This meeting and presentation took place entirely online via Zoom.
At 7:00 p.m., President Debbie Mullins called the Society meeting to order and welcomed the attendees to this first meeting of the Linnaean Society’s new program year.
The annual Linnaean homecoming picnic is being held on Sunday, September 22, at Central Park’s Summit Rock, with a rain date of September 29. President Mullins encouraged members and their guests to come. In addition, there will be a bird walk for beginners that morning in the North Woods of Central Park. RSVP is through the Linnaean website.
President Mullins announced that next month, at the October board meeting, the board of directors will vote to eliminate the sponsorship requirement for prospective members. The board has come to the opinion that this requirement can be a barrier for people who want to join, and may be giving a false impression that the Society is not open to all applicants. It is hoped that removing the sponsorship requirement will send a strong signal that the Society welcomes everyone with an interest in birds and natural history to become a Linnaean member.
Society members had been asked to vote online on two motions in advance of this meeting:
Motion 1: Request to approve the minutes of the May, 2024 regular meeting. The minutes were approved by a vote of 100 in favor, 5 abstaining, and none opposed.
Motion 2: Request to approve the membership applications of fifteen new members. The vote was unanimous with 105 in favor, none opposed, and none abstaining. President Mullins warmly welcomed the following new members:
- James Jackson, Active Membership, Sponsored by Brian Whipple
- Emily Tenenbaum, Active Membership, Sponsored by Kristin Ellington
- Andrea Trigueros, Active Membership, Sponsored by Junko Suzuki
- Thierry Breyette, Active Membership, Sponsored by Richard Davis
- Ruby Grewal, Supporting Membership, Sponsored by David Spawn
- Ann Wenzel, Active Membership, Sponsored by Kristin Ellington
- Catherine (Kitty) Stanton, Active Membership, Sponsored by Mary Beth Kooper
- Stephen Ogunbiyi, Associate Membership, Sponsored by Mary Beth Kooper
- Catherine Payson, Active Membership, Sponsored by Amanda Bielskas
- Christie Tashjian, Active Membership, Sponsored by Mary Normandia
- Val Coleman, Active Membership, Sponsored by Samari Weinberg
- Xiao Li, Active Membership, Sponsored by Bonnie Eissner
- Emily Jones, Active Membership, Sponsored by Amanda Bielskas
- Katharine Cobb, Supporting Membership, Sponsored by Suzanne Zywicki
- Ronit (Row) Wrubel, Active Membership, Sponsored by Amanda Bielskas
President Mullins again welcomed all the new members to the Linnaean Society, and expressed the hope that they will participate on some field trips and programs, get involved in the work of the Society, and come to the homecoming picnic to be greeted in person.
President Mullins reminded all renewing members to pay their membership dues for the upcoming year. Instructions were emailed to all members on September 6, 2024.
At 7:04 p.m., President Mullins turned to the lecture program and introduced the speaker, Dr. Brooke Bateman, Senior Director of Climate and Community Science at the National Audubon Society. Dr. Bateman collaborates with scientists, volunteers, and Audubon’s Climate Initiative team to develop research on climate and bird conservation, including the National Audubon 2019 report, “Survival by Degrees: 389 Bird Species on the Brink.” She is the science director of Climate Watch, and works with community volunteers to study how climate change affects birds in North America. Dr. Bateman shared some of her work at Audubon, connecting studies of biodiversity and climate change science to on-the-ground conservation, public engagement, and policy action.
Lecture: “Birds Tell Us: Connecting Biodiversity and Climate Science to on the Ground Conservation, Public Engagement, and Policy Actions” presented by Dr. Brooke Bateman
Dr. Bateman began her talk by invoking Rachel Carson, and her influential book, “Silent Spring,” which brought to national awareness the deleterious changes to living things up and down the food chain from the scaled-up use of pesticides and other industrial chemicals in our environment. The impact of Rachel Carson’s book sparked the environmental movement, and actions to protect the environment ensued.
Dr. Bateman then pivoted to today, and the observation that we are in the midst of a biodiversity crisis. She showed a graph from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) showing the percent of extinctions for vertebrate categories from the years 1500 to 2018, and the acceleration of extinctions across the animal world since 1900. Birds were one of the groups, and the 2019 report that North America has lost 2.9 billion—one in four birds—since 1970 highlights the crisis. Dr. Bateman gave some examples of birds lost since 1970—2.5 billion migratory birds; 2-in-5 Baltimore Orioles, 170 million eastern forest birds, 6-in-10 Wood Thrushes—and then asked, “So, what are the reasons?” She presented a slide that showed annual fatalities in North America from cats (2.6 billion), windows (624 million), vehicles (214 million), and industrial collisions (64 million), but the overriding reasons for bird population loss are habitat loss and degradation, and, more recently, climate change.
The National Audubon Society has a commitment to change the trend of declining bird populations. Scientific studies, climate science, community science, public engagement and action are all part of Audubon’s approach to achieving that aim, and Dr. Bateman described some of these programs:
- A recent Audubon study (“Unraveling a Century of Global Change Impacts on Winter Bird Distributions in the Eastern United States”) highlighted the dual crises of climate change and biodiversity loss using Christmas Bird Count data going back nearly a century. Dr. Bateman showed graphics from this study demonstrating how land use changes and climate change have impacted bird species populations.
