdisciplinary climate research group in 1962. But the idea has proven to be so valuable that you now have a lot of centers in this country and around the world that have modeled themselves after CCR.”

John Kutzbach in front of a bank of computers at the Center for Climatic Research in 1981.

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Jack Williams

Sara Hotchkiss

Zhengyu Liu


trolled by water availability, so it is sensitive to drought and climate-driven shifts in trade winds. In collaboration with UW-Madison graduate Shelley Crausbay and the U.S. Geological Survey, Hotchkiss has placed weather stations across the face of mountain slopes in Maui to study how climate and forest composition vary across the mountain gradient. At the same time, she collected lake sediment cores at, above and below the forest line, analyzing fossil pollen from the cores to see how forest boundaries have shifted with past climate changes. Early results suggest that the upper forest limit is likely to shift downward in the future, which Hotchkiss says is bad news for several endangered native bird species. The forest-dwelling birds may be caught in a climate squeeze as mosqui-toes, which carry temperature-sensitive bird diseases, move up the forest slope.

Range of possibility Because her research has practical applications, Hotchkiss engages with state and federal officials and land managers on most of her projects. “We’re able to do what they can’t afford to do – extensive monitoring and broad studies of sensitivity,” she says. The find-ings are directly applicable to adaptation efforts. “Managers have a really hard time with climate change predictions because they’re so broad in scale. It doesn’t help enough locally,” she adds. “I’m trying to work at the scale at which we manage land and at which we live on land.”

In Wisconsin, Hotchkiss is studying how differences in landscape affect respon-siveness to a changing climate – a useful perspective for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, with which Hotchkiss frequently collaborates. “They want us to investigate the sensitivities of natural com-munities to climate change,” she explains. The range of variation and rare events in climate, such as extremes in flooding, drought, heat or cold, must be considered in modeling future climate and land manage-ment scenarios, but perspective is lacking in terms of ecosystem response – a void Hotchkiss is helping to fill. “We’re using the past to define the range of possibility and to think about the sensitiv-ity of individual species in case we move beyond that range,” she continues. “What can you learn about a local area that can help you know which areas are likely to be more or less sensitive to climate changes, and to what kinds of changes? That’s where I mine the past.” For instance, as climate variability increases in Wisconsin, the state is likely to

see more dry periods, even as net precipita-tion increases. Looking to the past for con-text, Hotchkiss is studying how increased frequency or intensity of drought could impact fire-sensitive landscapes and the use of fire as a land management tool. She’s also looking into potential effects on the ecology of lakes and peatlands, which hold the big-gest pools of stored carbon in the region.

Ice age ecologist Much of Jack Williams’ research also has direct implications for conservation biolo-gists and land managers. “When the world is changing to a condi-tion that may be very different than what we’re used to and what our management process is based on, that’s a fundamental challenge for practitioners and for ecolo-gists,” he explains. Williams studies how natural communities have responded to past climate change by collecting lake sediment cores and extract-ing fossil pollen or charcoal to understand an area’s vegetation and fire histories.

“The past gives us actual data about species’ responses to climate change,” he says. His work focuses on the environ-mental changes of the last 20,000 years. “This is the last big period of climate change, when you’ve gone from an ice age – a glacial era – to the Holocene interglacial period,” he explains. This time period serves as a model system for understanding how ecosystems respond to large or rapid climate change, periods of drought and increases in carbon dioxide (the green-house gas most associated with global warming). “These are all things that happened over this time period that are similar in magnitude to what’s happening now,” Williams says. Using networks of pollen data, Williams has helped build databases that enable him and other scientists to examine environmental changes not only at a specific location, but across the continent, mapping how a species’ range has shifted because of climate change. Through his findings, he has advanced the concept of “no-analog” communi-

ties, or communities of species remixed into combinations not seen today. “The records show very clearly that species were not all heading at the same rate, in the same direction, as climates changed in the past,” he says. “As a result, we had this reshuffling of species into new communities.”

From past to present Williams believes no-analog communities formed in response to no-analog climates – mixtures of climatic conditions that hap-pened in the past but don’t happen today. A similar situation could soon emerge, he says, exacerbated by rapid climate change, invasive species and changing land use patterns. “All these things are creating a novel world,” he says. “Just as some of the late glacial climates were outside the bounds of what we see today, and as we saw spe-cies reshuffling in response to these past climates, we may expect a similar response in the 21st century.” For example, some arctic and alpine climates – those at the coldest end of the spectrum of today’s climates – are at risk of being lost in the 21st century, he says, plac-

ing species that are endemic or uniquely adapted to these climates at a heightened risk of extinction. But how do you prepare for environmental scenarios in a future climate very different from the present? Again, the past comes into play, using the geological record as a testing ground. By asking climate models to predict past species distributions during past periods of no-analog climates, Williams explains, researchers can assess a model’s robust-ness and predictability. One of Williams’ colleagues, Zhengyu Liu, has undertaken a major effort to improve the predictive power of climate models. Liu, a past director of CCR and a profes-sor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences and environmental studies, is leading a team of scientists producing a state-of-the-art continuous simulation of the past 21,000 years of global climate change. Eventually, the simulation will run through the present and extend 2,000 years into the future. This National Science Foundation-funded project explores a new paradigm of model-data comparison, coupling the detailed results of the continuous simulation with physical evidence of past climate conditions, such as from fossils and the Greenland and

Antarctic ice cores. Matches between the simulated past climate and actual past data help to validate and refine the model and improve its credibility in predicting future climates. “If the model can reproduce the past with sufficient and credible value, then the future prediction might be true,” Liu explains. “When you have the best model and the best data to verify a model, then you sync it and use the model to make predictions.” Interdisciplinary collaborations like this are commonplace at the Center for Climatic Research. “What’s great about CCR is that everyone is working on an important different piece; it’s a nexus,” says Williams, explaining that each member of the diverse research team brings a different expertise. Hotchkiss agrees. “My lab does some of the simplest kinds of reconstructing of climate ourselves, but it’s critical for me to interact with climate modelers and the people who really understand the physics of climate to make sure I’m not diving into a complicated ecosystem response based on a spurious notion,” she says. “CCR is one of the only places in the world where you can do that, and they’ve been doing it for long enough that it’s part of the culture.”

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Forest-dwelling birds like the endangered Puaiohi may be caught in a climate squeeze as disease-carrying mosquitoes ascend Hawaii’s high elevation forests. Hotchkiss is shed-ding light on the problem with past and present data.

Williams studies natural communities’ vegetation and fire histories in response to past climate change by collecting and analyzing lake sediment cores.

“I use the past to get perspective – not necessarily as an analog for the future, but as a wider range of perspectives for thinking about the future.” -Sara Hotchkiss


Carbon capacity

In the exchange that is the carbon cycle, people giveth and land and oceans taketh away.

The outcome of this transaction is a criti-cal factor determining the future climate. As humans produce carbon emissions, primarily by burning fossil fuels, about half currently remains in the atmosphere, inten-sifying the greenhouse effect and driving global warming. The other half, in roughly equal parts, is taken up by oceans and land. These natural sinks of carbon serve as a buffer against climate change. But in recent years, the percentage of carbon emissions remaining in the atmo-sphere is increasing. A warming climate has

made land or ocean systems possibly less productive at absorbing carbon. This warms the climate even more. At the Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research (CCR), scientists are studying the processes behind atmospheric carbon content and the role of land and water. Their findings could help improve predictions of climate change and provide critical informa-tion for decision makers. Ankur Desai and Galen McKinley, both associate professors of atmospheric and oceanic sciences and CCR affiliates, are examining two complementary pieces of this global carbon cycle puzzle. Desai studies carbon exchange between the atmosphere and terrestrial ecosystems. McKinley is an

expert in large aquatic bodies. “Over the last 20 or 30 years, one of the things we’ve discovered is how uniquely sensitive the global biosphere is to climate variability, and that strongly influences how fast atmospheric carbon dioxide grows,” says Desai. In projections of climate scenarios, researchers can confidently predict a variety of feedbacks, including how the climate responds to greenhouse gases. Carbon cycle feedbacks, however, are more of a puzzle. “One of our big motivating factors is trying to reduce that uncertainty, because it really makes it harder to project how a change in emissions affects temperature change,”

says Desai. “That’s an open policy question that’s made very much dependent on the basic science of this interaction between the biology and atmosphere.” “Over the next 100 years, are the land and ocean sinks going to get stronger or weaker?,” he continues. “That turns out to not be a trivial question to answer and is important for any discussion regard-ing future regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.”

Land-atmosphere interactions Desai’s research is aimed at untan-gling the two-way exchange between how ecosystems on the ground interact with the atmosphere and climate, and vice versa. On one hand, the atmosphere and climate determine the availability of resources that are fundamental to life – things like light, carbon dioxide, precipitation and moisture – which can determine the type of vegetation in an ecosystem, Desai explains. On the other hand, as plants use resources like light and moisture, they alter the atmosphere around them. For example, the darkness or reflectivity of a landscape affects how much light and heat is reflected into the atmosphere. “A lot of what we do is try to figure out, if we know something about the landscape, how does a climate system respond?” Desai explains. “And if a climate sys-tem responds, how does the landscape change?” With a range of student and staff expertise that he says mimics a United Nations of ecology, Desai’s lab specializes in bridging the gap between small-scale ecosystem studies and global climate studies. “What happens at the small scale influ-ences what happens at the large scale,” he says. “There’s a meeting place where the biology-climate interaction is strongest.”

Forest feedbacks For the past decade, Desai has been working with collaborators from across the country to study the uptake and emission of carbon in northern Wisconsin’s forests, wetlands and lakes.

