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Kingston Air Quality Initiative at Bard College Reports After Three Years of Monitoring

The Center for the Environment Sciences and Humanities at Bard College is pleased to announce the findings of the Kingston Air Quality Initiative (KAQI) after three consecutive years of research and data collection. KAQI began in January 2020 as a partnership between Bard’s Community Sciences Lab and the City of Kingston Conservation Advisory Council’s Air Quality Subcommittee. Since then, Kingston residents and Bard College students, staff, and faculty have facilitated both indoor and outdoor air quality monitoring projects throughout Ulster County.

Kingston Air Quality Initiative at Bard College Reports After Three Years of Monitoring

The Center for the Environment Sciences and Humanities at Bard College is pleased to announce the findings of the Kingston Air Quality Initiative (KAQI) after three consecutive years of research and data collection.

KAQI began in January 2020 as a partnership between Bard’s Community Sciences Lab and the City of Kingston Conservation Advisory Council’s Air Quality Subcommittee. Since then, Kingston residents and Bard College students, staff, and faculty have facilitated both indoor and outdoor air quality monitoring projects throughout Ulster County. Standing as the first air quality study of its kind in Kingston, KAQI’s monitoring efforts focus on a regional assessment of air pollution as measured from the roof of the Andy Murphy Neighborhood Center on Broadway in Kingston.

KAQI’s main monitoring efforts focus on a regional assessment of air pollution from fine particulate matter (PM2.5), made up of microscopic particles that are the products of burning fuel, and is released into the air through exhausts from oil burners, gas burners, automobiles, cooking, grilling, and both indoor and outdoor wood burning. PM 2.5 particles are so tiny, they stay suspended in the air for long periods of time, allowing them to travel long distances before depositing. When these particles are inhaled, they can enter the bloodstream through the lungs, creating or exacerbating health issues. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that “small particulate pollution has health impacts even at very low concentrations – indeed no threshold has been identified below which no damage to health is observed.”

After 3 years of monitoring in Kingston, air quality trends associated with daily activities are observable. The findings show that air pollution in the city is variable and appears to have a seasonal context—higher levels of pollution are shown during colder months (associated with fuel burning), and lower levels are generally seen in spring and summer. The difference between levels seen during 2020—when COVID shut down many activities and resulted in a decrease in vehicles on the road—and pollution levels detected in years since is also significant.

Two important measures of PM2.5 air quality are the annual mean standard and the 24-hour average standard. Kingston’s PM2.5 air quality met the annual standards of both the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the WHO, although it came close to exceeding the latter. For the 24-hour standard, air quality met the EPA’s but exceeded the WHO’s.

As of January, 2023, a revision was proposed to change the EPA's primary public health-based annual standard from its current level of 12.0 micrograms per meter squared to the range of 9.0-10.0 micrograms per meter squared. This revision would lean closer toward, but not come close to meeting, the WHO's PM 2.5 annual standard of 5 micrograms per meter squared. Based on the EPA annual mean calculations, these values come close to exceeding the WHO annual standard.

One factor associated with instances of air quality breaching the WHO’s 24-hour threshold is the development of atmospheric inversions, which occur when the temperature of the atmosphere increases instead of decreases with altitude and surface level air parcels are unable to rise up, trapping any present air pollution at ground level. Being in the Hudson Valley, Kingston is more susceptible to inversion events as the air is blocked from all directions. It's possible that, if Kingston residents were aware of when these events are occurring, we could start making different decisions about woodburning and car use during these times to make our air cleaner for all. Another potential factor may be pollutants from smoke carried from wildfires on the West Coast.

More detail about KAQI’s findings can be found at the Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities website: https://cesh.bard.edu/kingston-air-quality-initiative-kaqi/

“While our annual averages meet EPA standards, as many residents of Kingston and the surrounding areas know, air quality at ground level can vary widely from neighborhood to neighborhood,” said Lorraine Farina, co-founder of KAQI and the Hudson Valley Air Quality Coalition, and former Kingston CAC air quality sub-committee chair. “The average adult takes in 1000 breaths per hour, and exposures to dangerous fine particulate matter very much depend on whether wood is being burned nearby, as burning wood is dirtier and more polluting than burning oil, gas, or coal. There is no safe level of exposure to PM 2.5, so the expanding neighborhood-level monitoring efforts of the Bard Community Science Lab will help residents understand the actual air quality right where they are breathing, so we can all make choices that benefit both our health and that of the planet.”

