Browsing by Author "Kapuscinski, Anne"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    A Blueprint for Creating The Institute on the Environment for the University of Minnesota
    (University of MInnesota: Provost's Advisory Committee for the Institute on the Environment, 2006-09-25) Swackhamer, Deborah; Polasky, Stephen; Foufoula-Georgiou, Efi; Johnson, Lucinda; Kapuscinski, Anne; Karkkainen, Bradley; McMurry, Peter; Mulla, David; Reich, Peter; Thorleifson, Harvey; Tilman, David; Binks, Jonathan
    In the words of University of Minnesota President Robert H. Bruininks: “The environment poses such a broad and important array of interrelated issues that the participation of scholars from diverse fields will be critical to our efforts to understand and offer solutions to protect our natural world.” This document lays out the anticipated role, structure and operation, or “blueprint,” of a new University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment (IonE).
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    Current scientific understanding of the environmental biosafety of transgenic fish and shellfish
    (Revue Scientifique Et Technique - Office International Des Epizooties, 2005) Kapuscinski, Anne
    A fluorescent zebrafish was the first genetically engineered animal to be marketed, and biotechnologists are developing many transgenic fish and shellfish. Biosafety science is not sufficiently advanced to be able to draw scientifically reliable and broadly trusted conclusions about the environmental effects of these animals. The science is best developed for identifying hazards posed by environmental spread of a transgenic fish or shellfish and least developed for assessing potential ecological harms of spread. Environmental spread of certain transgenic fish or shellfish could be an indirect route of entry into the human food supply. The management of predicted environmental risks is in its infancy and has thus far focused on the first step of the risk management process, i.e. risk reduction, via a few confinement methods. There is a critical need to improve scientific methods of environmental safety assessment and management and to gather empirical data needed to substantiate biosafety conclusions and to effectively manage transgenic fish and shellfish. Scientists and potentially affected parties should participate in prioritising the knowledge gaps to be addressed.
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    Environmental Assessment Tool for Aquaculture in the Great Lakes Basin Version 1.2.
    (2009-09-23) Brister, Deborah; Kapuscinski, Anne
    The Environmental Assessment Tool is a downloadable decision tool specifically designed for the Great Lakes region. It addresses issues relevant to cage and land-based aquaculture in other regions.
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    Transforming the University: Final Recommendations of the Task Force on Collegiate Design: CNR, COAFES, CHE
    (University of Minnesota, 2006-02-03) Levine, Allen; Phillips, Ronald; Swackhamer, Deborah; Birr, Adam; Cohen, Jerry; Johnson, David; Kapuscinski, Anne; Marshall, James; Polasky, Stephen; Stine, Robert; VandenBosch, Kathryn
    Integration of the broad range of scholarship present in the College of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, the College of Natural Resources, and the Food Science and Nutrition Department provides a host of new opportunities to achieve greater excellence in research, teaching, and outreach. Our review and discussions over the past three months lead us to believe that this consolidation will enhance the University’s biological and social science contributions to the environment, agriculture, human health, food systems, and natural resources. Our key recommendations are summarized below, organized around the five Strategic Areas in the President’s Repositioning report. These recommendations include having world class faculty and outstanding students, formation of transitional clusters of departments for development of synergies and principles for reconfiguration. Such clusters would serve as a platform for strengthened teaching and outreach efforts and growth in competitive research funding. We also recommend establishment of a University-wide Institute of the Environment, enhancement of interdisciplinary efforts with other units, expansion of scholarly activities related to translational biology, and further development of public engagement.
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    Using participatory scenarios to stimulate social learning for collaborative sustainable development
    (2012) Johnson, Kris A; Dana, Genya; Jordan, Nicholas R; Draeger, Kathy J; Kapuscinski, Anne; Schmitt Olabisi, Laura K; Reich, Peter B
    Interdependent human and biophysical systems are highly complex and behave in unpredictable and uncontrollable ways. Social and ecological challenges that emerge from this complexity often defy straightforward solutions, and efforts to address these problems will require not only scientific and technological capabilities but also learning and adaptation. Scenarios are a useful tool for grappling with the uncertainty and complexity of social-ecological challenges because they enable participants to build adaptive capacity through the contemplation of multiple future possibilities. Furthermore, scenarios provide a platform for social learning, which is critical to acting in the face of uncertain, complex, and conflict-laden problems. We studied the Minnesota 2050 project, a collaborative project through which citizens collectively imagined future scenarios and contemplated the implications of these possibilities for the adaptability of their social and environmental communities. Survey and interview data indicate that these participatory scenario workshops built and strengthened relationships, enhanced participants’ understanding of other perspectives, and triggered systemic thinking, all of which is relevant to collective efforts to respond to social-ecological challenges through sustainable development activities. Our analysis shows that participatory scenarios can stimulate social learning by enabling participants to engage and to discuss options for coping with uncertainty through collaborative actions. Such learning can be of value to participants and to the organizations and decisions in which they are engaged, and scenario processes can be effective tools for supporting collaborative sustainable development efforts.