Four million miles of roadways encircle the United States, and their impacts upon the country’s ecosystems and wildlife are profound. More than a million animals are killed by cars each day; creatures from antelope to salmon are losing their ability to migrate in search of food and mates; and traffic noise chases songbirds from vast swaths of habitat. Road ecologists seek to blunt that destruction through innovative solutions such as the construction of wildlife crossings, the demolition of obsolete roads, and the removal of urban freeways. This talk will discuss the harms wrought by transportation and the movement to create a better, safer world for all living beings.
Ben Goldfarb is a Colorado-based journalist whose work has appeared in National Geographic, The Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, High Country News, and many other publications. He is the author of Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet, named one of the best books of 2023 by The New York Times and recipient of the Sierra Club’s Rachel Carson Award. His previous book, Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter, received the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award.
Part of our fall 2024 lecture series, "Legacies of Colonialism."