Disciplines in Dialogue: Climate

Experts from the fields of history, environment, and public policy will share their unique perspectives and knowledge on our climate – past, present, and future.

Featured Speakers

  • Mike Morrice, MP

    GREEN PARTY, KITCHENER CENTRE

    Mike Morrice is the Member of Parliament for Kitchener Centre, elected in 2021. Whether working with different levels of government or not for profit organizations, Mike has spent his career bringing people together with a proven record of introducing ambitious ideas along with finding the funds to pay for them.

    He is the founder of Sustainable Waterloo Region, co-creator of ClimateActionWR, and piloted Canada’s first Green Economy Hub. This later led to Green Economy Canada and eight Green Economy Hubs across the country, which have enabled hundreds of organizations to both lower their carbon footprint and increase their profitability.

  • Dr. Maria Strack

    UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO, ENVIRONMENT

    Maria Strack, Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at University of Waterloo and Tier II Canada Research Chair in Ecosystems and Climate, has built an innovative and internationally recognized research program investigating wetland greenhouse gas exchange with a focus on managed ecosystems. Results from her research have been incorporated in Canada’s GHG National Inventory Report and she was a lead author on the chapter “Rewetted Organic Soils” in 2013 Supplement to 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories: Wetlands. Dr. Strack is also currently a member of Canada’s Nature Based Climate Solutions Advisory Committee.

  • Dr. Sam White

    OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, HISTORY

    Sam White earned his M.A. in Middle East Studies and Modern History from the University of St. Andrews (Scotland) in 2002 and his Ph.D. in history from Columbia University in 2008. He was asst. prof. of environmental history at Oberlin College for five years before joining the history department at OSU in 2013.

    Prof. White has taught in many areas of environmental history, including both global and American surveys, as well as "big history" and courses on food, animals, and climate. His research focuses on how we can use both natural and human records to reconstruct past climate variability and extreme weather and how societies coped with them.