The region is home to a band of temper-ate hardwood forests and a significant accu-mulation of peat bogs. “It’s a combination where you have a lot of carbon in the system and you have very productive organisms that can cycle carbon,” he explains. Desai’s research combines observational and modeling techniques. He’s placed a network of towers – ranging from 30- to 1,200-feet tall – throughout the region to capture continuous atmospheric measure-ments. By taking readings as many as 20 times per second, the towers infer the amount of carbon dioxide and methane – another important greenhouse gas – going in or out of the system. Desai’s lab, which is a leader in the use of this technology, has discovered that the region is quite sensitive to climate extremes, though with lags in the system. For instance, the drought that affected much of Wisconsin in the summer of 2012 was delayed in reaching the northern part of the state. But once the drought hit, it shut off production in some of the forests, in a way that was far stronger than expected. Wisconsin forests are not typically limited by moisture, so they lack adaptation to

long periods of drought. “They turn out to be pretty sensitive,” Desai says. Desai’s observations are helping to refine models of future climate feedbacks. “If, as we suspect – and as projections indicate – Wisconsin is getting drier in the summer and warmer in the winter, then that has huge ecosystem implications for the productivity of forests,” he says. The work also has value outside of the

state – some of Desai’s measurements are being shared with global data networks to be used by ecologists and climate scientists from across the world.

System stressors Desai is also working in the central Rocky Mountains, a region plagued by persistent drought and a warming-induced spread in the frequency and intensity of pest out-breaks, particularly bark beetle infestations. The beetles have thrived through recent unusually mild winters, threatening the region’s evergreen forests. With support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Desai is measuring the atmospheric carbon concen-tration on the tops of mountains to study how these forest stressors have impacted carbon absorption. The findings will help guide projections of how carbon uptake

could change in a world with an increased frequency of drought or pest

outbreaks, or a decreased frequency

of either. Galen

McKinley, who studies how large bodies of water

influence carbon cycling, is also investigating the impact of

pest outbreaks on carbon uptake, but from an underwater perspective.

In collaboration with Harvey Bootsma of the UW-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences, McKinley is trying to better understand how quagga mussels are modifying Lake Michigan. The invasive species has blanketed the lake bottom at a rate of about 10,000 mussels per square meter. The trillions of mussels gorge on phytoplankton, removing the primary food source for fish. McKinley and her lab of researchers

UNEARTHING NATURE’S CLIMATE CONTROLS

Ankur Desai Galen McKinley

Explore the carbon cycle for yourselfGalen McKinley has developed a website for the general public that explains the global carbon cycle, at carboncycle.aos.wisc.edu. Visitors can create their own future global carbon scenarios through an interactive application, by changing both human emissions and carbon uptake in the land and oceans.

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are developing a hydrodynamic model that simulates circulation in the lake’s food web. By representing quagga mussels in the model, McKinley hopes to be able to demonstrate in more detail the mussels’ influence on nutrient and carbon cycling. “Their impact is so important that you can’t simulate the rest of the system without them; it becomes part of the lake chemistry,” McKinley says. Once the mussels are integrated into the model, she says, “You can start asking ‘what if’ questions like ‘what if we get rid of them’ or ‘what if acidification hurts them? What might warming do?’”

Ocean exploration Acidification – a decrease in water pH as a result of carbon uptake – is another area of study for McKinley in both the Great Lakes and the global oceans. “As we put more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, we drive more carbon into the water and that acidifies the water,” she explains. Ocean pH has fallen significantly since preindustrial times and con-tinues downward, with a range of ecological impacts. McKinley suspects the same is true in the Great Lakes, but available datasets aren’t detailed enough to know for sure. This lack of data isn’t limited to acidification; as a whole the Great Lakes are understudied, she says. With Nelson Institute Environment and Resources student Jennifer Phillips (M.S. ‘12), McKinley has worked to encourage better monitoring of pH and other factors. In her research of the Great Lakes, McKinley draws from her extensive background in ocean physics. She’s been especially focused on how ocean carbon uptake is changing in the face of increasing atmospheric carbon. Her goal is to learn how much more carbon dioxide the oceans can pull from the air, particularly as the planet warms. McKinley and colleagues recently published a nearly three-decade analysis of the rate at which the ocean is absorbing human-produced carbon by comparing the surface carbon content of the North Atlantic to atmospheric carbon trends from 1981-2009. The report, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, provides some of the first evidence that the ocean is tak-ing up less carbon because of climate change. Warm water can’t hold as much carbon dioxide, so rising temperatures weaken the ocean sink. As is true with the Great Lakes, limitations in ocean data are a major obstacle to research. As more data becomes available, McKinley can expand her analyses, using her findings to refine predictive models and future data collection. “That’s an area that a lot of people in CCR have worked on – trying to understand the future climate – but this brings in the carbon cycle component, which is still pretty nascent,” she says. “As we better observe the ocean carbon cycle, see changes and get more data, there’s going to be a lot of new questions brought forward,” she says. “I don’t see any limitation on the questions that can be asked. That’s one of the reasons I love oceanography – it’s a brave new world.”

Novel partnership trains students as climate scientists

When Ankur Desai measures greenhouse gases in northern Wisconsin forests, he’s not just helping to illuminate how eco-systems modify climate. He’s also igniting the spark of scientific inquiry in local students. For two years, Desai has coordinated with the College of Menominee Nation in Keshena to bring students into the field

as climate researchers. The multi-day course is supported by a five-year National Science Foundation grant that includes an outreach component. “The Wisconsin Idea compels us to make sure our research and teaching benefits the entire state. For me, doing research in northern Wisconsin, it was important to work with people who live and study there,” says Desai, an associate professor of atmo-spheric and oceanic sciences and affiliate of the Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research (CCR). “CCR is a research-oriented center, but we’ve been learning over time that our mission is useless if we’re not communicating that knowledge broadly and widely, and not just to experts in sci-ence,” he continues. While participants contribute to Desai’s field observations, his larger goal is to expose the students to scientific careers. The project targets community college students who might want to pursue advanced degrees in environmental science. “The more you get students doing hands-on science, the more you pique their interest in potentially doing this as a career,” he says. “The most important part of this outreach is that the students are in a community of other scholars and they’re getting to meet scientists.” Desai brings his own students along to describe their experiences. “Every student has their own story about how they got into the field, what struggles they had, how their research is going,” he says. “For the Menominee students to learn those stories and for them to share their own, it really helps everyone get a better understanding of what’s going on there, which can undoubtedly improve research.”

Connect with CCR The Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research provides sup-port for students and faculty through a variety of programs, including the Bryson Interdisciplinary Climate, People and Environment Program. To support the cen-ter’s vital research and educational missions, visit go.wisc.edu/4j1mf1 or contact Jeanan Yasiri Moe, [email protected] or 608-335-2980.

Modeling with impactA close-up view of climate changeClimate models, one could argue, speak in generalities. These powerful computer simu-lations support confident assertions about future global trends, but their resolution is too coarse to allow detailed projections at the local level. To a global climate model, most of Wisconsin looks the same. Scientists at the Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research (CCR) have solved that problem. They’ve developed a technique that can bring the output from global models into sharp focus. “We’re producing climate information that is both state of the art in climate science and useful to people who are trying to understand climate impacts on various systems,” says Dan Vimont, an associate professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences and Nelson Institute faculty affiliate. Vimont and CCR scientists Michael Notaro and David Lorenz devel-oped an innovative statistical technique to “downscale” global models, producing high-resolution climate projections on an eight-kilometer grid. They initially pro-duced the downscaled data for the Wisconsin Initiative on ClimateChange Impacts (WICCI), a statewide project co-founded by the Nelson Institute and the Department of Natural Resources. Vimont says these localized projections allow biologists to evaluate the potential effects of climate change and variability on the state’s ecosystems, and the DNR is incor-porating them into its management plans. Other users include public health officials,

educators and water managers like the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District. The CCR group has applied its downscal-ing technique to most of the lower 48 states, and the client list for its services has grown well beyond Wisconsin’s borders. The U.S. Department of the Interior is using the data to support resource management decisions across much of the northern tier of the country, and the National Park Service has commissioned CCR to provide high-resolu-

tion temperature and precipitation projec-tions for all of the national parks. The downscaling process is complex, but in simple terms, it ties local weather on any particular day to large-scale climatic processes happening at the same time – “phenomena we may not recognize in our everyday lives,” says Vimont.

-STEVE POMPLUN

Canary in a cold spellDuring hot summer months when drought creeps in, grasses turn brown and lake levels fall. Less noticeable, though equally important, is the impact on native bird populations. During extreme weather events such as droughts, cold snaps or heat waves, local bird populations often diminish. According to Steve Vavrus, a senior scientist at the Center for Climatic Research, extreme weather events can affect birds in a number of different ways, often causing death, reduced reproduction or migration. Vavrus and a team of UW-Madison scientists are studying this phenom-enon to learn why die-offs occur and where the surviving bird populations “ride out the storm,” he says. One likely possibility is migration to national forests or wildlife preserves. If threatened birds use certain habitats as a buffer when things get tough at home, these areas will be an especially important conservation prior-ity – particularly as more extreme weather events are fostered by climate change, Vavrus explains. The findings are expected to help scientists and land managers better coordinate to protect birds and improve wildlife management strategies. The impacts of extreme weather are increasingly more visible, but these events are not always explicitly tied to climate change. Vavrus hopes this research will help bridge extreme weather impacts and climate models. “Climate models tell us that we are going to have a very different climate in the future, but they can’t tell us directly what kind of impacts that will cause,” Vavrus says.

-AMANDA LUCAS

Mixed signalsNew research shows that planting a tree may not help mitigate the effects of climate change after all. As it turns out, planting vegetation where none previously existed could have the opposite effect, at least in some scenarios. Creating forest in a naturally bare region, a process known as afforestation, has been suggested as a potential method to mitigate climate change. Trees and other vegeta-tion take up excess carbon dioxide from the

Earth’s atmosphere, reducing the concentration of green-house gases and slowing atmospheric warming. But afforestation efforts must be developed care-fully, according to a model developed by the Center for Climatic Research’s Guangshan Chen, Michael Notaro and Zhengyu Liu. Their research simulated the effects of a planned federal project to afforest nearly 18 million acres in the Southeast and Midwest by 2020. Through climate model simulations, the team dis-covered that afforestation sometimes backfires due to uncertain feedback loops between vegetation and climate. Over the short term, according to their model, increased vegetation in the Southeast led to a lower surface air temperature and increased total precipitation – the ideal outcome of climate change mitigation. In the long-term, how-

ever, the researchers found the opposite: surface air temperatures in areas adjacent to the proposed afforestation increased, while precipitation decreased. These remote effects may have severe impacts for both ecology and the economy.

