Todd Looking

This month's Sustainability Champion is Landscape Ecologist and Professor Todd Lookingbill. Todd is the Chair of the Department of Geography and the Environment, as well as an Associate Professor of Biology and of Geography and the Environment.

Could you give a general overview of everything you're involved in right now with teaching and community engagement?
 I try to have a community engagement component in all of my classes. Right now, along with VCU and Groundworks RVA, we're involved with an urban heat island project here in the city of Richmond that's been organized by the Science Museum of Virginia. This summer, some of our students helped map temperatures around Richmond on the hottest day of the year. The preliminary maps are very interesting. For example, there was a 17 degree difference between downtown and Belle Isle during the hottest part of the day. We've also been able to map temperatures and see patterns on campus. Forested areas were cooler, of course, but the coolest area on campus is along the Gambles Mill Corridor. 
 
I'm also involved in a running project with James River Park System. They have an invasive species task force with lead implementation groups for all their park units and we've sort of adopted the Huguenot Flatwater area. This is our sixth semester removing invasive plants by hand down there with classes including Carrie Wu’s, and we're finally seeing visible impacts of all that time, so that's rewarding. My Landscape Ecology class has also studied and implemented invasive species management at Richmond National Battlefield Park for multiple years. Last year, Peter Smallwood and I combined our classes to help that park implement a 24-hour BioBlitz, in which we identified nearly 400 species in the park with the help of other UR faculty volunteers.
 
Then, this semester there's also one lab doing work with rock pools at Belle Isle. That's building off a project I did with Kristine Grayson over the summer with the University's Math Science Investigator's Program. Richmond Public Schools 10th graders participate in the program each summer and this year all 16 worked together to sample the diverse ecological communities in rock pools. Then they analyzed the data here on campus to test hypothesis about island biogeography. Now a BIO 202 and GEOG 250 course is continuing that work at the river. 
 
What personal research are you working on at the moment?
 A lot of my research right now focuses on national battlefield parks. Peter Smallwood and I are editing a book describing the collateral values of those landscapes. These parks were originally established for their cultural and historical significance after the Civil War, but today they've also become important environmental oases in the middle of a heck of a lot of suburbanization.
 
I'm also involved in long-term research in the Pacific Northwest, looking at the impact of climate change in old growth forests. I've been working on that research for almost 20 years, so I'm starting to see patterns that you really can't observe from a typical 3-5 year project. I go out there every summer and have brought nearly twenty students with me over the years. It's a wonderful place to take students to conduct cutting edge science at a National Science Foundation facility and to just get grounded in nature.  
 
What inspired you to study and teach about landscape ecology?
As an undergraduate student, I studied abroad in Tanzania, which involved some work with a national park there. From that experience, I realized that I was really interested in landscape ecology and protected lands. As far as teaching, after finishing grad school, I thought about what I valued in addition to research. It was really the interaction with students and the new ideas and perspectives that students bring when confronted with novel management problems, like how to rid a park of invasive species. 
 
What would you say is one of the most pressing ecological issues facing the city of Richmond currently?
Water management is going to be, and probably already is, the next frontier in environmentalism. It's going to be a drastic concern as the climate continues to change, with some areas drying up and other places experiencing life-threatening flooding. Good water management is especially important in a river city like Richmond. Rob Andrejewski and I are currently involved in RVA H2O, an initiative aimed at developing a comprehensive water management plan for Richmond that takes into account drinking, waste, stormwater, and environmental restoration. 
 
How did you get involved with Earth Lodge and what do you view as the biggest benefits of the program?
Earth Lodge is one of oldest living-learning communities at the University and my involvement with the program goes back 7 years when some students in Earth Lodge who were also in my Geography of the James River class thought it would be a good match. After that, I intentionally evolved Earth Lodge to focus more on watershed issues, so we've looked at different watersheds around the nation and compared them to the James River. We've also looked at ways to get students on campus to interact more with the river and we've had a recurrent focus on the Gambles Mill Corridor down by the community garden. 
 
Lucia Anderson, who manages the University's Outdoor Adventure and Recreation program, was actually in one of my first Geography of the James River Watershed classes. As she has grown the OAR program, it's been a fantastic resource for many of my classes and the Earth Lodge community. Now when we go to do invasive species removal, we get to go out on kayaks to an island in middle of the river to introduce students to the idea of island biogeography. Earth Lodge has also done a ton with OAR including regional river cleanups, a weekend at Presquile Island Nation Wildlife Refuge, and participation in the RiverRats Program last year. 
 
What are some of the most important takeaways that students should leave your classes understanding?
I think an appreciation of the important role that science plays in environmental decision-making, that that their actions have consequences, and that they have a voice in their future. I'm a very strong believer in local to global thinking, so we start classes looking at local issues, then see that similar things are happening elsewhere and that people's actions can collectively result in big effects. I also think that it's an exciting time to be a student at UR right now. The University has always been receptive to student's voices, but with a new strategic plan that defines responsible stewardship as one of our core values, there's a huge opportunity for students to help shape what sustainable stewardship could look like on campus for the years to come.
 
How has sustainability impacted your everyday life?
I constantly strive for a more sustainable life, although I'm far from perfection.  For example, before I came here I was a super-commuter, I drove 1.5 hours to work every day. Now that's down to 20 minutes, and my goal is to get that down to a biking commute. Basically, in every area of my life, I want to work on incremental steps towards a more sustainable self. 

Thank you, Todd, for all the work you do for our campus community! Do you know someone who should be featured as a Sustainability Champion? Let us know at sustainabilty@richmond.edu.