{"id":82,"date":"2026-03-31T23:56:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T23:56:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/mesa\/?page_id=82"},"modified":"2026-04-14T23:14:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T23:14:21","slug":"rcf2026","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/mesa\/rcf2026\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Rachel Carson Forum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:auto 44%\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"881\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/mesa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1795\/2026\/03\/RachelCarsonDesign_4alt-1-881x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Custom art created by local artist Anneke Wilder for the 2026 Rachel Carson Forum\" class=\"wp-image-98 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/mesa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1795\/2026\/03\/RachelCarsonDesign_4alt-1-881x1024.jpg 881w, https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/mesa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1795\/2026\/03\/RachelCarsonDesign_4alt-1-258x300.jpg 258w, https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/mesa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1795\/2026\/03\/RachelCarsonDesign_4alt-1-768x893.jpg 768w, https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/mesa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1795\/2026\/03\/RachelCarsonDesign_4alt-1.jpg 1032w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 881px) 100vw, 881px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<h4><strong><em>Ecology &amp; Intersectionality in Theory &amp; Practice<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<h4><em>April 23rd, 4:00 &#8211; 8:00 pm<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">During Earth Week in April 2026, the need to center intersections between the environmental sciences and critical perspectives on diversity, equity, inclusivity, and justice is more pressing than ever. The 36th Rachel Carson Forum is bringing presentations by three leading scholars working across these interdisciplinary boundaries to Evergreen and the broader Olympia community. This free event is hosted by the Master of Environmental Studies Student Association at The Evergreen State College, and will offer options for both in-person and virtual attendance via Zoom.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The 2026 Rachel Carson Forum will feature three presentations from the following speakers (more details below):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dr. Lisa Weasel<\/strong> &#8211; <em>Queer by Nature:<\/em> <em>Intersectional<\/em> <em>Ecologies in an<\/em> <em>Age of Invasion<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dr. Shannon Cram<\/strong>&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;<em>Writing the Body: Narratives of Toxicity, Exposure, and Health&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dr. Cleo Woelfle-Hazard<\/strong>&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;<em>P\u00eaeshkeesh&nbsp;Y\u00e1v&nbsp;Umusah\u00eaesh: Ecocultural approaches to fire and river restoration in Karuk Ancestral Territory<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2><strong>Event Details:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Date\/Time: <\/strong>Thursday April 23rd, 4:00 &#8211; 8:00 pm Pacific Time<\/li><li><strong>Location:<\/strong> Evergreen Campus &#8211; Purce Hall (west side of Red Square)<\/li><li><strong>Admission:<\/strong> Free!<\/li><li><strong>Parking:<\/strong> $6 (try carpool or bus!)<\/li><li>Light snacks and refreshments provided<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Zoom Attendance Link: Coming Soon<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Campus Address, Event, and Parking Map:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"577\" height=\"720\" src=\"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/mesa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1795\/2026\/03\/RCF2026_Campus_Event_Location.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-90\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/mesa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1795\/2026\/03\/RCF2026_Campus_Event_Location.png 577w, https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/mesa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1795\/2026\/03\/RCF2026_Campus_Event_Location-240x300.png 240w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 577px) 100vw, 577px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4>Event Schedule:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table is-style-stripes\"><table><tbody><tr><td>3:30 pm<\/td><td>Doors to Purce Hall open<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>4:00 &#8211; 4:20 pm<\/td><td>Welcome and Introduction<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>4:20 &#8211; 5:20 pm<\/td><td>Speaker 1: Dr. Cleo Woelfle-Hazard<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>5:20 &#8211; 5:35 pm<\/td><td>Break<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>5:35 &#8211; 6:35 pm<\/td><td>Speaker 2: Dr. Shannon Cram<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>6:35 &#8211; 6:50 pm<\/td><td>Break<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>6:50 &#8211; 7:50 pm<\/td><td>Speaker 3: Dr. Lisa Weasel<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2><strong>Speakers and Topics<\/strong>:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h5>Dr. Lisa Weasel &#8211; Queer by Nature: Intersectional Ecologies in an Age of Invasion<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">Abstract: We are living in an age obsessed with &#8220;invasions.&#8221; From &#8220;invasive&#8221; pests and plants to the policing of human populations, the question of who belongs in a particular space or place figures prominently in both our science and our politics. Often, this discourse appeals to &#8220;nature&#8221; and the \u201cnatural\u201d to justify who belongs and who is an intruder\u2014but is nature as rigid as we think? Taking a queer approach to unravelling how race, class, gender, sexuality and disability intersect with settler colonial and capitalist legacies in the bodily construction of invaders in science and society, this talk aims to unsettle boundaries and borders that are considered rooted in nature, and indeed the concept of \u201cnature\u201d itself.