-AMANDA LUCAS

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orces against deforestation AS TREES FALL IN THE TROPICS, NELSON RESEARCHERS CULTIVATE SOLUTIONS

By MEGhAn LEPiSto

Every day we damage our lungs. Careless behavior, pollutants and fire can cause irreversible harm. This isn’t a public service announcement about the dangers of smoking, but a warn-ing about the health of the world’s tropical forests. “Scientists often refer to the Amazon as the lungs of the earth,” says Holly Gibbs, an assistant professor of geography and environmental studies, referring to the tropi-cal forests of South America. “It converts a significant amount of the world’s carbon dioxide into oxygen.” In all, the tropics – spanning Africa, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Central America and South America – contain nearly half of the world’s forests. These ecosystems deliver fresh air, but they also help prevent climate change. During photosynthesis, trees and other vegetation soak up atmospheric carbon dioxide – the most important global warming gas emitted by human activities. “Tropical forests store more than 340 bil-lion tons of carbon, which equals 40 years’ worth of worldwide fossil fuel emissions,” Gibbs says, citing her work monitoring car-bon stocks and emissions on a global scale.

the planet lost an average of 4.9 million hectares of forest a year. That amounts to a net loss of nearly 10 hectares, or 25 acres, per minute. In the tropics, net losses were notably higher, averaging 6.9 million hect-ares of forest a year – equivalent to about 40 percent of the area of Wisconsin. On a regional and local scale, the effects are amplified. Studies show that deforesta-tion can also reduce precipitation, raise the ground surface temperature and, as the landscape becomes increasingly fragmented, increase the potential for fires to claim even larger swaths of land. It also lessens biodiver-sity in the tropics, home to more than half of the world’s plant and animal species. Gibbs says it has become increasingly clear that tropical forests must be factored into any climate change mitigation strategy as “globally important carbon storehouses.” But what are the most effective ways to reduce tropical deforestation and forest degradation? And how can the livelihoods and rights of indigenous people who depend on the forests also be protected? Gibbs is one of several Nelson Institute researchers studying these issues, often trav-eling to the equator to investigate the drivers of deforestation and possible solutions.

Code REDD

One strategy to answer the global deforestation challenge is a commodity-based solution known as REDD. Short for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, REDD gained momentum at the 2005 Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – the annual climate negotiations between delegates from nearly 200 U.N. member countries. Since then, it has attracted more than $7 billion in international investment and is one of the most advanced components of recent climate treaty negotiations. Through REDD, developed countries pay developing countries to keep their forests standing. By creating financial value for the carbon stored in forests, developing countries have an incentive to reduce emissions from forested lands and invest in low-carbon paths to development. Taking the concept a step further, “REDD-plus” – the form of REDD typically supported today – incorporates conservation, sustainable management and enhancement of forest carbon stocks. While REDD is the most high profile of policy mechanisms being advanced to halt deforestation, it is also highly controversial. In the tropics, a variety of land tenure arrangements – how a society allocates the rights to use, control or transfer land – makes REDD’s implementation complex at best. At worst, it puts forest-dependent communities at risk of being unfairly burdened and losing rights to more powerful interests. Many of the world’s most carbon-rich and biodiverse forests are in areas where land ownership is unclear, contested or insecure. While these lands are often managed by local and indigenous people who live in and derive their livelihoods from the forests, most individuals or communities do not hold legal title to the land. Rather, most tropical forests are considered property of the state, sometimes with competing or overlapping claims from interests such as logging and mining. Thus, identifying who controls a particular forested area, whom to reward with REDD financing and how to enforce the arrangement must be approached with caution.

Who owns what? For REDD to work fairly and effectively and for it to have a lasting impact, many experts say, clear and secure land tenure with atten-tion to the rights of local forest-dependent communities is critical. “When you go to developing countries, and especially places where you have carbon-heavy, biologically rich forests, there is uncertainty and even violence about who owns what,” says Lisa Naughton, a professor of geography and past director of the Nelson Institute Land Tenure Center. “It’s not just a side issue. If you’re going to figure out how to govern these areas and steward them sustainability, you need to resolve who owns what.” Clarifying land tenure “is a messy, political, slow process,” accord-ing to Naughton, involving local government, indigenous federations, environmental lawyers and other third parties, and must be consid-ered as part of the cost of REDD. When policy makers frame REDD as a quick, cheap solution, or reward carbon storage above all else, she says, it risks harming the

But this carbon storage can be reversed. When forests are cleared and trees decay or burn, the carbon previously stored in trunks, limbs, leaves and roots – amounting to half of a tree’s weight – is released to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Plot by plot, the effects add up. Deforestation has historically accounted for about 20 percent of the world’s carbon emissions, equal to the transportation sector. Among the top emitters of carbon dioxide globally earlier this decade – China and the United States, followed by Brazil and Indonesia – the latter two countries’ emis-sions are almost entirely from deforestation. “If we clear tropical forests, then we’re accelerating climate change, because nearly all that stored carbon is burned and emit-ted,” Gibbs says, “just the same as burning gasoline to fuel our cars, or burning coal to operate industry or provide electricity.” While the rate of deforestation is slowing worldwide – and is partially offset by gains in forested areas – conversion to agricul-tural land is still driving a global net loss of forests. According to a recent satellite-based survey by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, from 1990-2005

Speaking of REDDTo better understand the role of land governance within forest carbon management programs, in October 2011 the Nelson Institute Land Tenure Center (LTC) and Department of Geography hosted a two-day workshop in Madison. Thirty researchers and on-the-ground practitioners from a range of countries prioritized for REDD presented the results of pilot projects and discussed the social and environmental impacts. Several Nelson Institute alumni working on the frontlines of tropical forest conservation were part of the workshop: Amy Duchelle (Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development M.S. ’03), Margaret Holland (Land Resources M.S. ’04, Ph.D. ‘09), Arlyne Johnson (CBSD M.S. ’93, LR Ph.D. ‘00), and Brian Robinson (Environment and Resources Ph.D. ‘11). Case studies from the workshop were compiled into a 112-page report, produced by the UW Cartography Lab, to help guide policy makers in improving the equity and efficacy of REDD. Results were also shared at the 2011 U.N. climate change conference in Durban, South Africa, and a set of complementary research papers were prepared for a forthcoming special issue of the peer-reviewed journal World Development. “The Nelson Institute, in this exercise, is doing what it is so wonderful at – acting like a network,” says Lisa Naughton, a professor of geography and past LTC director who helped to lead the workshop and co-edited the resulting publication with Cathy Day, a Ph.D. candidate in geography. The workshop and publication were funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development under a five-year, $5 million grant secured in part by Matt Turner, a professor of geography and former LTC director, and Adrian Treves, associate professor of environmental studies. Through the grant, LTC is also working with several research partners to study the interface between environ-ment, government and poverty, with REDD becoming a focus of this work. “Instead of just saying these things almost never work and they usually are really risky for the poor; rather, this cluster of folks and my colleagues said, yes, REDD is complicated and it’s risky – here are some lessons and here’s why,” says Naughton. “So, can this kind of effort be made responsible? What would it look like? What would you do to try to make the money flow to the rightful owners in a more responsible way?”

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Gibbs interviews oil palm plantation owners in Malaysian Borneo.

forests and the local poor. Attempts to clarify land tenure have sometimes heightened conflict in a community, or resulted in confusing documents or false promises that strip people of their access to land. “There are many examples of how putting power and money into this forest carbon initiative can, in fact, be bad news for local communities and even bad news for biodi-versity,” according to Naughton. While giving people land rights doesn’t always mean they’re going to maintain the forest, she says, “one thing we can be sure of is: as long as there’s forest and no one really knows who it belongs to and who’s going to make money off it, that’s associated with rapid deforestation.” “We’re trying to point out those risks and set up processes,” she continues. “Our group is saying, tread carefully and realize that this isn’t going to be quick or cheap if it’s going to be fair, and we shouldn’t do it if it’s not going to be fair.”

Hot-button issues Though global consensus has yet to be reached on how to implement REDD, the initiative has progressed faster than other areas of climate change mitigation – namely, cuts in fossil fuel emissions by richer countries. That the international community “is doing basically nothing about fossil fuel emissions” remains the elephant in the room, according to Naughton. “The worst-case scenario is that affluent, high-emitting countries don’t make any sacrifices in our lifestyle or our economy, but use our power and our money to stop deforestation in a way that is against the interests of the local poor who are not emitting much in the first place.” In spite of its drawbacks, Naughton says REDD has focused attention and resources on a complex set of issues, in the name of for-est carbon. “It’s a hard path to walk, but rapid and careless

research projects, sup-ported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, is examining two specific demand-side conservation tools in which multinational grain trad-

ers, large beef processors and other businesses alter their practices to avoid forest clearing. In the first of these demand-side conser-vation levers – multi-stakeholder roundtable groups – an industry comes together in coordination with non-governmental orga-nizations, retailers and producers to police and protect itself. Through a safety-in-num-bers approach, Gibbs says, the roundtables are transforming how industry operates. All of the major commodities that are heavily traded from the Amazon – soy, palm oil, beef, sugar, leather and biofuels – have stakeholder groups aimed at governing the industry and developing standards and criteria. “What my research is showing is these efforts are addressing the drivers of defores-tation for the first time,” Gibbs says. A second form of demand-side conser-vation is zero-deforestation agreements, or trade embargos, in which an industry, retailer or producer agrees to not buy a commodity from newly deforested lands. Such agreements typically evolve in response to a consumer campaign against a company, often initiated by an activist orga-nization. Large retail brands are sensitive to consumer pressure – something non-gov-ernmental organizations, and in particular Greenpeace, have capitalized on. “Through embarrassing and dramatic ad campaigns, Greenpeace has moved these industrial and retail giants to change their business practices,” says Gibbs. “And when they change, it affects the entire supply chain, all the way down to those farmers on the ground clearing forest.” In 2006, for example, all of the major U.S. and Brazilian soy traders came together

in response to pressure from McDonald’s and Burger King, which were first targeted by Greenpeace, and agreed to have zero deforestation in their soy supply chain in the Amazon. The industry set up a monitor-ing system to ensure no deforestation was occurring, which now allows for a better understanding of all land use dynamics. Facing similar pressure, the major cattle producers and meatpackers of Brazil – a major exporter of beef and leather – approved a zero deforestation agreement in 2009 after it was revealed that cattle raised on deforested land were being used for leather by major global retailers and shoe brands, and for beef sold by main-stream grocers. Each participating cattle company now has a monitoring system in place, and Gibbs says rancher and meat-packer behavior has improved “by leaps and bounds.”

