SEJ's 26th Annual Conference Agenda — Sunday

SciFi and CliFi Authors
Post-Conference Tour

Agenda

Lodging / Travel

Sunday, September 25, 2016

8:30 a.m. Buses depart from the front entrance of the Doubletree Hotel for the Sunday program at the Sacramento Library. Be sure to check out in time and have your luggage with you if you’re going directly to the airport from the morning program.

Pre-registration and $25 fee required. Breakfast and airport transportation included.

Bookstore

8:30 a.m. - Noon
Location: Library Galleria

The UC Davis bookstore is on site to sell SEJ members' and speakers' books, as well as offering environmental books handpicked for the SEJ conference.

SciFi and CliFi at the Library

9:00 - 11:00 a.m.

We’ll have a full breakfast in the spectacular Tsakopoulos Library Galleria of Sacramento’s Central Library, which opened in 1918 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Science fiction and climate fiction authors will join us and discuss their genre within context of today’s environmental issues and climate change science. Does SciFi advance climate change discussion or does it obscure realities? Does it bum you out or give you hope?

Moderator: Christy George, Independent Journalist

Speakers:
David Brin, Author, "Existence," "Earth," "The Postman," "Kiln People," the Uplift series, and YA, graphic novels and nonfiction including "The Transparent Society"
Scott Lankford, Professor of English, Language Arts Division, Foothill College
Nancy Lord, former Alaska Writer Laureate and Author, "The Pteropod Gang" (clifi) and "Early Warming" (nonfiction)

Self-Guided Tours

Time: 11:00 a.m. - Noon

Following the session attendees can tour the library and nearby historic Capitol Building and Crocker Art Museum, which will waive the admission fee for conference attendees.

Noon: Conference ends and shuttles take attendees back to hotels or to airport, with airport arrival no later than 1:00 p.m.

Post-Conference Tour

Tall Trees and the Range of Light

(Sunday, September 25 – Wednesday, September 28)

NOTE: Deadline to sign up was July 25 and that was also the deadline date for cancellation with refund (less $75 processing fee). No refunds can be made for post-conference tour cancellations after that date but substitutions can be made.

Bridalveil Fall from viewpoint at end of trail.
Photo courtesy of NPS.

Trek to the Sierra Nevada to celebrate the National Park Service centennial by visiting three of its most fêted units: Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks. From our tent cabins we’ll visit Half Dome, Bridalveil Fall and Glacier Point, viewing these iconic spots through the scientific lens of climate change. At Sequoia/Kings Canyon we’ll learn how four years of drought are affecting the biggest trees in the world and the ecological importance of mountain meadows. Along the way we’ll hear from top park officials and the myriad stakeholders that collectively make management of our national treasures a complex equation.

This tour departs Sacramento following the Sunday authors program and returns to Sacramento no later than 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 28, when you are on your own for lodging. (Vans will drop you at the airport or your hotel, whichever you prefer.) The $400 fee covers all transportation and lodging in the parks and some meals and fees. Lodging is two per tent cabin with bathrooms and showers nearby. This tour has been confirmed and is full. If you got in on this great deal, go ahead and book your flight, keeping in mind you may not be back in Sacramento until 8:00 p.m. on Wed.

Grant Grove Cabins (Sequoia and Kings Canyon; regular beds)
Half Dome Village (Yosemite; cot-like beds)

Tour Leaders:
Jane Braxton Little, Freelance Journalist
Amy Quinton, Environment Reporter, Capital Public Radio

Yosemite and Other Speakers:
Marcia Argust, Director, Restore America’s Parks, The Pew Charitable Trusts
Ben Cunningham-Summerfield, Indian Cultural Program, Yosemite National Park
Scott Gediman, Public Affairs Specialist, Yosemite National Park
Kelly Martin, Chief of Fire and Aviation Management, Yosemite National Park
Linda Mazzu, Chief of Resources Management and Science, Yosemite National Park
Gregor Schuurman, Ecologist, Climate Change Response Program, National Park Service

Sequoia and Kings Canyon Speakers:
Dana Dierkes, Public Affairs Specialist, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
Erik Frenzel, Ecologist, Division of Resource Management and Science, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
Koren Nydick, Science Coordinator/Ecologist, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
Nate Stephenson, Research Ecologist, Western Ecological Research Center, U.S. Geological Survey

Wednesday, September 21
Thursday, September 22
Friday, September 23
Saturday, September 24

Public