“I want to thank Bard and the Community Sciences Lab for allowing Kingston to participate in this initiative,” said Steve Noble, the mayor of Kingston. “I am pleased to see that our air quality is superior to many of the places around us, but it’s a profound reminder that our daily activities do impact our health, and the health of our environment. We appreciate Bard’s investment in monitoring Kingston’s air, as it has been an invaluable learning tool. Together with Kingston’s Conservation Advisory Council, we will continue to monitor local air quality alerts, and will continue to work together with leaders in our region on policy and initiatives for cleaner air.”

Dr. Eli Dueker, co-director of the Bard Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities, added, “Clean air is something we often take for granted in the Hudson Valley. Our findings show that meeting annual EPA standards (particularly current standards) is one thing, but on a day-to-day basis, our air quality is sometimes degraded and can be unhealthy. After all, we are not breathing on an average yearly basis—we are breathing on a second-by-second basis. We can make decisions as a community to keep our own air clean – for example, we could reduce or even stop our wood-burning in city limits (particularly on days with atmospheric inversions), reduce our car use, and make our homes more energy efficient.”
The Center for the Environment Sciences and Humanities at Bard College, in collaboration with KAQI, has been working on a handful of air quality related projects centralized around community needs and concerns. These include:

Developing a publicly-accessible atmospheric inversion monitoring system for the Kingston area.
Neighborhood-level air quality monitoring, through the fast-developing Hudson Valley Library Air Quality Network. Using outdoor real-time air quality monitoring devices stationed at public libraries, air quality data is free and accessible online. We are always looking for new locations throughout the Hudson Valley to add to the network and provide more localized data for residents. If any libraries are interested, please reach out to [email protected].
In partnership with SUNY-Albany, conducting indoor and outdoor air quality monitoring in homes with woodsmoke, mold and structurally-related air quality challenges.

For more information or ways to get involved, please visit https://kingston-ny.gov/airquality or https://cesh.bard.edu/kingston-air-quality-initiative-kaqi/.

Post Date: 06-05-2023

Bard Student Research on Housing Justice Cited in Times Union Article “Evicted in Kingston: Voices from a Crisis”

According to a recent Times Union article, the city of Kingston, New York, doesn’t keep track of corporate housing ownership. “But Kwame Holmes, a professor at Bard, and his class did a deep dive on a chunk of Midtown Kingston in 2020, which led to some revealing findings,” the article cites. “Of 481 Midtown properties, non-locals owned 275 . . . Limited liability corporations owned 87 properties, 10 of which shared names with corporate landlords operating in states across the country.”

Myra Young Armstead Spoke with the Times Union about the Life and Legacy of James F. Brown, “One of the Country’s First Black Master Gardeners”

While slave narratives—“first-person retellings of the enslaved experience”—were persuasive to white abolitionists and widely distributed, quieter but no less important details about the early years of emancipation can be found in the diaries of one of the country’s first Black Master Gardeners, James F. Brown. Myra Young Armstead, vice president for academic inclusive excellence and Lyford Paterson Edwards and Helen Gray Edwards Professor of Historical Studies, spoke with the Times Union about Brown’s life and legacy.

More EUS News

Associate Professor of Biology Brooke Jude to Lead Regenerative Dye Research as Part of Daughters for Earth Grant

Associate Professor of Biology Brooke Jude to Lead Regenerative Dye Research as Part of Daughters for Earth Grant

As part of one of 26 women-led projects in 17 countries, Associate Professor of Biology Brooke Jude will participate in a project to regenerate natural fabric dyeing processes with traditional Moroccan weavers as part of a Daughters for Earth grant awarded to Around the World in 80 Fabrics. “These grants, totaling over $600,000, are a part of our mission to deliver critical resources into the hands of the women on the frontlines of climate action,” says Daughters for Earth of this year’s grant winners. Professor Jude will lead microbial dye foraging alongside our natural plant dye research as part of a team that “will bring together traditional weavers, researchers, designers, textile experts, scientists, anthropologists, and businesswomen to create sustainable dyeing processes that Ain Leuh Women's Cooperative can use.” The cooperative, which was founded by local women in the Atlas Mountain region of Morocco, has used traditional weaving techniques to support their families for decades. Today, because of the pressures of demand from global trade, synthetic dyes are used more frequently, produced with chemicals that impact weaver health and the environment. The collaboration between the Ain Leuh Cooperative, Artisan Project, Around the World in 80 Fabrics, the Microbe Institute, and Bard College will help to create “an open-source natural dye, plant, and microbial resource book with a map and dye recipes,” with the goal of improving the health of Ain Leuh weavers and the health of the local ecosystem.