Direct effect That these demand-side initia-tives address the drivers of deforesta-tion gives them an advantage over REDD, according to Gibbs. “That’s been one of the major criticisms of REDD – that it provides funding that goes through government, which may or may not reach the people that are actually doing the clearing,” she explains. “These demand-side efforts are directly going after the companies that control the deforestation dynamics.” “I can talk about the positive sides of REDD – it has the world’s attention focused on deforestation and it has evolved science dramatically in terms of our ability to mea-sure carbon stored in trees and understand land use trends and drivers. But it has not changed things thus far in any major way,” she continues. “These demand-side efforts are revolutionizing industries in a remark-ably quick way. We’ve seen a huge shift.” For the first time in Brazil, forest

ics, it comes at the expense of forest. In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Gibbs found that from 1980-2000, more than 80 percent of new agricultural land came from clearing tropical forests to make room. And in the tropics, she says, “forests don’t typically become a house or furniture. Trees are often just burned in place, so all that stored carbon is emitted to the atmo-sphere as carbon dioxide.” Gibbs, who received her Ph.D. in 2008 in Land Resources, now studies these issues through the Nelson Institute Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment. She’s found that over the last 10 to 15 years, the main driver of agriculture-related deforestation in much of the tropics is no longer poverty, it’s profit. From the 1970s through the 90s, small land holders or family farmers cleared forest to produce food and other crops for local markets and subsistence. But since then, many of these family farmers have been displaced by multinational agribusinesses. “They’re not always literarily cutting the trees down, but they’re financing and incentivizing deforestation,” Gibbs explains. “So on one hand, we’re seeing much larger swaths of forest cleared and much more intensive use of that land. But on the other hand, it opens the door to a whole new type of conservation – what I call demand-side conservation.”

Making demands While REDD uses financial incentives to

prevent deforestation, demand-side tools rely on globalization and mar-

ket pressure. For example, Brazil and Indonesia – two critical areas for forest conservation – are now deeply connected to global markets for soy, oil palm

and beef and thus responsive to market signals. What this means for conservation, Gibbs explains, is that industry oversight and purchasing power can be lever-aged to make operations more sustainable. One of Gibbs’ emerging

remained standing while production increased rapidly. “It’s the first time that there were incen-tives and pressure to increase yields rather than simply expand,” she says. “Now there are reasons to invest in fertilizers and in improving the lands to produce more.” From 2004-12, deforestation rates in Brazil dropped by 75 percent, going from the highest ever recorded to the lowest. Credit is due to a confluence of factors, Gibbs says: demand-side conservation agreements, REDD and its perception that land owners will receive money to leave for-est standing, and low profitability for soy and cattle during global economic downturns.

But as profits from Brazilian soy and cattle rose to extremely high levels during the recent U.S. drought, the trend remained positive for forest conservation. “Brazil’s cattle ranchers and soy farm-ers can make more money now than they could in a long time, and they still haven’t increased the rates of deforestation,” Gibbs says, “indicating that this combination of domestic pressure, outside organization pressure and changing macroeconomics have significantly altered business practices for these two sectors.” Environmentally, Gibbs says, the best-case scenario would be to have much more efficient, optimized use of land to meet global demands while reducing supply chain waste and deforestation. But produc-ers need to be able to sustainably increase

Using data from the Worldwide Governance Indicators and Holly Gibbs, assis-tant professor of geography and environmental studies, this figure depicts property rights security versus living biomass carbon density. CREDIT: UNIvERSITY OF WISCONSIN CARTOGRAPHY LAB

deforestation is neither good for the climate, nor for biodiversity, nor for local people,” she continues. “If we can connect some of the funding that’s moving toward REDD with other meaningful goals, like strengthening land rights and keeping forest on the land-scape, then it could be worth all the effort.”

Growing problem For Holly Gibbs, understanding the drivers of deforestation is also critical to solving the problem. Gibbs was heavily involved with REDD in its early stages, but her research has evolved to take a broader look at the causes of deforestation and how they vary across the tropics and time. “In the biggest picture, I work to reconcile forest conservation, food security and eco-nomic development,” she explains. “We’re focused on human-environment interactions and how people use land.” Over the last 30 years, developed countries have either stabilized or reduced their total agricultural land, amounting to a four percent net decrease. Tropical coun-tries, however, have seen an 11 percent increase in agricultural land, and the trend is expected to continue. “We have a world that wants so much more from our land base. When we think about where mounting demands for food, feed and fuel will come from, it will come from tropical countries,” Gibbs says. When agriculture expands in the trop-

Holly Gibbs

continued on page 28

Winter/Spring 2013 2120 In Common

WASTE TO ENERGY TO INNOVATIONBY AMANDA LUCAS

Could the solution to some of the developing world’s energy, health and conservation challenges lie in a landfill? Nelson Institute graduate students Aleia McCord and Sarah Stefanos think so. They’ve teamed up with partners in Uganda to develop a business model that converts human waste, animal manure and food scraps into fertilizer and biogas through an anaerobic digester. “An anaerobic digester is essentially a giant concrete stomach,” explains McCord. “Millions of microbes, like the ones that live in our stomach, eat organic matter and burp methane. The organic matter becomes a high-quality organic fertilizer, and the gas – the methane microbes produce – becomes an opportunity for energy use.” McCord and Stefanos, both pursing master’s degrees in Environment and Resources and participants in the Certificate on Humans and the Global Environment (CHANGE) program, stud-ied anaerobic digesters as part of a CHANGE capstone course. Traveling to Germany, they learned how biogas is widely produced and used. They brought their findings to Uganda, where the students then began imagining the potential of smaller-scale systems in a country where unmanaged waste degrades urban conditions and quality of life. Makeshift landfills and a lack of public restrooms have created haphazard and unhealthy conditions in many of Uganda’s crowded urban areas. All that waste represented an opportunity to McCord, a micro-bial ecologist, and Stefanos, a rural sociologist. They joined forces with two graduate students at Makerere University’s Centre for Research in Energy and Energy Conservation, engineer Vianney Tumwesige and conservationist Alex Tumukunde. The diverse and imaginative team created a unique business model and launched a new company called W2E, an acronym for their waste to energy concept.

Cutting health risks Uganda faces three struggles common in developing countries: insufficient public hygiene, severe energy inequalities and limited options for agricultural expansion. W2E works to transform each of these obstacles into a socially responsible business initiative. For starters, McCord says, turning waste into energy helps divert it from streets, where careless dumping is common, attract-ing vermin and polluting water. W2E gives Ugandans a purpose for their waste and a place to put it (the program will provide neighborhood dumpsters), minimizing human-animal disease transmission and water-borne illnesses. It also provides an alternative to the charcoal and firewood

Ugandans use as cooking fuel in their homes, both of which harm local forests and human health. According to McCord, an estimated 1.5 million Ugandans die each year from indoor air pollution. Women and children, who spend most of their days indoors, are disproportionately affected by chronic lung problems. The long-term goal of W2E is to produce electricity for the national grid, a significantly cleaner and safer source of energy that produces emissions with less particulate matter. Shifting from indoor use of charcoal and firewood also dramatically lowers the rate of lung disease, says McCord. In addition to cleaner energy, the project also turns the waste into fertilizer, which has the potential to help feed Uganda’s growing population and even help preserve its forests. Uganda is under constant pressure to increase food production, but poor farming techniques, high rates of soil loss and a lack of fertilizer leave only one option: move to new cropland. As a result, according to McCord, many Ugandan farmers turn to the forest for new cropland, an ongoing process that drives widespread deforestation. Many of the country’s most precious natural resources are being depleted – and in some cases, destroyed completely. Uganda’s forests are home to several criti-cally endangered species, including some of the last remaining populations of mountain gorillas. “We want to provide a product that helps farmers improve yields and protect their soils, so they can increase yields on the soil they have, and they don’t have to cut down more forests to make more food,” McCord says.

Boosting Uganda’s economy W2E is currently in a pilot stage, with an anaerobic digestion system in place at a rural Ugandan school. The team is collecting data and assessing the project’s impact on waste management and public health. They plan to eventually introduce their process in urban centers across Africa. The digesters at the heart of W2E can be implemented for $10,000 each, which, though costly, is much more affordable than many of the digesters deployed in the United States. To date, W2E has been funded primarily through grants and prizes. The team won two student innovation competitions, the Wisconsin School of Business Burrell Business Plan Competition and the Nelson Institute-hosted Global Stewards Sustainability Prize. It also received grants from the Swedish International Development Agency for its innovations in fighting poverty, and from the Grand Challenges Rising Stars in Global Public Health, a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation program.

Now registered as a for-profit company, W2E could also provide desperately needed jobs in Uganda. Waste must be collected and transported to the digester facility, where it will be sorted by local waste pickers who receive benefits and fair wages. The locally produced biogas will serve as a more affordable, renewable source of energy, sold for 20 to 30 percent less than competing fuel products. “Poverty is one of the strongest motivators for innovation – innovation by necessity,” McCord says. “Our vision is to take what is currently a grant-dependent project and turn it into something that is truly financially sustainable, and to demonstrate that you can have a profitable, commercial ven-ture that at its core is a sustainable vision for the future.” “The forces that are driving our global econ-omy are corporate forces,” she continues. “It’s important to envision alternatives that engage with for-profit models in a way that has positive environmental and societal outcomes.” Next, W2E envisions flipping the traditional perception of innovation on its head, transferring a technology originating in a developing country to the developed world. According to McCord, the W2E model has the potential to be implemented in places like Wisconsin. Anaerobic digesters are now used on some Wisconsin farms, but the multi-million dollar systems are only feasible for very large agricultural operations. However, most dairy farms in the state have fewer than 100 cows. Scaling down the tech-nology to something similar to that being implement-ed in Uganda may create new opportunities for biogas production. “Ideally, some of our Wisconsin farmers would see the work we do in Uganda and be inspired to meet the needs here,” McCord continues.

