2015 NEW JERSEY SCHOLARS PROGRAM TOPICS — CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE
HISTORY/ POLITICS/ ETHICS
David Figueroa-Ortiz
J.D. Columbia University, School of Law
Will McDonald The Underlying Ethics of the Keystone XL Pipeline
Robert Bailey The Reflection of Relative Uncertainty: Coping with Climate Change in Modern Politics
LITERATURE/ FILM
Huma Ibrahim
Ph.D. Indiana University
I think of teaching as a step in the formation of a thinking adult who can negotiate ambiguity and contradictions, and because of that, I not only take it very very seriously but that is also the reason why I insist on taking the specific cultures that I inhabit as foreground for a process of examination and contemplation. I think there is no better way to do this except through and engagement with literature.
In the literature segment of climate change I tried to introduce the students to a creative and artistic way of examining global warming. We read (insert books and movies) and examined various scenarios of climate change. These authors wanted to warn their readers, make fictional projections about the future and examine possibilities for the world they inhabit as it is being affected by climate change.
Dominique Dazilme All That Glitters Isn’t Gold: Climate Change Fiction and Its Influence on Today’s Young Minds
Ida Behreini Is Sustainability Possible Through Capitalism?
Felix Blanco Industrial Hemp and Climate Change.
Jack Malague Who Runs this Place?
Nikita Patolla Humanities in Climate Change: A Waste of Time, or a Valuable Asset?
Anthony Phillips Climate Change: Psychology and Health.
Tejveer Singh Climate Change and its Economic Impact on India.
Catherine Tsang Desertification in the Sahel: What is it? Where is it now? Where is it going?
Angela Wu Art Imitates Life: A Study of Women in Climate Fiction And Climate Reality.
SCIENCE/ ENGINEERING
Daniel M. Westervelt
Ph.D. Carnegie Mellon University
Daniel Goldman The Effect of Ocean Acidification on the Bahamas.
Ian Harvey American Consumerism Just Won’t Quit: The Continuation Of American Material Overconsumption in the Face of Ecological Concern.
Alexa Mangual Potential Economic Consequences of Kyoto Protocol Ratification by the U.S. in 1997.
Du’aa Moharram The Solution to Climate Change: Tomatoes and a Breath of Fresh Air.
Chidinma Nwachukwu The Harmful Effects of Global Warming on West African Health.
Diana Paneque Correlation Between Rise in Temperatures From Global Warming and Occurrence of Cholera in Bangladesh.
Rachel Pester Follow the Carbon: Climategate’s Effect on Public Opinion and Policy.
Bilal Shaikh Head in the Sand: The Impact of Cognitive Biases in Preserving Outdated Worldviews.
Keshav Sota Analyzing the Effects of Black Carbon on Climate Change.
Evan White Social and Economic Impacts of Flooding in Bangladesh.
SOCIOLOGY/ ANTHROPOLOGY
William Westerman ’78
Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania
The NJSP 2015 Program’s focus was on Climate Change and the Human Experience, with lectures and seminars emphasizing four main areas: Science/Engineering, Literature/Film, History/Politics/Ethics, and Anthropology/Sociology. The Anthropology and Sociology seminar investigated the impact of climate change on human culture. From native peoples in the Arctic to remote islands of the South Pacific, we looked at the threats to culture and survival posed by warming temperatures, melting ice, and rising seas. Then we considered the catastrophic impacts of drought, floods, heat, and famine in highly populated areas like Bangladesh, China, and the American West, with a focus on refugees, women, and public health. Finally, we examined sustainability and our survival as a species, looking at whether we can consciously change our patterns of consumption and agriculture and, in doing so, how we can discover a meaningful life.
Mary Akdemir The Syrian Civil War as a Climatic Conflict: How Drought Played a Role in Instigating the Syrian Civil War.
Johann Arceo Citizens and Climate: An Investigation of Climate Change’s Role in Intranational Relations in the Philippines.
Aaron Bennett Relating to the Status of Environmental Refugees.
Edwin Cruz-Garcia Zapotecs and Climate Change.
Mateo Gilsilvetti Climate Change’s Effect on Cultural Stability and Food Security of Small-Scale Fishing Communities in Latin America.
Grace Lee Millennium Park: Chicago’s Green Space Mitigation to the Urban Heat Island Effect.
Ayush Parikh The Socioeconomic Impacts of Flooding in Bangladesh: A Catastrophe Washing Away a Nation.
Paul Park North Korea’s Agricultural Insecurity Due to Its Lack of Trade Related Security and Climate/Environmental Security.
Kelsey Shelofsky The Call for a Change in ‘Refugee’ Policy: How a Local Change Can Make a Global Impact.
Rita Wang Polyester Universe: Apocalyptic Hymnals from the Bible of Consumer Capitalism.