Borlaug Hall 375 and on Zoom
Join us Wednesdays at 3:30 for our fall departmental seminar series. This week will feature a talk by Jocelyn Lavallee, PhD, Senior Soil Scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund.
"What role can soils play in climate mitigation? Quantifying potential and tracking progress in agriculture and beyond"
Nature-based climate solutions (NbCS) are widely recognized as needed to achieve climate goals expressed in international agreements like the Paris Accord and are increasingly used to meet corporate sustainability claims. Soil-based NbCS pathways, primarily agricultural management practices intended to increase soil organic carbon (SOC) storage and reduce nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, are gaining traction. However, uncertainty remains around the magnitude of their climate benefits and how best to realize them. Dr. Lavallee's team’s work at EDF focuses on building shared understanding across scientific, policy, and private sectors of: (1) expected changes in soil carbon or GHG emissions due to management practice changes; (2) the extent to which social, environmental, and economic factors constrain soil-based NbCS potential; and (3) the ability to execute reliable monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) frameworks. In this talk, Dr. Lavalle offers examples of our work in these three areas while also describing her role as a Senior Scientist and the broader work of the Environmental Defense Fund.
Dr. Lavallee is a Senior Soil Scientist with expertise in soil carbon dynamics, soil functioning, and soil carbon measurement and modeling methods. In her current role, she assesses soil carbon monitoring schemes, soil-related climate mitigation efforts, and carbon crediting practices to determine real sequestration opportunities and ensure meaningful mitigation outcomes. Before joining EDF, Dr. Lavallee worked as a Research Scientist at Colorado State University (CSU) developing the MEMS model, and prior to that as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Manchester studying linkages between management practices, soil food webs, and drought resilience on working farms in the UK. She is an Affiliate of the Soil and Crop Sciences Department at CSU and maintains an active research program focused on soil organic matter dynamics at multiple scales. She lives in Fort Collins, CO. Outside of work, she is an avid rock climber and amateur gardener.