“Coral Conservation: From Polarization to Coralation”

Dr. Irus Braverman, Professor of Law and Adjunct Professor of Geography, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, will talk about her book Coral Whisperers: Scientists on the Brink (University of California Press, 2018): Coral scientists are often caught between two extreme emotional states: despair and hope. Such emotional extremes signify the ongoing rift between traditional conservation scientists, who still assume that it is possible to use fortress conservation methods to restore natural systems to their prior state, and newer approaches to conservation that hold that, even with the deleterious impacts removed, natural ecosystems will likely not recover to their prior state. In this talk, I will offer that we humans might learn from the lifeworld of corals and their “coralations” to chart a way of forward that moves beyond the polarized emotional and professional approaches to conservation toward a more fluid future.

Monday, January 30, 2023
11 am to 12 pm
Zoom viewing room: Bamboo Room, Campus Center 2650
Zoom link available from cmkgsh@rit.edu