Learning about and engaging with the environment involves the integration of many disciplines and combines the classroom experience with work in the field, fusing theory and practice. At The New School the nucleus of this engagement is the Tishman Environment and Design Center. It is a place for students and faculty from all colleges and schools to gather, interact, and explore shared experiences. It facilitates research, curriculum development, internships, and fieldwork opportunities. It stimulates critical thinking and builds relationships through lectures, public programs, workshops, and conferences.
The center is exactly that, a center of creative work and experience that allows students and faculty to explore the curriculum, share and interact on projects, and research and work with the community at large to explore opportunities for collaboration.
Our environment is the larger New York metropolitan area. There are many opportunities to work with towns, cities, states, non-governmental groups, corporations, other universities, and other organizations. Through the Tishman Environment and Design Center, we hope to connect students and faculty to this broader coalition to enhance learning, civic engagement, and research.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Please join us:
RSVP – events@sustainabilitypractice.net
Date: June 21, 2011
Time: 6:00 - 8:00pm
Venue: The New School 65 West 11th Street Wollman Hall (5th Fl.) New York, NY 10011
Moderator: Marielle Anzelone, Conservation Biologist & Executive Director, NYC Wildflower Week
Panelists: – The following are invited to participate – Marcia Bystryn, Executive Director, New York League of Conservation Voters; Chris Garvin, Partner, Terrapin Bright Green & Senior Associate, Cook+Fox Architects; P. Timon McPhearson, Tishman Environment and Design Center, The New School; Samara Swanston, Pratt Institute Graduate School of Urban Planning and Hunter College Graduate School for Urban Affairs and Urban Planning
Biodiversity in Our Cities – The Case for Urban Nature:
Did you know that there is nature in New York City? The five boroughs are rich with forests, marshes, and meadows – more nature than any other city in North America. Yet these natural resources are threatened by habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation - the same factors that threaten biodiversity everywhere. In fact, about one-third of the native flora and fauna in the United States faces extinction. In our urbanized world, the idea of cities as “concrete jungles” is inaccurate and only further alienates people from the natural world. Conserving and maintaining the ecosystems on which cities depend is essential to the health, wellbeing, and quality of life of their citizens.
This panel will discuss the status of urban ecology in regional policies and national trends and especially the newly revised PlaNYC which mentions biodiversity and natural systems for the first time. The panel will examine how cities can develop comprehensive, collaborative, and proactive strategies for biodiversity conservation, management and restoration through government policies, public education, grassroots initiatives, business strategies and living systems design.
About SPN:
The Sustainability Practice Network (SPN) is a New-York-based forum for professionals working with corporate responsibility and sustainability issues to build community based on learning, discussion, information and idea exchange. There are over one thousand members on our list-serve, representing practitioners from industry, academia, government and NGO’s. For more information please visit: www.sustainabilitypractice.net