Learn More about Daughters for Earth

Learn More about Professor Jude’s Project

Post Date: 01-08-2023

Peter L’Official Interviews Architect and Writer Sekou Cooke on Hip-Hop as a Blueprint for Architecture

Peter L’Official Interviews Architect and Writer Sekou Cooke on Hip-Hop as a Blueprint for Architecture

For Architectural Record, Bard Associate Professor of Literature and Director of the American and Indigenous Studies Program Peter L’Official interviews architect and writer Sejou Cooke, who is the curator of Close to the Edge: The Birth of Hip-Hop Architecture, an exhibition on view at the Museum of Design Atlanta through January 29, 2023.

In the interview, L’Official quotes from Cooke’s 2021 book Hip-Hop Architecture: “Many have managed to exist simultaneously as successful architects and Black. Few have managed to express their Blackness through their architecture. Within hip-hop culture lies the blueprint for an architecture that is authentically Black with the power to upend the racist structures within the architectural establishment and ignite a new paradigm of creative production.” L’Official references Toni Morrison’s “unapologetic use of codes embedded in Black culture” and “her own struggle for writing that was ‘indisputably black,’” asking Cooke “Does Hip-Hop Architecture also strive for an architecture that is, after Morrison, ‘indisputably black?’”

Read the interview in Architectural Record

Post Date: 12-06-2022

Bard Biologists Elias Dueker, Gabriel Perron, Daniella Azulai ’17, and Mary Reid ’21 Copublish Study on the Impacts of Wastewater Treatment Discharge in Saw Kill River

Bard Biologists Elias Dueker, Gabriel Perron, Daniella Azulai ’17, and Mary Reid ’21 Copublish Study on the Impacts of Wastewater Treatment Discharge in Saw Kill River

Associate Professor of Environmental and Urban Studies M. Elias Dueker, Associate Professor of Biology Gabriel G. Perron, and Bard biology graduates Daniella Azulai ’17 and Mary Reid ’21 have copublished a new study, “Bacteria communities and water quality parameters in riverine water and sediments near wastewater discharges,” in the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Data. Over five months, they monitored microbial contaminants relating to the treated water outflow of the wastewater treatment plant operated by Bard, which releases into the Saw Kill, a tributary of the Hudson River and also the source of fresh water for the campus. This is the first of many datasets and research papers that they hope to publish on Bard’s water system. Preliminary data analyses provide insight into the impacts of watershed-wide usage of the Saw Kill as both drinking water source and treated sewage receiver. Future use of this dataset will include a focus on endotoxins and antibiotic resistant bacterial genes, water contaminants only now gaining broader attention in water quality and microbiological sciences.

All of the sampling was conducted as a joint Bard Summer Research Institute project between Dueker’s lab and Perron's lab in summer 2015. Lab members included: Marco Spodek ’17, Beckett Lansbury ’16, Yuejiao Wan ’17, Pola Kuhn ’17, Haley Goss-Holmes ’17. Coauthors Azulai and Reid worked on this project both as undergraduate and post-baccalaureate students.

“This project demonstrates the power of community asking scientific questions, and academia–students, faculty, and staff–being able to help answer those questions through careful observational and applied research,” said Dueker. “Our hope is that this database serves as a tool for researchers and communities around the world trying to respond to stewardship challenges in a science-based and community-accessible way.”

