We know now that methane is a much greater climate threat than ever imagined, but what are the main sources of emissions, and what can be done to mitigate them in the future? The Faculty of Social Science and Humanities and Office of Campus Infrastructure and Sustainability at Ontario Tech University in collaboration with Common Earth bring you this inter-disciplinary panel that will discuss different perspectives of the methane issue(s), from policy to technology.

Panelists:

Dr. Tonya DelSontro is currently an Assistant Professor in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. Her research focuses on carbon cycling and greenhouse gas dynamics in freshwaters, whether they be natural, man-made, or simply managed. Current projects focus on greenhouse gases from Canadian reservoirs and restored wetlands on agricultural lands of Southwestern Ontario. Broadly, her interest is in understanding the impact inland waters have on the carbon cycle and being able to more accurately upscale emissions for the sake of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emission reporting nationally. Dr. DelSontro received her MSc from University of California, Santa Barbara (USA) and her Ph.D. from ETH Zurich (Switzerland). She also held postdoctoral, research and teaching fellowships at Université du Québec à Montréal (Canada), Eawag (Switzerland), and Université de Genève (Switzerland).

Dr. Daniel Hoornweg is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at Ontario Tech University. Dr. Hoornweg's primary research focus is urban systems, the energy they use and waste they produce, as well as community sustainability and progress toward local and global objectives. Dr. Hoornweg's prior work experience includes almost 20 years as World Bank Lead Advisor on cities and climate change and several years as Chief Safety and Risk Officer for the Ontario Technical Safety Standards Association (TSSA).

Dr. Timothy MacNeill is Senior Teaching Professor in the Political Science and Sustainability programs at Ontario Tech. His research has focused on social, economic, and environmental outcomes and impacts of development projects in Canada and Latin America. His work has also examined Indigenous and other alternatives to mainstream concepts of development. This has led to a diverse set of studies addressing things like decolonial economics, green basic income, Indigenous sustainable development, and an examination of certain human practices that are just not environmentally viable - particularly cruise tourism. Tim is also an internationally award-winning musician, and producer of the podcast Calling Bullshit. His publications, music, and vlog are accessible at timmacneill.com.

Dr. Gavin Schmidt is the Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York and was the acting Senior Climate Adviser to the NASA Administrator in 2021. He currently works on the simulation of climate in the past, present, and possible futures and over 160 peer-reviewed publications. He was the author with Joshua Wolfe of “Climate Change: Picturing the Science” in 2009, and in 2011 was the inaugural recipient of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Climate Communication Prize. He is a fellow of the AGU and American Association for the Advancement of Science and 2014 TED main stage speaker on climate modeling.

Moderator:

Dr. Peter Stoett is a Professor of Political Science and the Dean of the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at Ontario Tech University. His main areas of research expertise include international relations and law, global environmental politics, and human rights. Dr. Stoett co-chaired the Parties of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services' (IPBES) assessment on Invasive Alien Species and Their Control which involved over 150 experts from over 60 countries and was published in 2023.

Contact the host of Critical Climate Week: Methane Awareness - Expert Panel