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Resilience In A Changing World: Jennifer Smith
November 15, 2023 @ 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
*This talk is hybrid (in-person & remote). Capacity is limited. Please register ahead of time.
About Seaweeds and the Future of Sustainability
Global human populations continue to rise in the face of climate change. As such there is an increasing need to find sustainable solutions to ensure food security, human health and well-being while also identifying solutions to reduce and remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Seaweeds represent an incredibly diverse group of photosynthetic organisms that live in the ocean and offer immense opportunities for commercialization and innovation across many sectors of society. From a superfood to animal feed, from fertilizer to biochar, from drug discovery to cosmetics, from biofuel to bioplastics and even as a methane mitigating supplement in the livestock industry, seaweeds offer much hope and excitement for helping humanity reach a sustainable future. In this talk I will share an overview of many of the exciting opportunities for research collaboration, discovery and business innovation related to seaweeds and the future of sustainability.
About the Speaker
Jennifer Smith is a Professor in marine ecology and conservation in the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego. Dr. Smith’s lab studies human impacts on marine ecosystems from coral reefs to kelp forests. Her research often goes beyond basic ecology by integrating conservation, restoration, management, and sustainability. While much of the Smith lab is focused on addressing pressing issues in marine ecology, lab members are increasingly interested in seafood sustainability, coastal aquaculture and habitat restoration. Dr. Smith and her team are largely focused on the study of seaweeds because of their immense potential to improve global sustainability and contribute to a carbon neutral future.
About Resilience In A Changing World
The near future is clarifying itself. Over the coming decades, life will change as we know it on planet Earth. From climate instability to culture change, plagues of misinformation to global pandemics, human society faces more threats than at any other time in our history. At the same time, humanity is newly equipped to adapt, with emerging tools like artificial intelligence, synthetic biology and social innovation that have the power to reverse the narrative of impending global disruption. The time is now for us to integrate these powerful new methods – to intentionally design a more Just and Resilient future together.
The Resilience In A Changing World series will invite speakers to speculate on how we get from here to there, from our current inflection point to habitable futures where both our people and planet thrive amidst increasing uncertainty and change.