Katharine Suding, a distinguished professor in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at the University of Colorado Boulder, will join the Notre Dame community in the ongoing lecture series Notre Dame Seminars on Sustainability to discuss her research on resilience, ecosystem recovery, and climate adaptation. For years, we’ve been told a familiar story: a planet racing toward disaster, with problems so vast they feel hard to address. These are global scale challenges, and global scale science is essential. Yet, in this talk, Dr. Suding will argue that it’s not the whole story: real tests of scientific understanding also happen in the places we live. By grounding big ideas in local action, we focus on what we can restore, rebuild, and reimagine close to home. This is an important shift towards practical optimism, community driven momentum, and sustainable pathways forward. In her own backyard, the Front Range of Colorado, she will share how forgotten orchards of century old apple trees reveal the resilience tucked inside neglected landscapes — and how restoring them can revive not just an ecosystem, but a piece of community connection. In fire prone grasslands, she will show how thoughtful action can lower fire risk by rebuilding plant communities that hold moisture, interrupt fine fuel buildup, and slow the spread of destructive wildfires. Likewise, efforts to reintroduce buffalo becomes far more than wildlife management — it’s a return to relationships, to Indigenous stewardship, and to the ecological networks that once shaped the prairie. The public seminar is on April 24th from 11:00am-12:00pm at 136 DeBartolo Hall. This is an in-person, free, and non-ticketed event.
Notre Dame Seminars on Sustainability Series is a signature lecture series organized by the Just Transformations to Sustainability Initiative that brings global sustainability leaders and world-class scholars to campus for knowledge sharing and engagement with the Notre Dame community.