Ohio Wesleyan Dives into Exploration of ‘Water in Our World’
Donovan Hohn
DELAWARE, Ohio – “Spot a yellow duck dropped atop the seaweed at the tide line,” author Donovan Hohn states, “ask yourself where it came from, and the next thing you know you’re way out at sea, no land in sight, dog-paddling around in mysteries four miles deep.”
Hohn shares the results of his deep-water detective work in the book, “Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them.”
Hohn will discuss the book and his exploration of man’s impact on the environment when he presents “The Blind Oceanographer: Lessons from the Hunt for Moby-Duck” at 7 p.m. Sept. 4 in the Benes Rooms of OWU’s Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware.
His visit will kick off Ohio Wesleyan University’s 2014 Sagan National Colloquium, which each year explores a topic of national or international importance through a series of lectures, panel discussions, films, art exhibits, and other events. This theme of this year’s 30th anniversary colloquium is “H2OWU: Water in Our World.”
Hohn’s Sept. 4 presentation will be followed Sept. 9 by an Ohio Wesleyan faculty roundtable about the book and the multiple academic perspectives involved in water studies. Participants will include Amy Butcher, M.F.A., assistant professor of English; David Lever, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry; and Tom Wolber, Ph.D., associate professor of modern foreign languages.
Additional “H2OWU” Sagan National Colloquium event are as follows. For the most up-to-date schedule, visit https://www.owu.edu/about/offices-services/academic-affairs/programs/sagan-national-colloquium/.
7 p.m. Sept. 23 – “Our Freshwater Future: New Solutions for a Thirsty World,” presented by Sandra Postel, M.E.M., globally recognized freshwater activist, founder of the Global Water Policy Project, and Freshwater Fellow of the National Geographic Society. She will speak in the Benes Rooms of Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware. Read her blog at newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/author/spostel. Dusk, Sept. 28 – The film “Tapped,” directed by Stephanie Soechtig and Jason Lindsey. The documentary looks at the bottled water industry, including its economic, environmental, and social impacts. The location of the outdoor screening (weather permitting) will be posted when available at pas.owu.edu. Learn more at www.tappedthemovie.com. 7 p.m. Sept. 30 – “Resonance,” presented by John Sabraw, M.F.A., Ohio University associate professor of painting and drawing, who uses river pollutants to create pigments and richly colored paints. He will speak in Phillips Auditorium, 50 S. Henry St., Delaware. In addition, Sabraw’s art will be on display between Aug. 25 and Oct. 6 in Ohio Wesleyan’s Gallery 2001, located inside Beeghly Library, 43 Rowland Ave., Delaware. Learn more at www.johnsabraw.com. 7 p.m. Oct. 7 – “Messy Rivers are Healthy Rivers: The Importance of Physical Complexity in Rivers,” presented by Ellen Wohl, Ph.D., Colorado State University river geomorphologist and former Ohio resident. She will speak in the Benes Rooms of Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware. Learn more at warnercnr.colostate.edu/~ellenw. 7 p.m. Oct. 21 – “Giibimosayaan Nibi Ohnjay: We Walk for the Water,” presented by Sharon Day, a native rights and religious activist from Minnesota. She will discuss her experience walking the Ohio River and her “Walk the Water” project in the Benes Rooms of Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware. Learn more at www.facebook.com/groups/morww. 7 p.m. Oct. 30 – “Visualizing Water’s Pasts: The Time and Space of Water Uses in the Po River Valley,” presented by Giacomo Parrinello, Ph.D., a Marie Curie Fellow at Louisiana State University. Parrinello’s geographic information systems (GIS)/history project examines industrialization and water in Italy’s Po River valley. His presentation will be held in Phillips Auditorium, 50 S. Henry St., Delaware. Learn more at giacomoparrinello.wordpress.com/po-river-valley. 7 p.m. Nov. 4 – “An Oasis in a Watery Desert,” presented by Dolly Jørgensen, Ph.D., president of the European Society for Environmental History. Jørgensen will discuss efforts to convert decommissioned offshore oil and petroleum rigs into artificial reefs. She will speak in the Benes Rooms of Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware. Learn more at dolly.jorgensenweb.net/rigs-to-reefs. 7 p.m. Nov. 11 – “The Fourth Water Revolution: A Visit from the Other Side,” presented by David Sedlak, Ph.D., professor of engineering and co-director of the Berkeley Water Center. His latest book, “Water 4.0,” grew out of his work on water recycling and urban water systems. He will speak in Phillips Auditorium, 50 S. Henry St., Delaware. Learn more at www.water4point0.com. 4 p.m. Nov. 16 – The feature documentary “Watermark,” by award-winning filmmakers Jennifer Baichwal and Nick de Pencier, and photographer Edward Burtynsky. The film shows water as a terraforming element and the scale of its reach, as well as the magnitude of its benefits and use. “Watermark” will be screened at the Strand Theatre, 28 E. Winter St., Delaware. Learn more at www.edwardburtynsky.com/site_contents/Films/Watermark_Film.html. 7 p.m. Nov. 19 – “Hydraulic Fracturing and Water Resources,” presented by Robert Jackson, Ph.D., professor of environmental earth system science and senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and at the Precourt Institute for Energy. Jackson will discuss fracking in Ohio in the Benes Rooms of Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware. Learn more at pangea.stanford.edu/rob-jackson. 7 p.m. Dec. 5 – “The History of the Hydrosphere,” presented by John McNeill, Ph.D., award-winning global and environmental historian and author of “Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World.” He will speak in the Benes Rooms of Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware. Learn more at explore.georgetown.edu/people/mcneillj. 7 p.m. Dec. 10 – “Climate and Human Health: New Ways of Studying Infectious Diseases,” presented by Rita Colwell, Ph.D., former director of the National Science Foundation, 2010 Stockholm Water Prize winner, and expert on global infectious diseases, water, and health. Colwell will discuss her work with cholera, water diseases, and a technique called “sari filtration.” Colwell will speak in the Benes Rooms of Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware. Learn more at www.umiacs.umd.edu/people/rcolwell.
About the Sagan National Colloquium
Founded in 1984, the Sagan National Colloquium is funded by an endowment from 1948 OWU alumni Margaret (Pickett) Sagan and John Sagan, both deceased. Past Colloquium speakers have included social activist Gloria Steinem, authors Barbara Ehrenreich and Kurt Vonnegut, Nobel Peace Prize winner Jody Williams, and former President Gerald Ford. Learn more at https://www.owu.edu/about/offices-services/academic-affairs/programs/sagan-national-colloquium/.
About Ohio Wesleyan University
Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier liberal arts universities. Located in Delaware, Ohio, the private, coed university offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, minors, and concentrations, and competes in 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Ohio Wesleyan combines a challenging, internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities to connect classroom theory with real-world practice. OWU’s 1,850 students represent 42 states and 37 countries. Ohio Wesleyan is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included in the U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review “best colleges” lists. Learn more at www.owu.edu.