Thursday, May 21, 2026 at 3:00 PM
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
Co-presented with the UCLA Department of Media Arts To celebrate the 75th anniversary of Rachel Carson’s award-winning and widely influential book, *The Sea Around Us*, an interdisciplinary group of Indigenous culture bearers, scientists, artists, and ocean storytellers will address the legacy of DDT+, industrial, and radioactive waste dumping off the southern California coast. As a visionary marine biologist, Carson represented the science of the ocean alongside a sense of accountability to what she termed our “mother sea.” Through eight concise presentations, this symposium will explore the science behind the contamination, its impact on ocean ecosystems and marine mammals, Indigenous relationships to these waters, and how we might chart a path toward healing and accountability through diverse practices of caring for the deep. How do we understand the ocean not just as a dumping ground, but as a living ecosystem and sacred space? What does science tell us about the long-term impacts of DDT contamination? How do Indigenous knowledge systems offer alternative pathways to ocean stewardship? And what actions can we take to protect the sea around us? **Lihini Aluwihare**, Professor, UCSD Scripps Institution of Oceanography **Tina Orduno Calderon**, Culture bearer of the Tongva, Chumash and Yoeme Indigenous People **Elizabeth DeLoughrey**, Professor, UCLA Department of English and Institute of the Environment and Sustainability **Alissa C. Deming**, Vice President of Conservation Medicine and Science, Pacific Marine Mammal Center **Rebeca Méndez**, artist and professor, UCLA Department of Design Media Arts **Tina Treude**, Professor, UCLA Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences and Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences **Rev. Adelia Sandoval**, Spiritual leader of the Acjachemen Indigenous People **David Valentine**, Distinguished Professor, UCSB Department of Earth Science **Rosanna Xia, **investigative journalist at the *Los Angeles Times*