Christine Hatch Discusses Swamp and Forest Conservation in 'Daily Hampshire Gazette'

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Christine Hatch—a research-extension liaison for the Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment, and an extension professor of Water Resources and Climate Change in the Department of Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences—recently discussed swamp and forest conservation in an op-ed published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette. 

In the op-ed, Hatch considers humans' impact on ecosystems and argues that, "even protected inside a fortress, a reserve of nature would still be subject to larger human influences, including climate warming and intensification caused by loading the atmosphere with carbon dioxide, acid rain, nutrient and chemical additions to waters, and near-extinction of apex predators keeping the wild food web in balance." 

She concludes with an engaging question, and attempts to provide an answer based on her personal experience:

"What does it mean to care for a forest in the Anthropocene era, when we (humans) have occupied and transformed so much of earth’s surface; fragmenting some rare ecosystems that have nevertheless persisted in their isolation? Perhaps those among us who still remember how to nurture these trees can help teach the rest of us how to listen to the forest."

— Christine Hatch in the Daily Hampshire Gazette

Click here to read the op-ed in the Daily Hampshire Gazette.