EMA IMPACT Summit Speaker Highlight: Professor Shelie Miller
With the 2024 EMA IMPACT Summit only a few weeks away, we want to highlight a few of our incredible speakers! First is Shelie Miller, Jonathan W. Bulkley Collegiate Professor of Sustainability at the University of Michigan. Shelie will host a "What's my carbon footprint" game show with two of EMA's celebrity Board Members to see who did their homework.
Remember that two-day passes to the 2024 EMA IMPACT Summit are now available! They'll go fast, so remember to secure yours early.
Now, let's get to our interview.
We are thrilled to have you speak at our upcoming EMA IMPACT Summit! Why is it important for academia and research to have a role in media and pop culture?
I'm so excited to participate in the IMPACT Summit! There are many great research stories, but most environmental scientists and engineers aren't in the best position to tell them. As scientists, we need to get deep into the weeds of the data and analysis to make sure that our research is correct. Most science writing is likelier to put people to sleep than engage them. For environmental researchers to make a difference in the world, we need the media and pop culture to tell stories that will give our research findings life and make them memorable, meaningful, and actionable.
What got you interested in sustainable systems and lifecycle analysis?
Like most good things, I found this type of research by accident. I have always wanted to pursue an environmentally related career. Initially, I wanted to study why particular pollution created deformed frogs. Ultimately, my advisor convinced me that while cleaning up pollution was important, understanding why companies make pollution is even more important – so we can design better products without creating that kind of pollution in the first place. That was the first time I really thought about the need to understand the whole "life cycle" of our stuff and think more broadly about how to direct efforts toward reducing our environmental problems.
Throughout your research, has anything stood out or surprised you?
Like many kids, I grew up thinking that the worst thing in the world is for something to go to landfill. Now that I research the total environmental impact of products from resource extraction, manufacturing, use, and disposal, I'm consistently surprised by the small environmental impact of disposal and landfills relative to the environmental effects that are mostly invisible to us. That's not to say that landfills are good! However, other impacts typically deserve more attention. As consumers, we tend to focus on what we can see, which tends to be what ends up in the trash or recycling bin. The most significant impacts are from making our stuff or the energy used to power our stuff.
What do you hope people take away from your research?
First, I'd like to help people develop a bigger picture understanding of the complexity of environmental problems. For example, we can ban plastic, which can reduce plastic's very real and important impacts. But what problems will be caused by the potential alternatives? We don't want to solve one problem only to create another.
I'd also like to use my research to help simplify the messaging around "going green" and help identify what actions make a difference. Knowing what decisions are best for the environment can be tough, even when you really care about reducing your impact. I want to help focus our societal conversations on the big picture stuff that matters rather than having people worry too much over whether to use cloth or paper napkins.
How do you envision the entertainment industry utilizing your research to tell environmentally responsible stories?
We need creative ways to make the invisible causes of climate change more visible. When rivers catch on fire or a turtle is entangled in plastic waste -- these problems are visible and visceral, and the solutions seem relatively obvious. Climate is much more challenging to visualize and understand. We can see plastic waste in our recycling bin, but we can't see climate emissions coming out of our cars. Even though we're starting to see and experience some of the impacts of climate change directly, the connection between those large-scale catastrophic events and the causes that are a part of everyday life is weak. The entertainment industry has a huge opportunity to help make some of these connections more real and help society understand the critical decisions that will lead to solutions.
See Shelie Miller and a long list of influential speakers at the 2024 EMA IMPACT Summit!
Interview by Jay Jasinski, Managing Director of Marketing & Campaigns, EMA.