In Uganda, students see opportunity to fuel sustainability and public health

PHOTOS, clockwise from top to bottom:

Uncollected waste from a Ugandan slum clogs drainage channels and creates a risk of flooding;

a volunteer from the Kasiisi Primary School fills a bot-tle that will be used to build the biodigester latrine wall;

the W2E team, from left to right: Vianney Tumwesige, Sarah Stefanos, Aleia McCord and Alex Tumukunde;

the biogas system under construction.

Amanda Lucas is a senior majoring in journalism and environmental studies.


BY AMANDA LUCAS

For some residents of Milwaukee, winters will not be as cold and drafty as those in recent memory. While the lakefront city is accustomed to harsh temperatures and gusty winds, hundreds of homes and businesses are better insulated and tightened up, thanks to an effort led by a Nelson Institute alumnus. Erick Shambarger, deputy director of environmental sustainability for the city, oversees the Milwaukee Energy Efficiency program, or Me2. He says the program, which retrofits houses and buildings to save energy, boosts the economy, the environment and urban jobseekers. “It’s kind of a threefold impact,” Shambarger

says. “We want to cut energy use as an economic develop-ment tool, try to do something to reduce our greenhouse gas profile, and attract local jobs.” Launched in 2011 to help homeown-ers make affordable energy efficiency improvements to their homes, Me2 has since expanded to include

business owners interested in lowering energy costs and “greening” their buildings. To date, Me2 has upgraded more than 445 homes and has approved nearly 100 business projects in

Erick Shambarger

Urban energy program a triple-win for Milwaukee

TOP: Insulation is blown into the wall cavity of a home as part of the Milwaukee Energy Efficiency program, or Me2, which helps homeowners and businesses finance energy efficiency upgrades. CENTER: Milwaukee recently joined the national Better Buildings Challenge, a U.S. Department of Energy initiative to cut energy use 20 percent by 2020. The city urges business owners to partici-pate by taking advantage of Me2’s financing options. BOTTOM: Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett highlights Me2’s successes at an event at Wisconsin Knitwear, one of the nearly 100 participating Milwaukee businesses. Owner Steve Arenzon is pictured at right.

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interested in energy efficiency updates. If homeowners can gain at least 15 percent energy savings through the Me2 program, they qualify for loans through Summit. The energy savings real-ized through retrofits are intended to cover the cost of the loan. Homeowners also receive a subsidized home energy assess-ment and a grant for eligible health and safety upgrades, often making the upfront costs negligible. And, Me2 goes one step further, offering homeowners federally funded rebates based on projected residential energy savings. Rebates as high as $2,000 can be earned by cutting energy use at least 35 percent. Me2 has been funded primarily by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the “stimulus bill” signed into law in 2009 by President Obama. The act was meant to kick-start eco-nomic activity and growth by creating new jobs and saving exist-ing jobs. In the case of Me2, Shambarger says, it provided a way to create a long-term, sustainable market for energy efficiency. As part of Me2, the city implemented a community workforce agreement that requires contractors who work with the program to delegate at least 40 percent of work hours to city residents formerly unemployed or underemployed. “We’re trying to put people back to work doing energy efficien-cy retrofits,” Shambarger says. According to Shambarger, many other organizations contrib-ute to the success of Me2. The Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corporation helps to administer the program, in addition to similar initiatives in Madison and Racine, and private contractors develop and implement specific efficiency projects. The Center on Wisconsin Strategy at UW originally presented the Me2 con-cept to the city of Milwaukee in 2008, with it ultimately approved by Mayor Tom Barrett and the Milwaukee Common Council. Shambarger, who graduated from UW-Madison in 2002 with a master’s degree in public affairs from the La Follette School and a certificate in energy analysis and policy from the Nelson Institute, says his wide-ranging education taught him to think holistically in ways that have helped him create successful pro-grams like Me2. “It’s really thrilling to be able to have an impact on the community and see the city do something that it wasn’t doing before,” he says. “It’s great to be a part of something new to

move the city forward.”

Milwaukee valued at more than $8.8 million dollars. Retrofitting a building for energy efficiency is an important tool for businesses to remain financially competitive and grow, according to Shambarger. “Energy costs are a constant challenge, and prob-ably one of the biggest costs for any business owner,” he says. “We’d like to be able to reduce that for the long term as an economic development tool, and help all these older buildings remain competitive.” The city of Milwaukee recently joined the national Better Buildings Challenge, a U.S. Department of Energy initiative to encourage building owners to cut their energy use 20 percent by 2020. The city urges business owners to participate by taking advantage of Me2’s financing options. Milwaukee committed its portfolio of government buildings to the challenge, Shambarger reports, along with many other downtown buildings – including the U.S. Bank skyscraper, which, at 42 stories, is Wisconsin’s tallest. Me2 also works to lower the average carbon footprint of the city through residences. Prior to Me2, however, homeowners received little financial incen-tive from city government to make their dwellings environmentally friendly. “For energy, you have to find creative solu-tions to finance efficiency efforts – they have high upfront costs, but they pay off over the long term,” Shambarger says. To help homeowners overcome the front-end costs, Me2 partnered with Summit Credit Union to provide loan programs specifically for Milwaukee residents

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HOME small

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Alumna Sonya newenhouse holds the blueprint to green living

BY MEGHAN LEPISTO

Where did your idea begin for the NewenHouse kit home?

Newenhouse: In order to answer that question I need to back up to Community Car. I started Community Car because I thought it was an effective way to tangibly address global warming and greenhouse gas emissions (29 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in Wisconsin come from transpor-tation). But then I learned that the building sector also emits a lot of greenhouse gases and has a large environmental footprint. So I thought we need to get into the building sector more aggressively. Here is where my passion comes in from when I was little. Basically, at [the age of] 46, I am fulfilling my childhood fantasy – I wanted to be a carpenter in a big way. Growing up in the 1970s, I was into the green homes of the decade; I wanted to build a little cabin at my parent’s farm. That never happened, but now I’m realizing my dreams in a bit different way. I’m really combining something strate-gic, of offering a new product to customers who want to live simply and reduce their ecological footprint, but also having fun and providing something that I’ve always loved: houses, nesting, building and being creative in that way.

What are some of the features the kit homes will include?

What we’re providing are sustainable, super-insulated small kit homes, following the Sears Roebuck service model. Our largest house that we’ll sell will always be half the size of the average new American home. If there’s only one thing you remember about this house, it’s that they’re so well built they do not require a furnace, even in Wisconsin winters. They only require 1,300 watts of electric heat – the equivalent of one hair dryer. Our walls are 18 inches thick; it’s a double wall system with blown-in, dense-packed cellulose insulation. We have a very efficient, quiet, heat recovery ventilation unit. We have triple-glazed, insulated windows from Canada. We have more than two feet of insulation in the attic and one foot of insula-tion under the slab. We have a detached three-season porch, which is attached to a storage room that has a root cellar underneath, so it really provides

the opportunity for green living as well. This 270-square-foot stuga (meaning cabin in Swedish) also includes a guest loft and wood stove for winter visitors. I’m trying to intersect three movements: the green building movement, the small home movement and the sustainable life-style movement. I think there’s a gap in the products out there for housing. There might be green homes, but they’re not smaller. Or there might be a green home that’s actually not so much designed for green living.

What has it been like to watch this vision become reality? Have you encountered any challenges you didn’t anticipate or that are unique to building a home like this?

I thought we would sell just like Sears Roebuck did: the lumber, the nails, every-thing you need to build this on your job site. But as I started the building process I realized that wasn’t very efficient and not very effective; it would be very difficult to store and access all of the materials during construction. So rather, we’ll be selling everything you can’t buy at your local lumber yard – the specialty materials that make this a sustain-able, energy efficient house. We’ll be selling, for example, the windows, the doors, the heat recovery ventilation unit, the handmade tile and the sustainable, custom-made kitchen cabinets. And of course the detailed construction documents and design, because it’s not difficult, it’s just a different way of living. And then we’ll also sell, with the kit, our consulting services. So a homeowner could call us and we could have weekly or monthly phone calls just to help them along as they work with their contractors. It was wonderful to be my own general contractor for this first home because I was putting myself in the shoes of my future customers.

You’ve been holding open houses at the NewenHouse prototype. What has the public response been like?

People are coming from all over because I have a blog in Natural Home magazine. We even had somebody from South Dakota on their way through the Midwest.

intimidated to be on a board, start on a com-mittee level. I have learned so many leadership skills from sitting on boards. You’re just absorbing, like a sponge, and continually learning. And at the same time that you’re gaining experi-ence, you’re giving back. Don’t wait for a job announcement, don’t wait for a volunteer opportunity announce-ment, just seek out organizations – for-profit or nonprofit – that you’re interested in and go for it. Or volunteer for your local politician – you meet so many people.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Follow your passion and do your homework. I take risks, but they’re calculated, thought-ful and deliberate. You can’t just follow your passion and not be smart about it; you need to do your homework. So if you can knit your passion and your skills, but you can hone your skills, you can keep learning. And stay connected with the Nelson Institute. I feel so fortunate; my closest friends are the graduate school friends I made at the Nelson Institute. Today they’re still my dearest friends and people I seek advice from.

Sonya Newenhouse and her husband Cecil Wright hold their newly adopted son Addisu in Ethiopia.

