Former Summer Fellow Ariana Gunderson Gives Talk on Impacts of Climate Change on Oyster Farming

Ariana Gunderson, a graduate student in the Department of Gastronomy and a 2018 Graduate Summer Fellow at the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, recently gave a presentation titled “Cape Cod Oysters and Climate Change” at the Cotuit Library on Cape Cod. The talk was based on the findings from her summer research project at the Pardee Center, where she studied how oyster farmers in the town of Barnstable (in which Cotuit is a village) understand and respond to threats posed by climate change.

In her talk, Gunderson shared what she had learned from oyster farmers and government employees, and invited the audience – which was made up of oyster farmers, homeowners, tourists, and community members – to share feedback, suggestions, and their personal experiences. Audience members also crowd-sourced reasons to value oyster farms, and why it is important that they remain resilient in the face of climate change impacts.

Click here to learn more about the Pardee Center Graduate Summer Fellows program.