Other Professional Info

I am serving as the Program Chair for the 2022 Philosophy of Science Association meeting in Pittsburgh, PA. As part of my work as chair for the meeting, I have initiated two projects for carbon mitigating the conference. It is difficult to assess the exact amount of carbon that is sequestered with projects that involve planting, and there is always a time lag in terms of when carbon is generated and when it is sequestered. Nevertheless, I think our best option moving forward as a profession is to do much more of this. Especially for philosophy of science, we need not outsource the expertise to others by purchasing verified carbon offsets. We have the ability to draw on professional networks and knowledge to make substantive projects move forward in carbon sequestration in order to have in-person meetings with less of an onerous burden on climate change.

The first project is the planting of 600 Ponderosa pine trees. Using back of the envelope calculations with very rough estimates on how far participants would travel to Pittsburgh, along with an approximate 80% seedling survival rate, this will sequester the amount of carbon associated with the air travel and hotel related impacts (including food) for around 600 participants, after about 20 years. These seedlings are being planted in a sensitive area in a way that helps preserve more diversity and slow the impact of climate change on forest composition in this area of the northern Rockies. The site is located near the Hubbart Dam, west of the Flathead valley in Montana.

The second project is a blue carbon sequestration project done by the Marine Stewardship Initiative, part of the UNESCO Biosphere Howe Sound group. This aims to recover marine plants that themselves sequester carbon, as well as serving a key role in protecting a wide range of marine species, including salmon as they transition from fresh water to the sound. The project will involve preparation of location with sedge grasses in addition to collection of neogarum from the site, to cultivate zoospores from that site to then disburse in the fall, the best time for this plant. There will be more updates posted on this here as the project comes together. It is very difficult to precisely calculate the exact amount of carbon that will be sequestered as a result of this project, and the timeline is also on the order or a decade or more, rather than simply a year or so. But blue carbon is looking to be an even more effective way to sequester carbon, because it is so fast growing, than planting trees, and it serves a crucial role in the overall health of the greater Howe sound ecosystem. It is also very exciting to get to do this project on the traditional land of Squamish Nation, whose people cultivated marine meadows, and who will be involved in the project as well as doing an information session during one of the plantings.

I have a deep interest in philosophically rich science fiction and fantasy. These genre are excellent for exploring philosophical ideas in a more thorough and gripping way.

I am the faculty coordinator for Philosophical Fruit, an informal, on-again-off-again philosophy futurist discussion group on civic and environmental issues. Burnaby Mountain is a great place from which to think on a much longer temporal scale. Currently, this involves work with my colleague Tammara Soma, thinking through the moral and socio-political implications of food systems for space and interplanetary colonization. Ask me if you'd like to hear more.

Service: In addition to serving as the Program Chair for the Philosophy of Science 2022 Biennial meeting, I've recently completed stints on the program committee for the European Philosophy of Science Association; the program committee for the Pacific APA; for the Philosophy of Science Association biennial meeting program committee; for the APA Committee on Lectures, Publication, and Research; for the University Senate at SFU; and on the Board for the UniverCity Trust, developing the endowment and lands of SFU. I will be serving on.

Connecting civic obligation and opportunity: I and others are keen to move the Burnaby Mountain Tank Farm off the mountain, and away from densely populated urban areas. Check out the map below to see how spectacularly poorly located the tank farm is. Note that the intersection where it is located is the only access point for the entire mountaintop, including SFU and the nearby small town of Highlands/UniverCity. Tens and tens of thousands of people, a university community and a small town, where citizens have no common means of communication, behind one single intersection. There has been years of resistance in various forms against this, and it looks like it will still be more years of resistance. The financial benefits of this pipeline expansion have disappeared, and the initial cost estimate of 5 billion CAD is now up to 21 billion CAD. It would have been about .5 billion CAD to change the location of the tank farm earlier on, and it was decided that this was too much of a cost increase.