- A 2019 development project, “Survival by Degrees: 389 Bird Species on the Brink,” is a modeling tool linking climate science with public engagement, based on present and future climate conditions, human land use, habitat types and locations, and surface water data. It is on the National Audubon website, and is an interactive program that allows the public to see how bird species populations may respond to climate change for different warming scenarios: 1.5°C, 2.0°C, and 3.0°C (global average temperature above the pre-industrial level). The tool shows ranges on both a national and local scale for each season. Dr. Bateman explained the rationale for selecting 1.5°C, 2.0°C, and 3.0°C by showing a chart with warming projections for the year 2100 assuming different policies and actions, and pledges and targets, and gave as context the fact that the world was at 1.2°C in 2022. Audubon’s conclusions from this project included: 1) two-thirds of North American bird species are at risk of extinction from climate change; 2) if climate change can be stabilized to below 2°C, 76% of North American bird species at risk will have an improved chance for survival; 3) under the 3°C scenario, 98% of the coterminous United States could be affected by one or more climate-related threats and 305 bird species will face three or more threats, while at 1.5°C, 34 bird species will face three or more climate-related threats; and, 4) every bird species will experience some kind of impact from climate change.
Dr. Bateman described some of the National Audubon Society’s approaches to action on climate change that connect science to community engagement and policy action:
- Publishing scientific papers, thereby communicating science studies and conclusions that are peer-reviewed for credibility.
- Communicating to the general public—for example, an article, “Birds Can’t Fight Climate Change. We Can.,” in the Audubon Climate Change magazine.
- Development of the National Audubon website for the public to explore, get information about birds, climate change, and learn about issues.
- Localizing information, addressing changes on a local scale—for example, a scientific paper about how US National Wildlife Refuges are likely to see species changes due to climate change.
- Bringing findings to legislators, and engage them—for example, demonstrating the “Surviving by Degrees” tool to federal and state policymakers and showing them results—that is, the consequences of potential climate change in their own ZIP Codes.
- Distributing an award-winning Audubon climate action guide that can be used by community volunteers and leaders.
- Publicizing climate change through art—for example, the Audubon Mural Project, which commissions artists to paint murals portraying bird species threatened by climate change on walls, doors, and other surfaces around throughout New York City.
- Communicating to large audiences, on television, in national and regional newspapers, and on social media.
- Engaging community advocates, especially Audubon chapters, nature centers, and other partners.
Dr. Bateman next turned to the topic of clean energy, giving some examples of the ways National Audubon has been helping guide policies for addressing climate change and helping birds:
- In Washington state, with Audubon Washington: contributed to historic clean energy legislation that requires all electricity to come from carbon-free sources by 2045.
- In Arkansas, National Audubon advocated for the Solar Access Act of 2019, which triples the size limit of solar installations for commercial net metering customers; permits rooftop solar customers to sell power back to the grid; and allows 3rd party ownership (leasing).
- In Alabama, thanks in part to efforts by Audubon members across the state, the South Carolina legislature unanimously passed the Energy Freedom Act, which expands net metering, encourages large scale and community solar projects, and enhances energy choice.
- National Audubon developed a clean energy policy report, “Birds and Transmission: Building the Grid Birds Need,” that identified the locations where transmission grids are likely to expand and where they are currently being planned, so that Audubon can promote bird-friendly decisions at the project level. Dr. Bateman described an example, the SunZia Transmission Project, one of the largest clean energy infrastructure projects in American history, spanning 500 miles between central New Mexico and south central Arizona. Audubon collaborated with the project to address bird-related protections in the design considerations for routing, siting of towers, installation, and tower design.
Natural climate solutions are another focus of National Audubon as it tackles biodiversity loss and climate change. They indicate paths for both climate adaptation and climate mitigation. Natural climate solutions include protection, restoration, and improved land management actions that increase carbon storage or avoid greenhouse gas emissions in landscapes and wetlands across the globe. Dr. Bateman explained the considerations that go into these solutions and gave examples of this approach, making mention of an Audubon report, “Audubon’s Natural Climate Solutions Report: Maintaining and Restoring Natural Habitats to Help Mitigate Climate Change.” This report presents a path forward to simultaneously understanding what areas can support birds and where to stabilize climate change.
Dr. Bateman concluded her presentation by emphasizing the importance of taking national science knowledge and bringing it to the local level, so that it connects with people and engages them, promoting an understanding of climate change and showing how to focus efforts moving forward. Her final slide and comments again quoted Rachel Carson: “The human race is challenged more than ever before to demonstrate our mastery, not over nature but of ourselves.”
At 8:00 p.m., Past President Rochelle Thomas thanked Dr. Bateman for a great talk. She then hosted the Q&A session.
At the conclusion of the Q&A, Past President Rochelle Thomas thanked Dr. Bateman again for a great presentation, and at 8:17 p.m. the meeting was adjourned.
A recording of this meeting in its entirety can be found on the Linnaean Society of New York website.
Respectfully submitted by Lisa Kroop, Recording Secretary