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A multidisciplinary approach to considering the Earth’s changing systems
view of earth from space

(Homepage image) Touching on a broad range of topics from climate’s impact on national security to resilient building design to emissions related to food production, the course aimed to boost students’ understanding of earth systems and climate literacy. (Image: NASA)

A multidisciplinary approach to considering the Earth’s changing systems

Bringing expertise from each of their disciplines, the School of Arts & Sciences’ Kathleen Morrison and Joseph Francisco and the Environmental Innovations Initiative’s Melissa Brown Goodall infused chemistry, anthropology, policy, and more into an introductory course on climate and the environment.

Katherine Unger Baillie

A farm-to-table meal at Penn, in photos
The arms of two people over an industrial-sized kitchen warmer, which holds a pot of green puree, two pans of pasta, a cast iron skillet of mushrooms, another cast iron skillet of fish with a spatula on top, and a bowl of multi-colored carrots. A stack of bowls sits off to the left of the image.

On a given night Quaker Kitchen serves as many as 200 meals like the Earth Week meal, which included pea puree, pasta carbonara, mushrooms, carrots, and sustainably sourced salmon. “The big message is, if you’re interested in climate change, the choice you make at your dinner table has a big impact,” says Barbara Lea-Kruger, director of communications and external relations for Penn’s Division of Business Services.

A farm-to-table meal at Penn, in photos

Honoring Earth Week, Penn Dining and the Penn Food and Wellness Collaborative teamed up to create a vegetable-forward menu for Quaker Kitchen, sourcing produce from local purveyors to highlight what’s currently growing on the quarter-acre Penn Park Farm.

Michele W. Berger

The Clean Water Act at 50
ben franklin bridge at twilight with philly skyline

Homepage image: Though a “revolutionary” piece of legislation, the Clean Water Act still has its shortcomings, Penn faculty, staff, and students note. More work is needed to make rivers like the Delaware fishable and swimmable.

The Clean Water Act at 50

Approaching the half-century mark of this landmark piece of environmental legislation, Penn students, staff, and faculty share their reflections on its legacy, both strengths and shortcomings.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Turning Latin America green
Windmills on the coast of Chile.

Turning Latin America green

Santiago Cunial, a doctoral candidate in political science, investigates issues surrounding green energy in Chile and Argentina.

Earth Week offers immersive opportunities to connect with nature
Two people with farming tools work in a field in an urban environment

Multiple opportunities during Earth Week will give members of the Penn community a chance to get their hands dirty in nature, including an orchard work day and a volunteer day at Penn Park Farm. (Image: Kylie Cooper)

Earth Week offers immersive opportunities to connect with nature

Organized by Penn Sustainability, Earth Week, with nearly 50 events running April 17-24, offers a diverse slate of both in-person and online chances to learn about and engage with the environment.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Climate scientist Michael Mann to join Penn faculty
Michael E. Mann.

Michael E. Mann is Penn’s inaugural Presidential Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science. (Image: Joshua Yospin)

nocred

Climate scientist Michael Mann to join Penn faculty

Mann is the first new faculty member to be recruited as part of the recently announced Energy and Sustainability Initiative as a Presidential Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Inspiring people, place, and purpose
penn president amy gutmann

Inspiring people, place, and purpose

Penn President Amy Gutmann’s record tenure of nearly 18 years is the University’s most transformative.

Penn Today Staff

  • Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences

    • Understanding climate stories

    In the latest episode of Penn Today’s ‘Understand This …’ podcast series, Bethany Wiggin of the School of Arts & Sciences and Jennifer Pinto-Martin of the School of Nursing discuss climate stories, climate grief, and climate literacy.
    Close-up of hands firming a new planting into the soil
    Hands working the soil of the orchard at the Penn Park Farm, part of the Penn Food and Wellness Collaborative. 

    Welcome to the latest episode of the “Understand This ...” series, a Penn Today podcast. This podcast series is designed as a journey to understand how to solve problems of the day—and of our time—by uniting minds from different disciplines.

    Joining for the conversation in this episode is Jennifer Pinto-Martin, the Viola MacInnes/Independence Professor of Nursing in the School of Nursing, professor of epidemiology in the Perelman School of Medicine, and executive director of the Center for Public Health Initiatives. In conversation with Pinto-Martin is Bethany Wiggin, an associate professor of German in the School of Arts & Sciences, as well as founding director of the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities and the My Climate Story project. Together, they discuss the importance of sharing stories about climate change's impacts on people and places, the push for climate literacy, and how climate anxiety and grief affects children.

    Follow “Understand This …” on Apple Music or your preferred streaming platform to keep up with new episodes.

    Jump-off points:

    4:00: Wiggin explains “environmental humanities” and the interdisciplinary model of teaching and learning around the environment.

    10:00: Pinto-Martin and Wiggin begin talking about the Penn Park Farm and its function as a space for “collaborative, place-based projects,” and knowledge of resilient farming techniques. 

    11:25: Wiggin talks about the My Climate Story project, which will have “Climate Classrooms” in Philadelphia School District schools that focus on climate literacy and placing climate change's impact on people and places. “A compelling story has great power,” adds Pinto-Martin.

    19:00: “Quote Break”

    19:50: Pinto-Martin distinguishes between “climate anxiety” and “climate grief.”

    23:00: Discussion about the relationship between climate change and public health. 

    26:00: Pinto-Martin discusses lessons from the pandemic and how to relate them to climate change. “More and more we learn to be more adaptive,” she says.

    Credits

  • Writers

    Brandon K. Baker

    • More from

  • School of Arts & Sciences
  • School of Nursing
  • Perelman School of Medicine
  • Climate Change
  • Sustainability
  • Understand This...
    • A call for tools to navigate the future of the Delaware River watershed
    Three images of highway submerged with water, robot, and underwater scene that says Ecotopian Toolkit for Delaware Watershed Justice

    A call for tools to navigate the future of the Delaware River watershed

    The Penn Program in Environmental Humanities is partnering with Philadelphia’s Independence Seaport Museum to solicit designs for tools to help Delaware River watershed residents adapt and respond to climate change and other ecological challenges.

    Katherine Unger Baillie

    How consumers and retailers can reduce returns
    A large pile of discarded shirts.

    How consumers and retailers can reduce returns

    Wharton’s Gad Allon looks at how both retailers and consumers alike can improve the reverse supply chain and increase awareness of the toll that a massive rate of returns takes.

    From Knowledge at Wharton