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Open-door policy

Sonya Newenhouse hosts open houses at her NewenHouse prototype in viroqua, Wis., usual-ly on the fourth Friday of every month. You can find more information and a link to Sonya’s blog about the house at madisonenvironmental.com. Or contact her for a private tour: 608-220-8029, [email protected]. If you’re interested in the small house move-ment, or in living more mindfully in whatever space you have, Newenhouse recommends the book Little House on a Small Planet: Simple Homes, Cozy Retreats and Energy Efficient Possibilities, by Shay Salomon.

It’s so much fun to see people’s reactions; they just love it and they still cannot believe it only needs [the equivalent of] one hair dryer to heat the house. Most people also are surprised that it’s only 970 square feet on the inside. It feels much bigger, but that’s because the design is so efficient. The first floor is a completely open floor plan; the kitchen, dining and living rooms are all open to each other. Upstairs, in the three bedrooms, all the walls are painted white and the windows are large to bring in sun. Visitors appreciate the efficient use of space and details. Our stair treads, for example, open for storage. We’re bringing in borrowed light. In the stairwell, we have a salvaged window that brings in light from the outdoor stairwell window into the interior bathroom window on the first floor. We have three or four spots in the house where we have interior windows, which is unusual.

Many Nelson Institute students are interested in careers that involve consulting on sustainability and environmental issues. What advice would you share with them?

My advice is to get engaged in the profes-sional community while you’re in school. So for example, maybe you pick a nonprofit that you’re excited about, local or national, and try to get involved – not just to gain professional experience, but to keep having experiences to hone in what it is you really like doing. Everyone needs volunteers. So you go to a conference on some topic that you’re really interested in and you volunteer. And through that volunteering you’re gaining both profes-sional experience and you’re learning what your passions are. [As a student] at the Nelson Institute I became a board member of a statewide nonprofit. Sometimes younger people think nonprofits might not think they’re experienced enough, that they need more experience to be a board member, but many boards are intentionally trying to diversify by having younger members on their boards. And environmental organizations need more women and diversity on their boards. If you’re a go-getter, don’t be shy to seek a leadership role in the area you’re interested in through volunteering. And if you’re too

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When Sonya Newenhouse was 11, she dreamed of being a carpenter. As a graduate student, she was determined to launch her own envi-ronmental consulting business.

Today, she’s fulfilled both of those visions and is literally building a greener future. Her concept for a line of small, sustainable kit homes – aptly named NewenHouses – for those who want to live lightly on the Earth came to fruition in the fall of 2011 with the completion of a prototype in Viroqua, Wis., which she, her husband and their newly adopted 5-year-old son, Addisu, now call home. Newenhouse, who earned a master’s degree (’92) and a Ph.D. (’97) in Land Resources from the Nelson Institute, designed the kit homes to be at least 50 percent smaller than the average new American home (which today measures approximately 2,400 square feet) and 90 percent more energy efficient. The homes will be available in one-, two- and three-bedroom sizes, at 600, 800 and 1,000 square feet, respectively. But Newenhouse’s toolkit extends beyond green living – she is also the president of Community Car, a Madison-area car sharing organization that serves more than 1,300 members, and founder of the sustainability consulting company Madison Environmental Group, which provides engineering, building design, transportation, research and market-ing services to a range of clients. On campus, Madison Environmental Group recently served as green building consul-tants for construction of the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, which this fall received a top sustainability award for its innovative and sustainable design, and Union South – both now LEED (Leadership and Environment Energy Design) gold certified buildings. In 2011, after more than a decade at the helm, Newenhouse sold Madison

Environmental Group to fellow Nelson Institute alumna Leah Samson-Samuel (ESC ’98),

to allow Newenhouse to focus more on the launch of her sustainable

kit homes. She discusses the concept behind these homes,

along with advice for others with an entrepreneurial spirit, in this edited interview.


Investing in Nelson

Thank you to all who support the Nelson InstituteWe extend deep thanks to the hundreds of individuals, families and organizations that have made financial contributions to the Nelson Institute. These gracious alumni, friends and program sponsors contributed between January 2012 and January 2013.

Your support prepares students to build a better future

“As a non-traditional student balancing the responsibilities of two jobs, two children and my studies, this financial support has made the difference between asking ‘Can I do this?’ to saying ‘Of course I can!’ It also represents a vote of confidence in my abilities and potential that is inspiring and moti-vating. I was not considering graduate school before this; this has inspired me to continue on and expand my career possibilities.”

Janet Moore, supported by the Community Environmental Scholars Program

“The Zieve fellowship allowed me to solve a community problem while doing my dissertation research. My community needed youth programs and the urban park that I am doing an environmental history on needed educational programming. My fellowship allowed me to turn the pro-gram into a class and fund my tuition. It helped me make dreams come true.”

Trish O’Kane, recipient of a Charlotte Zieve teaching assistantship

“My teaching assistantship has allowed me to work with experts in com-munity-based research while volunteering with The Natural Step Monona to engage Monona, Wis., residents around issues of sustainability. From this community-university partnership, the city now has more engaged residents who participate in promoting sustainable living.”

Dadit Hidayat, Zieve fellowship recipient

“As a funded graduate student in the Center for Climatic Research I’ve been able to travel regionally and internationally, increasing my scientific exposure and dissemination of current research. Becoming a scientist today requires more than technical skills; the funding opportunities through CCR have provided support for the overall enhancement of my abilities.”

Katie Holman

A defining difference in a great education may be measured through student experiences. With your support of the Nelson Institute, we provide an extraordinary range of opportunities for immersive, hands-on experiences. Thanks to the generous contributions of our donors, the Nelson Institute has for 42 years prepared students to become thought leaders in industry, government and nonprofit enterprises across the planet.

Your gifts help prepare our students to tackle environmental challenges in the rapidly changing world that awaits their graduation. A majority of Nelson undergraduate students participate in service learning classes and internships that place them in meaningful roles within a variety of organizations, companies and communities, where their emerging skills and energies can truly make a difference. In addition, our Community Environmental Scholars Program provides need-based scholarship support for students while training them to work with community-based environmental organizations. And Nelson students are exceptionally well prepared to work across geographies and cultures. More than 70 percent of our undergraduates participate in study abroad programs, among the highest percentage of any unit on campus. Your contribution to the Nelson Institute is an investment in education with purpose, in creative, collaborative solutions, and in students eager to make this a better world. We thank you for your support.

To make a gift, please visit nelson.wisc.edu/giving or mail a gift to the Nelson Institute Development Office, 550 North Park Street, Science Hall Suite 122, Madison, WI 53706. A remittance envelope is available in this issue of In Common. All gifts are tax deductible. If you prefer, gifts can be made in monthly or quarterly installments. Questions? Please contact the Nelson Institute Development Office at [email protected] or 608-262-4510.

Gifts of $1,000,000 and aboveBradshaw-Knight Foundation

Inc.

Gifts of $25,000 - $49,999John F. and Mary I. Cooper

Gifts of $10,000 - $24,999E-Academy IncorporatedLaurie Carlson Progressive

Ideas Forum Sonnet C. and Christopher S.

EdmondsJohn S. and Linda L. NelsonSal A. and Judith L. TroiaWisconsin Alumni Research

Foundation Gifts of $5,000 - $9,999American Family Insurance Applied Ecological ServicesDan ErdmanDennis M. and Marise A.

HusseyKohl’s Department Stores Madison Gas & Electric Co.Adrian Treves UW-Madison Office of

Sustainability

Gifts of $1,000 - $4,999Charles B. Andrews and Elin

QuigleyDiane Ballweg Jim Berbee and Karen Walsh Oscar C. BoldtCity of MadisonDan and Pat CornwellDeWitt Ross & StevensJane A. DennisDisney Worldwide Services

Inc.John A. DuttonEdgewood CollegeRoxanne K. Eigenbrod-Zak

and Michael J. ZakGathering WatersMarc H. Gorelick and Lynn

BroaddusGroup Health CooperativeRobert HallamStefan HastenrathThe Johnson Foundation at

WingspreadKikkoman Foods Foundation

Inc.Matthew D. McKearnBruce Metge and Leslie SmithCatherine H. MiddlecampNeil N. and Jessica N.

Peters-MichaudLewis A. Jr. and Vicki M.

PosekanyDaniel and Laurie RhudeJoe and Mary Ellyn

SensenbrennerKatie SternbergSustainability SummitElizabeth C. TreacyThompson, III and Joan M.

WebbGail L. Wurtzler

Gifts of $500 - $999Marian B. AshmanStephen M. BornDaniel J. Cloutier and Joan M.

Bouril-CloutierDavid H. Bromwich

Molly R. DubowEric K. EbersbergerEcological Society of AmericaMichael J. EndersMartin E. and Theresa A.

EvansonKathleen M. FalkLynne A. FickenFlora P. FlygtMarilyn L. FogelErik J. and Marni K. ForsbergJohn H. Francis, IIITiffany M. FrazierFriends Of Dave Cieslewicz

Calvin J. GanderSharon C. GaskillSteven B. GelbHerman L. and Islanda GilmanPaul H. Gobster and Kathleen

E. DickhutAlice GodfreyRobert T. and Joy S.

GottschalkRebecca J. Haack-DeetzWesley F. HalversonMary F. HanleyRachel K. Hart-BrinsonDavid A. and Maria v. HartBrauna J. HartzellCarol A. HassemerDavid E. and Marlene W.

HeiserWilliam D. Helsabeck Jr.

Inga Brynildson HaggePatrick D. and Lloyd L. EaganVicki A. ElkinHerman H. FelstehausenSusan L. FladerMartha H. KohlerMichael A. KoutnikLandesaManatron Inc.Ronald E. MeissenJoseph M. Moran and Jennifer

M. TillisRobert E. NightingaleCraig J. and Ann M. SwensonDavid T. Ziemann

Additional Gifts Received Emily AbelloPaul N. AgarwalArnold R. Alanen and

Lynn BjorkmanNathaniel Q. AltfeatherTodd L. AmbsNorman C. AndersonJames L. ArtsJian Yang and Prapakorn

AssavasilavasukulHugo F. Lentze and Claire

E. AubourgJean M. BahrMarvin T. BeattyHerbert F. BehnkeJohn C. and Jenifer A.

BergJanna M. R. BergumSteven J. BerkowitzThomas and Dorothy

BickfordMary T. BinkleySpencer Black and

Pamela H. FornellJerome B. and Amy G.

