Greg Goldsmith has his head in the clouds. But the Berkeley graduate student is also firmly grounded in today’s reality: the Central American cloud forests he loves are threatened by global warming. “There’s not much cloud forest, and it’s disappearing,” he said. To spread the word, Goldsmith teamed up with two visual artists to capture breathtaking, high-definition photos and video of a cloud forest in Costa Rica and then incorporated them into a middle-school curriculum, “Canopy in the Clouds,” about this unique but endangered ecosystem. “I knew from the beginning that I wanted an outreach component to my dissertation, and I asked myself, ‘How can I make this work accessible to the general public?’” said Goldsmith, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in integrative biology. “As a scientist, I’ve always believed that I have an obligation to explain my research to others.” Read the fullNewsCenter story by Robert Sanders Greg Goldsmith explains his fascination with cloud forests and his efforts to share that passion with elementary school students. (Costa Rica video footage courtesy Colin Witherill, Broadreach Images. Newscenter video by Roxanne Makasdjian)
Greg Goldsmith has his head in the clouds. But the Berkeley graduate student is also firmly grounded in today’s reality: the Central American cloud forests he loves are threatened by global warming. “There’s not much cloud forest, and it’s disappearing,” he said. To spread the word, Goldsmith teamed up with two visual artists to capture breathtaking, high-definition photos and video of a cloud forest in Costa Rica and then incorporated them into a middle-school curriculum, “Canopy in the Clouds,” about this unique but endangered ecosystem. “I knew from the beginning that I wanted an outreach component to my dissertation, and I asked myself, ‘How can I make this work accessible to the general public?’” said Goldsmith, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in integrative biology. “As a scientist, I’ve always believed that I have an obligation to explain my research to others.” Read the fullNewsCenter story by Robert Sanders Greg Goldsmith explains his fascination with cloud forests and his efforts to share that passion with elementary school students. (Costa Rica video footage courtesy Colin Witherill, Broadreach Images. Newscenter video by Roxanne Makasdjian)