Trainings & Events

Explore sea level rise & climate change with national experts as they examine the human and ecological challenges our coastlines face.

The Goodwin-Niering Center for the Environment at Connecticut College is proud to be hosting the 2026 Lear-Conant Environmental Symposium, Sea Level Rise: Measurement, Understanding, Adaptation.

Over the coming decades sea level rise, accelerated by climate change, will pose major challenges to densely populated coastal regions, including ecological and human impacts on coastal Connecticut and the Long Island Sound region. Relative sea level – the height of the sea level relative to land at a particular place – is a complex phenomenon affected by many variables, including water temperature, global sea level rise caused by melting ice, sedimentation, coastal infrastructure, and land subsidence.

This Lear-Conant Symposium will bring together dynamic researchers across varied disciplines and fields. Each of the speakers will discuss topics that consider the complexities of sea level, how we measure it, understand it, and what it means for human and ecological communities. This symposium builds on the strong tradition at Connecticut College of coastal salt marsh ecology and research on the impacts of sea level changes on tidal wetlands. The symposium will also provide an opportunity to discuss and explore what it means to care for places and communities that will be affected by sea level rise.

In conjunction with the symposium, the Goodwin-Niering Center will be hosting a small Coastal-Climate Exposition that will feature local community groups, NGO's, student groups and more. Space is limited, but if you're interested in exhibition tabling information, please contact the center at [email protected], subject line: SLR Expo.