Tara Wood

Thesis supervisor: Norma Joseph

Thesis title: Climate Attitudes Among Religious Communities and its Implication for Science Communication

Tara Wood is an MA student in Concordia’s Department of Religions and Cultures researching the intersections of culture, climate change, science communication and religions.

Tara graduated with a BSc (Biology) and an Honours in Religions and Cultures from Concordia, where she explored ‘Vaccine Hesitancy Among Religious Communities, and its Implication for Science Communication in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic’ for her Honours thesis.

Tara’s focus is on climate change and the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to mitigating and adapting to the impacts of our climate emergency.

While the physical impacts of climate-related disruption, such as extreme weather events are well documented in scientific literature, the societal considerations, which include policy change, climate denialism, forced displacement and loss of cultural identity also deserve dedicated scholarly attention.

Tara’s academic interests, coupled with her science background, bring a perspective to research  she hopes can contribute to targeted approaches to accelerate humanity’s ability to respond and adapt to a just transition to the climate crisis.

Tara is a settler from the treaty territory of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation committed to reconciliation. Her interests include conservation biology, gender & sexuality studies, clean and nuclear energy technology, globalization, and combatting disinformation.