The impacts of climate change are felt particularly by indigenous communities that rely on the surrounding water and land for their livelihoods. At Oregon State University – Cascades upcoming Science Pub on Tuesday, Feb. 16, anthropologist Elizabeth Marino will present “The First Victims of Climate Change,” an exploration of how one coastal community in Alaska is facing the challenges of relocation due to the impact of climate change.
With the small coastal village of Shishmaref as a backdrop, Marino will provide an overview of the impacts of climate change, the obstacles to adaptation, and the ethics we all must grapple with as people and places are changed in response to a warming world.
The lead of OSU-Cascades' social science degree program, Marino is interested in how people make sense and meaning out of changing environmental and social conditions. She investigates the relationships among issues of climate change, vulnerability, slow and rapid onset disasters, human migration and sense of place. Her research focuses on how historically and socially constructed vulnerabilities interact with climate change – including climate change policy, biophysical outcomes of climate change and climate change discourses.
Marino has worked with the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security on migration and humanitarian crises, and has consulted with the U.S. State Department on environmental migration and Federal Emergency Management Agency’s response in climate change scenarios. She has also edited a special volume of Global Environmental Change on the equity and inequity in climate change intervention policy.
Her thoughts on climate change and disaster were featured in The Atlantic and on Al Jazeera North America. Her book, “Fierce Climate, Sacred Ground: An Ethnography of Climate Change” (University of Alaska Press) was published in 2015.
Marino earned a Ph.D. in cultural and environmental anthropology and a master’s degree in linguistic anthropology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Her bachelor’s degree is from the University of Notre Dame.
Science Pubs take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Networking and food and beverage service begin at 5:30 p.m., and the presentation begins at 6:30 p.m. Science Pubs are free to community members, but reservations are required. Space is limited to 100 guests. Register by 5:00 p.m. the day prior to each Science Pub at http://www.osucascades.edu/sciencepubs.
About OSU-Cascades: Oregon State University’s campus in Bend, Ore., features outstanding faculty in degree programs that reflect Central Oregon’s vibrant economy and abundant natural resources. Nearly 20 undergraduate majors and four graduate programs include energy systems engineering, kinesiology, hospitality management, and tourism and outdoor leadership. The branch campus expanded to a four-year university in fall 2015.