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">Dr. Weasel&#8217;s Website: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pdx.edu\/profile\/lisa-weasel\">Lisa Weasel | Portland State University<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">Bio:&nbsp;Dr. Lisa Weasel is a biologist and interdisciplinary scholar whose work&nbsp;seeks&nbsp;to connect science and social justice. Her scholarship and teaching spans feminist science studies, environmental science and policy justice, and food,&nbsp;ethics&nbsp;and sustainability. She is the author of the book <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/books\/edition\/Food_Fray\/8VhpmAEACAAJ?hl=en\">Food Fray: Inside the Controversy over Genetically Modified Food<\/a>, and the co-editor of the anthology <a href=\"https:\/\/www.taylorfrancis.com\/books\/edit\/10.4324\/9780203614266\/feminist-science-studies-maralee-mayberry-lisa-weasel-banu-subramaniam\">Feminist Science Studies: A New Generation<\/a>. She received an A.B. magna cum laude in Biology from Harvard University, and her Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Cambridge. Dr. Weasel is currently Professor of Environmental Science and Management in the School of Earth, Environment and Society, and affiliate faculty in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies in the School of Gender, Race and Nations at Portland State University in Portland, OR.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5>Dr. Shannon Cram&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Writing the Body: Narratives of Toxicity, Exposure, and Health&nbsp;<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">Abstract: Feminist scholars have long argued that the body does not \u201cend at the skin,\u201d but is instead constituted of and by histories, standards, and structures of power. This is more than a metaphor:&nbsp;residing&nbsp;on Earth&nbsp;literally means&nbsp;becoming an industrial product,&nbsp;inhaling&nbsp;and absorbing, circulating and secreting toxic conditions. Yet, though we are always already altered by such exposures, we are not&nbsp;wholly defined&nbsp;by them. To be alive is to&nbsp;comprise&nbsp;and exceed life\u2019s social forms, to be both coded and uncontained. What, then, does it mean to&nbsp;write&nbsp;the body? How does the human form&nbsp;comprise&nbsp;and exceed the stories we tell about it? What can we learn from an imperfectly embodied perspective? This talk&nbsp;centers&nbsp;themes of toxicity, exposure, and health with&nbsp;a particular&nbsp;attention to narrative practice. It weaves ethnographic research about nuclear waste, cleanup, and&nbsp;previvorship&nbsp;to consider methodological questions I&nbsp;encounter&nbsp;in my own writing process.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">Dr. Cram&#8217;s Website: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/ias\/faculty-and-staff\/shannon-cram\">Shannon Cram &#8211; School of Interdisciplinary Arts &amp; Sciences<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">Bio:&nbsp;Dr. Shannon Cram is the author of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucpress.edu\/books\/unmaking-the-bomb\/paper\">Unmaking the Bomb: Environmental Cleanup and the Politics of Impossibility<\/a>, winner of the Ludwik Fleck Prize, the Julian Steward Award, and finalist for the Washington State Book Award. Her research and writing&nbsp;considers&nbsp;the everyday life of environmental contamination, with a particular focus on the body as a site of politics.&nbsp;She is an associate professor of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington Bothell, where she co-directs&nbsp;the Science, Technology, and Society program.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5>Dr. Cleo Woelfle-Hazard&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;P\u00eaeshkeesh&nbsp;Y\u00e1v&nbsp;Umusah\u00eaesh: Ecocultural approaches to fire and river restoration in Karuk Ancestral Territory&nbsp;<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">Abstract: In the Karuk language,&nbsp;<em>P\u00eaeshkeesh&nbsp;Y\u00e1v&nbsp;Umusah\u00eaesh<\/em>&nbsp;means&nbsp;\u201cthe river will look&nbsp;good\u201d.&nbsp;Along the Klamath river in Northern California, tribal-led river restoration efforts are improving habitat conditions and offering new models for river restoration. Karuk Tribe managers and their partners are working to remove dams, reconnect floodplains, and reintegrate intentional fire regimes to create multispecies landscapes and riverscapes that are resilient to flooding, drought, and catastrophic wildfire. &nbsp;Building on his 15 years of experience working with the Karuk Tribe first as a researcher, and now as a tribal employee, Dr. Cleo Woelfle-Hazard will describe how his training in feminist and Indigenous science studies informs&nbsp;his approach to building reciprocal relationships with Karuk culture bearers, and how intersecting Indigenous, queer, and trans views of rivers and multispecies relations can be put into practice to enhance habitat processes, cultural resources, and intergenerational learning. This talk will explore the shared questions and understandings that&nbsp;emerged&nbsp;throughout this process, as well as where water and fire worlds intersect and fundamentally diverge,&nbsp;ultimately offering&nbsp;principles to guide future collaborations between researchers, river managers, and place-based communities.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">Bio: Dr. Woelfle-Hazard&#8217;s research focuses on ecological and social dimensions of human relations to rivers and&nbsp;firescapes&nbsp;and their multi-species inhabitants, and on how queer trans feminist thought can transfigure ecological science as&nbsp;it\u2019s&nbsp;used by Indigenous and non-Native practitioners. His book <a href=\"https:\/\/uwapress.uw.edu\/book\/9780295749754\/underflows\/\">Underflows: Queer Trans Ecologies and River Justice<\/a>&nbsp;explores&nbsp;how a queer-trans-feminist approach can ally with Indigenous praxis to renew human-water-fish relations. An activist and artist with formal training in ecology, geomorphology, critical social science, and feminist science and technology studies, he works for the Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources as the Habitat Restoration Program Manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2><strong>Information about MESA&#8217;s Annual Rachel Carson Forum<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/mesa\/mesas-rachel-carson-forum\/\">MESAs Rachel Carson Forum \u2013 Masters of Environmental Studies Association<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Event art created by local artist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.annekewilder.com\/\">Anneke Wilder<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ecology &amp; Intersectionality in Theory &amp; Practice April 23rd, 4:00 &#8211; 8:00 pm During Earth Week in April 2026, the need to center intersections between the environmental sciences and critical [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1549,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/mesa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/82"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/mesa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/mesa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/mesa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1549"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/mesa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/mesa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/82\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/mesa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/82\/revisions\/118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/mesa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}