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iSPEAC Seminar: The RACE to Protect and Restore Freshwater Biodiversity

December 5, 2024 @ 9:00 am - 10:00 am

Free
iSPEAC Dec Shannon Sterling

As of December 2024, our planet is on track for 2.6 to 3.1°C of warming—dangerous levels unprecedented in human history. To increase our chances of limiting warming, to 1.5°C or 2.0 oC, under the Paris Agreement, we must reduce greenhouse gas emissions immediately and we must also urgently scale carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies, to the billions of tonnes per year by 2050. Currently we lack scalable, safe, affordable and permanent CDR technologies to achieve this goal. One of the more promising pathways is the “open” geochemical pathway, which adds alkalinity to soils, freshwaters and oceans, with the ultimate goal to increase conversion of CO2 to bicarbonate, with long term storage in the ocean. Here, Dr. Shannon Sterling will present how long-term acid rain technology of river liming could be adapted to CDR, and discuss potential benefits and risks in acidified rivers. Dr. Sterling will also discuss risks and potential benefits of deploying in larger more circumneutral rivers what safety guardrails must be in place for responsible scaling. Dr. Shannon Sterling and Dr. Steven Cooke will be hosted by Dr. Irena Creed for this iSPEAC Seminar.

Learn more about the 11am session with Dr. Steven Cooke here.

This is a hybrid event and will occur both in-person and online.

  • In person: Room 140, Environmental Science and Chemistry Building,
    University of Toronto Scarborough, 1065 Military Trail, Scarborough, ON, Canada, M1C 1A4
    Note: Seating is limited to 35 guests.
    Refreshments will be served starting 10:45am.     
  • Zoom: https://utoronto.zoom.us/j/88396465774
    Meeting ID: 883 9646 5774

About the Speaker

Dr. Shannon Sterling grew up exploring the banks of the Capilano River in British Columbia, where she developed a lifelong passion for rivers and the salmon that inhabit them. She trained under leading scientists in hydrology and climate change in Canada, the United States, and France. In 2010, Dr. Sterling joined the faculty at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, where she founded the Hydrology and Climate Change Research Group. Her team has since been actively documenting the extent of chronic acidification in Nova Scotia’s forests and rivers, highlighting the urgent threats this poses to ecosystems and wildlife. Dr. Sterling’s research has led to the development of novel approaches for monitoring, assessing, and evaluating water quality and quantity. Most recently, she has been advancing economically viable technologies to address the toxic legacy of terrestrial and freshwater acidification while enhancing carbon drawdown. She also founded CarbonRun to make these technologies more accessible and widely available, contributing to the fight against climate change and the protection of threatened ecosystems and wildlife.

About iSPEAC

iSPEAC (invited Speakers in Physics, Environmental science, And Chemistry) is the Department of Physical and Environmental Science’s invited speaker series, which covers topics and is delivered by external experts and academics in physics, environmental science, and chemistry. Speakers from near and far are invited to share their cutting-edge research with an interdisciplinary audience of students, faculty and staff. The series is co-sponsored by the Department of Physical and Environmental Science, and the Office of the Vice-Principal Research at UTSC.

Details

Date:
December 5, 2024
Time:
9:00 am - 10:00 am
Cost:
Free

Venue

Hybrid
Room 140, Environmental Science and Chemistry Building, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1065 Military Trail, Scarborough, ON, Canada, M1C 1A4 https://utoronto.zoom.us/j/88396465774

Organizer

iSPEAC
View Organizer Website