Oldham Nature & Environment Lecture: Carl Safina

Ecologist Carl Safina, the "modern-day Thoreau" whose lyrical non-fiction writing fuses scientific understanding, emotional connection, and a moral call to action, will cap off our town's month-long celebration of biodiversity. 

In ALFIE & ME: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe, Safina relates how Alfie, a wounded screech owl, pulled Carl and his wife Patricia into her world. They’d expected Alfie to be a temporary guest, soon to be released, but the tiny creature took a long time to heal. Carl and wife Patricia could never have predicted that when Alfie was finally able to live free, she would choose to establish her territory with their home at its center, attract a wild mate, and raise her babies right outside his studio window. Nor could they have guessed that the Covid-19 pandemic would grant the time to form a profound bond with Alfie.  

The relationships they formed prompt us to rethink the human place in nature. Safina explores what could be gained by connecting at a deeper level, as other cultures did around the globe over millennia—and what we lose through our particular culture’s self-imposed exile from the rest of life on Earth. 

Safina’s writing has won a MacArthur “genius” prize; Pew, Guggenheim, and National Science Foundation Fellowships; book awards from Lannan, Orion, and the National Academies; and the John Burroughs, James Beard, and George Rabb medals. He is the author of ten books, hosted the PBS series Saving the Ocean, and his writing appears in The New York Times, TIME, National Geographic, and elsewhere. He is the first Endowed Professor for Nature and Humanity at Stony Brook University and is founding president of the not-for-profit Safina Center. 

The Oldham Nature and Environment Lecture series is dedicated to presenting leading scientists, policy makers, strategists, and other experts to speak to our community about the many ways climate change is threatening our world, enabling us to be well informed on the topics of climate science and policy, and biodiversity impact and loss. The lecture is named for former Library director Lisa Oldham, to celebrate her passion and dedication to environmental education and action.