BlechmanEthyle R. BlochLauren M. BloughJoshua C. BlumenfeldAnnie L. BoothBarbara L. BornsJ. Russell BouldingJason E. BroehmGisela H. BroganKenneth M. BrownLarry H. BrussWarren J. Buchanan, Jr.William A. and Jacqueline

S. BuehringCornelia A. BurrNicole M. CaineRuth CaldenElizabeth E. CampbellArlen C. ChristensonBill ChristoffersonDavid J. CieslewiczDavid B. ClarkeWilliam P. and Judith A.

Colby-GeorgeMathias J. Collins and Jennifer

MalletteJohnston P. Connelly, IIChad M. and Jennifer L. CookAlison M. CoulsonBradley CoulterAllan R. CzecholinskiAndrea J. DearloveGerald J. DittbernerBruce G. Douglas

Steven A. and Mary D. Hemshrot

Susan D. HillBarbara J. HoltzEdward J. and Bernadette F.

HopkinsDavid C. Hubanks and Melissa

A. HornungRichard B. HowarthJack R. HuddlestonThomas C. and Nancy D. N.

HuntMonica A. JaehnigFan JiangBerdella JohnsonDaniel JordahlEve F. Kaplan-WalbrechtGary M. KaszynskiBruce A. KeyesKathleen R. KilkusJohn A. KincaidKathryn KirkLowell L. KlessigLorna J. KniazHarry L. KnippThomas R. KnutsonHerbert KohlIrene C. KringleRobert J. KrumenakerJohn E. and Gisela KutzbachDonald G. LastSusana E. Lastarria-CornhielSteven W. LawryEllen R. LevinAndrew B. LewisRachel LickerNadine LymnRobert J. MakiNancy B. MalloyRobert J. and Amy B.

MarchantPeter E. McKeeverHoward W. MeadWilliam H. Meadows and Sally

Brooks MeadowsTim W. MeikleRobert H. and vivian E. MillerDouglas A. and Jeanan Y. MoeJohn P. and Tashia F.

MorgridgeSusan A. and Charles

Munkwitz Sr.Edward J. and Sarah M. S.

MurrayEric R. NashJeffrey G. NeidingerPixie A. B. NewmanGeraldine A. NicholsonMichael NotaroWilliam P. O’ConnorBurke O’NealScott D. OlsenTravis R. and Marcy OlsonDavid M. OlszykEdward D. and Patricia C.

OrnesMatthew D. OrnesJulie S. OttBetsy L. ParryJonathan A. PatzGari-Anne PatzwaldJohn E. PeckJames P. PeerenboomLynn A. PerssonHarry L. PetersonJames O. and Carole J.

Peterson

Jay O. PetersonCynthia L. PotterVed PrakashSamuel G. Pratsch and

Camille A. ZanoniLaura K. PughKelly T. RedmondClayton H. ReitanAndreas J. RhudeDavid J. RhudeMargaret J. RhudeRobert G. RibeJames C. and Alma RiddellEugene M. RoarkPaul F. Robbins and Sarah

MooreJohn C. RobertsJean A. RobinsonMarc RosenHans E. RosendalMonroe H. and Ron RosnerMichael J. RothRichard H. Betz and Carolyn

Rumery BetzDouglas H. and Karen I.

SargeantNathan D. SchulferZachary T. SchusterDiane G. SchwartzAmber K. SeeberBrent A. SielingWilliam J. SmollerGail M. Snowden and John

A. YoungRoger E. SolesPaul A. SpetzKrista A. SpiroBart A. SponsellerDouglas C. SteegeRonald StewartGlenn M. StoddardSuperior Health Linens LLCMegan A. SutherlandRichard K. SuttonBridget M. SwankeStephen J. Vavrus and Susan

K. SwansonJoanne M. ThiesChristine L. ThomasDavid S. ThomasJoseph R. ThomeAndrews L. TolmanJames A. VanDeurzenLaura J. VanSlykeLinda D. VandynePaul H. vastagChad B. Wilsey and Carolina

A. VegaErin B. Vennie-VollrathStephen J. Ventura and

Margaret L. KromeMarie K. VickstaVincent F. VukelichRandall E. Wade and Marilyn

Garbaty-WadeDonald M. WallerHaven A. WeckwerthMark WellerJames F. WelshJohn W. WilliamsRobert S. Williamson, IIIDaniel E. WisniewskiDan W. YorkThomas M. and Ann W. YuillNicolle E. B. ZellnerLydia ZepedaPeter D. and Joan R. Ziegl

Nelson Institute Student Experience Fund

The Nelson Institute Student Experience Fund was launched in advance of the winter 2012 com-mencement as a special opportunity for currently enrolled students to invest in the experience of future generations. We thank these student donors to the inaugural campaign.

Jiaqi An Erika Cardenas Matt Cyran Paige Domurat Kaylie Duffy Phillip Duran Rachel Fell Laura Frye-Levine Joey Gallagher Norma Gallegos Maggie Grabow Phil Grupe Micah Hahn Jamie Hogberg Tommy Jasmin Nick Kirchner Cara Ladd Ariel Larson Tyler Larte Brianna Laube Bethany Laursen Vijay Limaye

Laura Linde Kristine Mattis Diane Mayerfeld Joslyn Mink Shannon Mohan Megan

O’Callaghan Erik Olson Teresa Olson

Arrate Zach Pickett Zoe Retzlaff Madeline Rohner Nathan Schulfer Amber Sheahan Joe Shook Christy Stamos Christine Thomson J.P. Villavicencio Amy Whoolly Sarah Wilkins Yang Yang


BY GRACE LATZ (ESC ‘11)

I spent most of my childhood outside. I was attuned to the condition of the streams and lakes as a child, boating on the Great Lakes by summer and walking the marsh that flooded each fall. I didn’t want to lose those types of interac-tions when I transitioned to college. I chose to row so I could be out on the lakes every day despite living in an urban area. I was a walk-on athlete to the rowing team, as most are at Wisconsin, and I luckily found other athletes who felt the same way about the environment. I learned how our sport of rowing is affected by water quality, wind and weather conditions around University Bay, Picnic Point and Maple Bluff. I became aware of how coaches’ motor boats could disturb waterways with their wakes during training trips in Florida. I thought of how we avoid transporting inva-sive species between the lakes and channels we compete on. I was always looking for the recycling or compost bin at our competitive events. The more semesters that passed, the more I realized how the world of sports and athletes – recreational or competitive – are intricately tied to the environment in which they train, practice and perform. Teammates Maggie Galloway and Annie D’Amato were two of the most avid eco-athletes, encouraging me in my sophomore year to join their group of students that would later become REthink Wisconsin. Comprised of a handful of student athletes, members of the Greek community and green-minded students, all from Professor Jack Kloppenberg’s introductory environmental studies class, we wanted to implement the changes that students talked about during the course discussion sessions. By the end of my senior year, we’d established the athletic depart-ment’s first game-day recycling program, assessed our university’s waste stream, started collection sites for recyclables for UW Housing move-outs, promoted the use of reusable beverage containers among the campus community, and sent donated bicycles around the world. I also assisted in fostering the relationships and planning necessary to create the GreenHouse Learning Community that now stands along Lakeshore Path. My first two years of college I lived in a residential learning commu-nity and loved the experience, but thought there should be a similar community around environmental issues. The University of Wisconsin is such a historical leader in environmental stewardship, why didn’t

28 In Common

Insights

Keep calm and row on

we yet have an avenue for incoming stu-dents to live out those ethics? I started by researching any similar programs at peer institutions and then helped to recruit interested faculty, staff and students for a planning and development committee. It was an amazing experience contribut-ing to such a project, and when students moved in during the fall of 2010 I was so proud to serve as a GreenHouse intern and be part of what I hope is a rewarding live-in experience at UW-Madison. From all of this, I’ve learned that through whatever roles or experiences you make of your life, you provide a unique perspective on how to change the world. Most would never think that a hodge-podge group of athletes, fraternities, sororities and activist-students would come together and implement so much change, but we did. Our programs are here to stay, and I hope that other students see that they can make lasting change to something as grand as the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Sometimes the opportunities you’re looking for aren’t there, but never fear creating them. They may not yet exist because no one had your unique perspective and your ability to see a solution. Never fear going forward with an idea and finding others who believe in your ideas. On Wisconsin!

After graduating in 2011, Grace Latz relocated to Philadelphia, Pa., where she continues to train at an elite level for the Vesper Boat Club. She previously chaired REthink Wisconsin, a UW-Madison student organization focused on campus sustainability projects.

What do you say?

In Common welcomes engaging first-person essays from Nelson Institute alumni on topics related to your lives, professions or perspectives. The tone can range from serious to humorous, from sad to uplifting. Any alumnus or alumna may send us an idea for an essay or a draft of 800 words or less to be considered for publication. Submit ideas or drafts to [email protected].

Remembering Charlotte Zieve and her support of service learning The legacy of Charlotte Zieve can be seen in the beam-ing, binocular-cloaked faces of middle schoolers and their men-tors, in the student volunteers going door to door to survey residents about sustainability, and in the grateful, enthusiastic comments from community leaders. Zieve (Ph.D. Land Resources ’86), who passed away in July, was a generous supporter of Nelson Institute stu-dent programming. She helped fund a new series of undergraduate capstone courses that address envi-ronmental challenges in coordination with community organizations. A matching grant from the Morgridge Center for Public Service doubled the impact of Zieve’s gift, with the combined resources used to support graduate student teaching assistants. “Charlotte’s contributions represent a triple-win scenario,” says Rob Beattie, academic coordinator for the Community Environmental Scholars Program. “They provide real-world research and outreach training to undergraduates, support grad students who help teach the courses, and enable us to seek matching funds that double the impact of her gift. Without her support, these innovative capstones would not be possible.” Now in their sixth semester, the classes have pro-vided real-world experiences to hundreds of students, who in turn give back to local communities. “It has been a privilege to be part of a community-university partnership and embrace the Wisconsin Idea,” says Dadit Hidayat, a Nelson Institute doctoral candidate and capstone teaching assistant. Trish O’Kane, also a Ph.D. candidate and recipient of a Zieve teaching assistantship, helps lead a class in which UW-Madison students are paired with Sherman Middle School counterparts, serving as mentors during weekly visits to the school and nearby Warner Park (see “Natural mentors,” Fall 2011). “We serve some of Madison’s most vulnerable chil-dren,” says O’Kane. The Sherman students come from one of Madison’s poorest neighborhoods, plagued by youth gang violence and a lack of safe areas for outdoor exploration. “Warner Park is the closest large, open wild space where these children can learn and play,” she says. “As mentors to these children, our students learn about intersections of racism, poverty and place. They become part of a community solution.”

yields – something currently lacking in the equation. “As we push for a reduction in deforestation, we also need to be jumping ahead,” she says. “It will be critical that we watch that pathway closely to avoid unintended consequences. If these tools are effective, we transform how the industries operate and how agriculture is occurring.”

