Shaping the Dunes: Exploring Life in an Everchanging System - Science on Screen

Join us at the Palm Theatre to view, THE HOUSE OF SAND (2005), a mesmerizing portrait of people, place, and time set against an ever-shifting world of dunes. After the screening, Saule Baipsys of The Dunes Center, Sebastian Alvarez of UC Santa Barbara’s Department of Geography, and Dan Robinette, Principal Scientist & Coastal Program Leader at Point Blue Conservation Science, will help uncover what our own local dunes can teach us.

The discussion will walk through the themes of film primarily pertaining to the passage of time, highlighting the connection of geomorphology and anthropology while providing anthropological context. By reflecting on the passage of time, we will mirror these points as they pertain to our local dunes and the stories that they hold. By exploring this life and history, we will better understand how natural processes in the dunes have changed because of climatic and anthropological stressors.

About the Science on Screen: ‍

Science on Screen creatively pairs film with lively introduction lessons by notable figures from the world of science, technology, and medicine.

An Initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

About the Speakers:

Saule Baipsys is the Outreach and Volunteer Coordinator at The Dunes Center, where she brings together her love for people and the natural world. Along with obtaining her Environmental Management and Protection degree, she participated in research and fellowships which deepened her love and understanding of conservation and California’s unique natural resources.

Sebastian Alvarez is a PhD student and researcher in the Department of Geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he studies the geomorphology of California’s coastal dunes and their response to sea level rise. His research combines field observations, remote sensing, and coastal change analysis to better understand dune resilience along the California coast.

Dan Robinette is the Coastal Program Leader for Point Blue Conservation Science (www.pointblue.org) where he leads research and monitoring programs focused on developing marine birds as indicators of ecosystem condition. His research projects include investigating the impacts of human-caused disturbance, climate change, and habitat restoration on coastally breeding birds.

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