New Canaan Library is pleased to announce the debut of Discussion Lab @NCL: an open forum for thoughtful, community conversations on topics that are in the news. The initiative’s tagline, “Making Sense with Community,” underscores the Discussion Lab’s aim of giving members the opportunity to discuss today’s news issues, based on articles from reputable major newspapers and magazine journals. Each session will be moderated by individuals with substantial knowledge of the chosen topic. The moderators will focus the discussion on information gained through specific articles, copies of which will be available at New Canaan Library or accessed digitally through the events calendar on the Library’s website, newcanaanlibrary.org

The inaugural discussion, Carbon, Cows and Dirt – A Good Environmental Trifecta? will take place on Thursday, August 15 at 10 a.m. in the Curtis Gallery. Participants will explore the topic of whether cows are really a danger to the planet’s overall environmental health. It has been reported that all that methane they produce has been linked to serious environmental danger, but is that accurate, and is that really the whole story?
The article to be read in advance of the August 15 meeting:
Can Dirt Save the Earth? By Moises Velasquez-Manoff
The New York Times Magazine, April 18, 2018

Moderators for the session are Olivia Oldham and Micaela Porta. Olivia Oldham works for a UK-based sustainable agriculture podcast, Farmerama, and runs a website about sustainability called Yellow Wood (the-yellow-wood.com) with a focus on regenerative food systems. In September she will begin a Master of Science in Nature, Society and Environmental Governance at the University of Oxford in England.

Micaela Porta has served on New Canaan’s Conservation Commission, later co-founded Pesticide-Free New Canaan, and now works with Planet New Canaan to raise awareness about environmental issues and give neighbors the information they need to take action. As President of the League of Women Voters of New Canaan, she is committed to educational outreach and nonpartisan civic engagement.