Give and take In the end, Gibbs says, perhaps the closest thing to a perfect solution for tropical deforestation is some combination of carrots and sticks, where the financial incentive of a carbon initiative like REDD provides the added motivation to comply with a demand-side request. That kind of synergy seems to hold promise. REDD is meant to address the full landscape of deforestation, whereas demand-side efforts target a single industry. Each could potentially reduce the monitoring costs of the other. And because a carbon market is unlikely to compete with more profitable commodities like soy and oil palm, Gibbs says, demand-side efforts could target those latter markets, “while REDD could come in and capture a much broader swath, fundamentally changing how the whole country plans and manages its agricultural and forest landscapes.”

In the meantime, REDD remains in perpetual negotiation and many ques-tions remain. Naughton believes the Nelson Institute is especially well suited to find answers, with researchers working at all scales, from understanding indigenous peoples’ rights to examining land use change and global carbon dynamics. “This kind of issue, where we’re trying to make a more effective and more just system of rewarding folks for saving forest, takes the expertise both of someone with local proficiency and someone who can connect the big picture,” she says.

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Locate other alumni and help us reach youThe Wisconsin Alumni Association offers an online service to help you locate other UW-Madison gradu-ates. Visit uwalumni.com and log in to the Alumni Directory. Please use the “Update Profile” page to keep your own listing and mailing address current. This helps ensure that you continue to receive In Common.

Networking onlineNelson Institute alumni can find opportunities for networking and keep up with the institute news and events on Facebook and Twitter. We also encourage our students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends of the institute to con-nect in our LinkedIn group. Visit nelson.wisc.edu/alumni for more information.

facebook.com/NelsonInstitute

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Elizabeth Bagley (M.S. CBSD ‘08) recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Illinois and works as a learning designer for LeapFrog Enterprises, a lead-ing designer, developer and marketer of technology-based educational products and related content.

Katie Beilfuss (M.S. LR ‘01), pic-tured below, accepted the 2012 Ramsar Wetland Conservation Award for Education on behalf of the Wisconsin Wetlands Association (WWA) at a July ceremony in Bucharest, Romania. Beilfuss serves as outreach programs director for the organization. WWA is the first U.S.-based entity to receive this presti-gious award from the interna-tional Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. The award recognizes the contributions of individuals, organizations and governments around the world for the conser-vation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.

Four of WWA’s six staff mem-bers are alumni of the Nelson Institute – Beilfuss, Kyle Magyera (M.S. WRM ‘10), Erin O’Brien (M.S. LR ‘03) and Alexia Sabor (M.S. CBSD ‘98).

Anne Braden (M.S. WRM ‘12) is an environmental compliance officer with the U.S. Marine Corps in Washington, D.C.

Alumni Notes

Letters

What’s new in your career and life?

Ross Freeman (M.S. CBSD ‘00) serves as environment and sustainability manager at Stevens Pass Ski Resort in Washington’s Cascade Mountains. The resort was recently recognized with a Green Washington Award from Seattle Business magazine and included in the publication’s Washington Green 50 for 2012 list. Fresh off the slopes, Freeman sends this note:

Since 2008 I’ve worked as the first-ever environment and sus-tainability manager at Stevens Pass. My task: to green-up the entire operation, save on energy, look for efficiencies, reduce our carbon footprint and let the public know how to get involved. It’s going very well: I’ve generated a lot of media inter-est, won several pre-mier industry grants and awards, and orchestrated a sig-nificant operational makeover, all while saving the company money and benefit-ing the environment. A highlight last season was install-ing the nation’s first electric vehicle char-gers at a mountain pass (pictured at right); they get users every month of the year. A notable perk: holding office meet-ings on the chairlift! I spend my sum-mer furlough doing sustainability consulting, guiding multi-day raft trips on Oregon’s Rogue River and adventuring deep into the Pacific Northwest wilderness.

Write us at [email protected] or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn and share an update there.

Matt Dannenberg (ESC ‘10), central Wisconsin orga-nizer for the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters, has been honored with the Liesl Blockstein Community Leadership Award from Community Shares of Wisconsin. Dannenberg edu-cates, mobilizes and motivates citizens about conservation and activism, and leads the League of Conservation Voters’ Madison-based volunteer and intern program.

Madeline Emde (M.S. WRM ‘12) and Chris Long (M.S. WRM ‘12) were part of a UW-Madison student team awarded first place in the interactive category at the 2012 North American Cartographic Information Society Student Dynamic Map Competition. The award-winning map, The Wetlands Gem Viewer, was developed in partnership with the Wisconsin Wetlands Association to provide an online spatial catalog of information about critical wetlands in the Milwaukee metropolitan area. Explore the map at go.wisc.edu/8g1f9v

Kishor also continues work on his dissertation in Environment and Resources, attempting to develop a methodology for measuring openness of data. A scientific, repeatable way to gauge openness would help set measurable standards and determine compliance.

Thomas Mace (M.S. EM ‘76, Ph.D. EM ‘80) has retired from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), where he served as senior sci-ence advisor with the Science Mission Directorate at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center in Palmdale, Calif. The Science Mission Directorate is dedi-cated to advancing new flight technologies and expanding the ability of existing systems to support suborbital scientific data collection. Mace now lives in Menasha, Wis.

Jennifer Phillips (M.S. ER ‘12) was selected as a 2013 John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellow. The one-year paid fellowship, established by the National Sea Grant College Program, provides a unique educational experience for students with an interest in

ocean, coastal and Great Lakes resources and the national policy decisions affecting those resources. The program matches highly qualified graduate students with hosts in the legislative and executive branch of government in the Washington, D.C., area.

Jerry Skalak (M.S. WRM ‘95) has served with the Rock Island District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers since 1988. He is responsible for the planning and acquisition of long-term dredged material placement sites along the Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway; manage-ment of water resources studies under the Corps’ Planning Assistance to States and Tribes and Flood Plain Management Services authorities; manag-ing district support to FEMA Region V and the Illinois Digital Flood Insurance Rate Maps program; and primary Corps representative to the Iowa Silver Jackets Interagency Flood Risk Management Team. Skalak is a certified floodplain manager and charter member of the recently established Iowa Floodplain and Stormwater

Management Association. On a personal note, Skalak says, “I was saddened to hear about the passing of Jim Knox. He was certainly both a great individual and a tremendous UW asset.” (Knox, Evjue-Bascom professor emeritus of geography, died in October. See p.3.)

Michael Skiba (ESC ‘08) works as project manager with Omni Ecosystems, a consulting com-pany that manufactures green roof and green wall systems. Among his duties, Skiba over-sees many of Omni’s installation and maintenance projects and prepares planting plans. The team recently completed an 850-square-foot rooftop farm for the Homestead restaurant in Chicago (pictured).

“As these new roofs become more and more common, we feel there’s tremendous opportu-

nity for learning and education initiatives surrounding urban agriculture,” says Skiba. “I would love the chance to con-nect further with alumni and current UW staff and students.”

Josh Brown (M.S. WRM ‘08) and Ruth Person (M.S. WRM ‘09) have joined the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources as a water regula-tions and zoning specialist and water resources management specialist, respectively. They join fellow alumni Ron Dolen (M.S.

WRM ‘09), Amanda (Boyce) Minks (M.S. WRM ‘10), Katie Songer (M.S. ‘09 LR) and Scott Van Egeren (ESC ‘00, M.S. LR ‘09), all water resources man-agement specialists, and Molli MacDonald (M.S. WRM ‘07), IS Data Services.

We welcome letters and enjoy hearing from you. Please submit letters to [email protected]. Letters may be edited for length or clarity, and may also be published online.

Hello! I graduated in summer 2010 from the Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development program and I just learned about this great alumni magazine, In Common. It is so motivating to hear what my Nelson Institute cohort is up to, so I thought I’d send another note from the field. Or rather, fields. I am co-manager of The Farm at Our House in Brookeville, Md. The Farm is a private business that licenses land at Our House, a residential job training program for at-risk youth from Washington, D.C., and Maryland. We hire Our House’s young men to work on the farm, where they get first-time job experience, as well as some on-the-job environmental learning. Here’s a picture of me next to our horse tiller, which has had some, ahem, mechanical problems lately.

Steph Jones, M.S. CBSD ‘10

Puneet Kishor (M.S. LR ‘90) joined Creative Commons in August as policy coordinator for science and data. The organiza-tion enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge worldwide through free legal tools, education and outreach. Kishor’s focus is science data policy and expanding the use of Creative Commons licenses to improve legal interoperability of scientific tools and data (creativecommons.org/science).

ES denotes environmental studies undergraduate major; ESC, environmental studies undergraduate certificate. Graduate programs: CBSD, Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development; EAP, Energy Analysis and Policy certificate; EM, Environmental Monitoring (through 2005); ER, Environment and Resources (after 2007); LR, Land Resources (through 2007); and WRM, Water Resources Management.

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Documents

Illuminating Change · I recently returned from a trip to southern India, where I conduct a long-running research project on human interac-tions with nature in agricultural settings