Human Dignity: Goal Development for Environmental Problem Solving

Time: Tuesday, January 18th, 6pm Location: TBA Speakers:  Susan G. Clark, Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Professor (adjunct) of Wildlife Ecology and Policy Sciences in Forestry & Environmental Studies and fellow in the Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale David J. Mattson, research wildlife biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey at the Colorado Plateau Research Station in Flagstaff, Arizona. This talk is part of the Spring 2011 Tuesday Evening Discussion Series hosted by the Yale Human Rights and Environment Dialogues and Environmental Justice at Yale.  About:           The goals of environmental policy and management are to promote greater human dignity and long-term sustainability of the Earth’s resources. However, in practice efforts to address negative biophysical trends often put these goals in conflict with each other. The environmental sciences/studies movement, with more than 1000 programs at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, is unified by a common interest––ameliorating environmental problems through empirical enquiry and analytic judgment. Unfortunately, environmental programs have struggled in their efforts to integrate knowledge across disciplines and educate students to become sound problem solvers and leaders.             Join the Yale Human Rights and Environment Dialogues for a discussion with Professor Susan Clark, and David Mattson on their innovative work in advancing understandings of how to better integrate human dignity as a goal into policy making and environmental education programs. This discussion will look at interdisciplinary analytical frameworks that can be used to resolve environmental and social problems in context. Please email us for further information on our reading group: jaimini.parekh@yale.edu, or sebastien.jodoin@yale.edu
	Susan G. Clark  is Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Professor (adjunct) of Wildlife Ecology and Policy Sciences in Forestry & Environmental Studies and fellow in the Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale. Her interests include interdisciplinary problem solving, decision making, governance, policy process, leadership, conservation biology, organization theory and management, natural resources policy, human dignity and rights, and the policy sciences. She has experience in the NGO community, academia, and field, nationally, and internationally. She wrote Ensuring Greater Yellowstone’s Future: Choices for Leaders and Citizens in 2008, Yale Press. Current work is on large carnivore conservation (e.g., polar bear/native peoples coexistence in Canada) and other projects.
	David J. Mattson  is a research wildlife biologists with the U.S. Geological Survey at the Colorado Plateau Research Station in Flagstaff, Arizona. He has studies large carnivores for over two decades and is currently pursing puma ecology and human-puma interactions in the American southwest and grizzly bears in the Yellowstone ecosystem. He is a Visiting Scholar with Yale FES and has visited Yale on a regular basis for over 15 years. He has co-taught four courses at FES including leadership, foundations of natural resource management and policy, and others. He is interested in many issues beyond his work on large carnivores, including human dignity and many other subjects.