Collins Living-Learning Center

ISRC Conference Review

I attended the Indiana Sustainability and Resilience Conference with Sustain Collins at IUPUI on February 9. It was a really awesome event, and I was able to learn so much about so many different topics! Throughout the day, there were 3 breakout sessions, a keynote speaker, and a conference expo. I went to the following breakout sessions: Incorporating climate change science into forestry planning and adaptation at all scales, Agriculture as a climate solution, and Deploying more sustainable and equitable soil.

Incorporating climate change science into forestry planning and adaptation at all scales

At the first breakout session, park rangers from Hoosier National Forest spoke as well as IU’s Professor Sarah Mincey. The park rangers explained the methods currently being used for regeneration oak ecosystems, which have been disappearing due to lack of disturbance. This is due to human suppression of wildfires, which oak ecosystems need. Without wildfires, the oak canopies become overgrown in the mid and upper sections, which harms the ecosystems on the ground. Hoosier National Forest uses prescribed burns to help regenerate these ecosystems. Prescribed burns are done in the off season of wildfires and allow fires to occur without causing damage to surrounding populated areas. Next, IU professor Sarah Mincey talked about Urban Green Infrastructure. She walked us through how current UGI is inequitably distributed in terms of race and income and can worsen gentrification as UGI raises the cost of living in areas it is implemented. She also talked about how a study in Detroit investigated no tree request communities. In this study, a non-profit was attempting to green the community, but a few neighborhoods said no. It was assumed that they declined because they were uneducated on the benefits of UGI but, in reality, it was because the communities felt separated from the issue as they were not asked what they wanted or involved in the process. Professor Mincey went on to talk about the efforts of the UG Resilience Cohort, which works with underprivileged communities to increase UGI where it is needed the most. However, she did say that without help from the local government, UGI still could exacerbate gentrification in communities which I thought was particularly interesting. 

Agriculture as a climate solution

At the second breakout session, Sara Beth Aubrey, founder of IN-Climate, talked about climate-smart agricultural practices. She laid out the 6 pillars of conservation agriculture: carbon markets and carbon sequestration, sustainability and conservation, renewable energy and energy transition, advanced biofuels/renewable fuels, green finance and climate smart funding sources, consumer pressures and public perception. With these in mind, her presentation explained the barriers facing growers such as equipment, labor, cost, perceived ‘lack of benefit,’ messaging, and more. She also talked about how to best discuss sustainability in terms that farmers will listen to. For example, she took a poll and found out that most farmers really like the term conservation agriculture and dislike the term climate-smart agriculture. By forming relationships and speaking to what farmers want as well as what is sustainable, Sara has been able to help a lot of farmers adopt ‘conservation’ agriculture practices such as agrivoltaics, anaerobic digesters, cover crops, crop rotation practices, etc…

Deploying more sustainable and equitable soil

At the third breakout session, a variety of speakers discussed improvements in solar, which is projected to grow rapidly in Indiana. With this boom, the importance of ensuring equity and sustainability within solar has come to the forefront. One topic I was very interested in was the benefits of agrivoltaics, which refers to ‘intercropping’ solar panels and crops/livestock. This technique can have a lot of benefits after an initial investment. It has the potential to increase the productivity of the solar panels and increase the productivity of crops as well as reduce water use and create additional energy that can be utilized. 

Keynote Speaker

Then, the keynote speaker was Groundswell CEO Michelle Moore. She talked about the importance of public power and her strategies to deploy equitable community power to regions with the highest energy burdens. I found her talk very empowering and inspiring. It enforced what I learned at breakout session 3, which is that oftentimes, solar is not equally distributed. Her non-profit is hard at work to change that, making solar accessible to those who need it the most.

 

Overall, the conference was a really great experience! Not only were the speakers engaging and interesting, the meals and snacks were all delicious :) I highly recommend this conference to anyone interested in sustainability. Definitely be on the lookout for IRSC 2025!