Environmental Studies Symposium (in conjunction with the Brown Symposium) Documentary and Discussion – “The Ants and the Grasshopper”

Welcome to the Symposium Opening: President Laura Trombley
Introduction to the Theme: Drs. Futamura and Hobgood

George Hart: “Sculpting the Abstract”

As a mathematician-sculptor:
My obsession is to create engaging artifacts that connect to a world of mathematical thought.
My plan is to involve you in an experience of wonder and discovery.
My method is to design structures that invite you to witness math in casual clothing.
My hope is to transcribe abstract ideas into intuitively accessible media.
My puzzle is to imagine 1-D lines and 2-D surfaces that imply a deep 3-D coherence.
My joy is to sculpt something which is unique, yet feels inherently familiar.
My aspiration is to shape and assemble common materials into inspiring artworks.
My aim is to tease you with a glimpse of a higher reality.
My pleasure is to offer you a gift I can not truly explain.

Margaret Wertheim: “Embodying Mathematics”

Mathematics is usually thought of as a symbolic subject that we represent and learn in terms of equations and deductive reasoning. But across the globe, many cultures have developed practices in which sophisticated mathematical concepts are embodied in material forms. Examples include Islamic tiling patterns, African fractal designs, Polynesian sand diagrams, Aztec and Celtic knots. All these beautiful handicraft traditions contain knowledge about deep mathematical principles that long predates the formalistic discovery of such knowledge by Western mathematicians. In her own work, Wertheim has been exploring representations of hyperbolic geometry through the art of crochet, which enables crafters to explore the revolutionary topic of non-Euclidean mathematics in their hands. In this talk, science writer and artist Margaret Wertheim will look at how math is embodied in material practices and how it can be regarded as a form of artisanal play.

TED-Ed - Jeremiah Dickey and Alex Rosenthal: “The mind’s eye: cacophony and silence”

Jola Ajibade: “Transforming Climate Solutions: From Big Ideas to Everyday Justice”

As climate change unleashes untold misery globally, communities and cities seek new ways to adapt. Who can adapt, where adaptation funding is directed, and how adaptation is implemented have profound implications for climate justice. As a political ecologist and social activist, I examine not only how climate change impacts populations but also the unintended consequences of solutions such as renewable energy projects, floating cities, and managed retreat programs. Too often, these solutions perpetuate colonial and neoliberal legacies of injustice rather than addressing systemic inequities. In this talk, I critically examine the double-edged nature of climate solutions. While they offer economic benefits and reduced risks for certain groups, they deepen the marginalization of racialized and low-income communities, causing displacement, land dispossession, livelihood disruptions, slow violence, and health burdens. Indeed, elite-driven, state-sponsored projects have become vehicles for land grabs, resource extraction, and capital accumulation. These projects layer new forms of overlapping and manufactured crises onto already vulnerable communities, raising questions about the ‘abstractive and real’ climate solutions. I discuss how communities resist these emerging inequalities and how their everyday actions and decolonial praxis illuminate pathways toward a just and equitable societal transition.

Gallery Talk and Reception
Gallery Art: A Tribute to Star Varner, The Work of Daina Taimina

Raj Patel: “How to See the Future of Food”

We can see a hidden force only through its traces in the material world. The forces that have shaped the way we eat in the modern world leave a trail of data and art, and we can learn how to read it. In future, we’ll need to eat very differently if we’re to have a survivable planet. Some people are already living in this future. But what if we can’t believe what we see in the traces they leave behind? Using data, art, and documentary, UT Research Professor Raj Patel explores what’s stopping us seeing a different future.