As a way to outflank the carbon footprint of air travel and give meaning to their journey, doctoral students J. Caity Swanson and David Rodriguez biked hundreds of miles to Detroit, Michigan to attend the 12^th biennial conference for the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE).

Each expects to discover something about what type of impact travel has on perspective. The conference is the major international conference for interdisciplinary work in the humanities and environmental studies.

Doctoral students David Rodriguez and J. Caity Swanson set off for Detroit.

For Rodriguez, the inspiration to bike to the event stemmed from complications he experienced with arrangements traveling to the 2015 conference Moscow, Idaho.

Swanson said she views the unconventional travel mode as research into how slowing down travel and making it effortful can change the experience of attending a conference.

Rodriguez received the Stony Brook Graduate Student Organization’s “Distinguished Travel Award” and Swanson received ASLE’s travel award, which funded their trips.

You can learn more about their trip, in their own words, by visiting “Wicked Problem: a podcast about climate change,” a creation of the Department of Environmental Humanities.

Read more: http://www.stonybrook.edu/happenings/student-spotlight/grad-students-pedal-their-way-to-understanding/

Hope Moore and Amanda Maldonado, School of Social Welfare undergraduate seniors, organized an Easter Basket Drive, putting together more than 40 baskets and packages for local children and families.

In time for Easter, the baskets and family packages were distributed to children and families living within homeless shelters at a local agency called NANA’s House (Never Alone, Never Afraid Inc). The agency serves displaced families and single men in the Shirley, Mastic and Moriches area.

Hope and Amanda with the collection of Easter baskets.

The baskets and packages contained candy, cartons of eggs, bags of plastic eggs, egg coloring kits, and other goodies. The items were donated from the undergraduate senior class, family and friends.

Both students were working with the homeless population for their  studies  in social  work which includes providing service to vulnerable populations. They decided they wanted to do more to help families give their children a joyful  Easter.

“These families are already not able to provide basic needs and as mothers, we wanted to give these parents/guardians a way to still give their children Easter,” said Hope.

Check out more about the School of Social Welfare: https://socialwelfare.stonybrookmedicine.edu/aboutus

Two of the seven staff members at Quogue Wildlife Refuge are former Stony Brook students and the Refuge’s employees have participated in the University’s annual Earthstock celebration since 2012, educating Stony Brook students about Long Island’s natural world and its inhabitants.

The refuge actively recruits its interns at Earthstock because of Stony Brook’s focus on sustainability.

Cara Fernandes ’16

Cara Fernandes ’16 of Baiting Hollow, New York, started at the refuge as an intern and now she coordinates and teaches educational programs about Long Island’s native plants, animals and ecology to a variety of audiences. She also cares for permanently injured wildlife, feeding them and administering medicine.

During the spring and fall, the refuge sends representatives to educate the public at fairs, including Earthstock, where Quogue Wildlife Refuge staffer Tony Valderrama appeared the last three years.

“The interaction between the students and the wildlife is priceless,” he adds. “My hope is that these simple interactions become a catalyst for future environmentalists. We are lucky to have the best interns every year who come from Stony Brook to work with us.”

Read more: http://www.stonybrook.edu/happenings/alumni/university-enjoys-great-relationship-with-wildlife-refuge/