Read the full study in Scientific Data

Bard CESH Sawkill Monitoring Program

Post Date: 10-04-2022

“What Is a Pond?”: New Study Coauthored by Bard Professor Robyn L. Smyth Featured on ScienceDaily

“What Is a Pond?”: New Study Coauthored by Bard Professor Robyn L. Smyth Featured on ScienceDaily

Nearly everyone can identify a pond, but what, exactly, distinguishes it from a lake or a wetland? Robyn L. Smyth, Bard Center for Environmental Policy faculty member and term associate professor of environmental and urban studies, is coauthor of a new study featured on ScienceDaily that offers the first data-driven, functional definition of a pond and evidence of ponds’ distinct ecological function, which could have broad implications for science and policy.

Understudied and largely left out of federal and state monitoring and protection programs, ponds are often poorly distinguished from lakes or wetlands. This neglect has implications for the accuracy of climate modeling, as ponds are high emitters of greenhouse gases, and their contribution to the global carbon budget is uncertain. In their study, coauthors wanted to evaluate how scientists and policymakers define ponds and examine whether ponds are functionally distinct from lakes and wetlands. Their findings conclude: Ponds are small and shallow waterbodies, with a maximum surface area of five hectares, a maximum depth of 5 meters and less than 30% emergent vegetation.

Read more on ScienceDaily

Post Date: 08-30-2022

Bard Professor Peter L’Official Wins Rabkin Prize for Visual Art Journalism

Bard Professor Peter L’Official Wins Rabkin Prize for Visual Art Journalism

Peter L’Official, associate professor of literature and director of the American Studies Program at Bard College, has won a Rabkin Prize of $50,000 for his work in visual art journalism. L’Official is one of eight visual art journalists to receive a Rabkin Prize from the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation. Jurors for this sixth cycle of awards were: Eric Gibson (Arts in Review editor of the Wall Street Journal), Sasha Anawalt (Professor Emerita of Journalism at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism), and Paul Schmelzer (Founder of The Ostracon: Dispatches from Beyond Contemporary Art’s Center).

“I am humbled to be recognized among such a brilliant group of fellow recipients by the Rabkin Foundation. Thank you to the jurors, the anonymous nominators, the Rabkin Trustees, and—most especially—to all the editors and writers and readers who make the work of arts criticism both possible and worthwhile,” said L’Official.

Peter L’Official (he/him) is a writer, arts critic, and teacher of literature and American studies from The Bronx, NY. He is an associate professor in literature and director of the American Studies Program at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, where he teaches courses in African American literature and culture, twentieth- and twenty-first century American literature, and on how the visual arts intersect with literature, place, and architecture. He is also the project coordinator for “Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck,” a grant supported by the Mellon Foundation “Humanities for All Times” Initiative.

L'Official is the author of Urban Legends: The South Bronx in Representation and Ruin, published by Harvard University Press in 2020. His writing has appeared in Artforum, The Believer, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The New Yorker, The Paris Review Daily, The Village Voice, and other publications, and he is on the editorial board of The European Review of Books. He has written catalogue essays for exhibitions by artists such as Carl Craig and Becky Suss, and his next book project will explore the intersections of literature, architecture, and Blackness in America. L’Official has a B.A. in English from Williams College, and an M.A. in Journalism from New York University’s Cultural Reporting and Criticism program. He received his Ph.D. in American studies from Harvard University, and was formerly a fellow at the Charles Warren Center for American History at Harvard University in 2014-15.

Now in its sixth cycle, the Rabkin Prize started in 2017. To date, the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation has given a total of $2,775,000 to individual art writers. The award program is by nomination only. A distinguished group of 16 nominators, working in the visual arts in all parts of the country, provided the list of potential winners. The nominators were asked to identify, “The essential visual art journalist working in your part of the country.” Candidates for the award submitted two recent published articles and a brief curriculum vita. Writers can be re-nominated and are eligible until they win a Rabkin Prize. This is an annual program and a central initiative of the foundation.

This cycle’s other winning journalists include: Shana Nys Dambrot (Los Angeles); Bryn Evans (Decatur, Georgia); Joe Fyfe (New York City); Stacy Pratt (Tulsa); Darryl F. Ratcliff, II (Dallas); Jeanne Claire van Ryzin (Austin); Margo Vansynghel (Seattle).

Post Date: 07-19-2022

Professor Gidon Eshel Rejects the Inevitability of Famine in Our Present Moment, Offering Alternatives in Bloomberg

Professor Gidon Eshel Rejects the Inevitability of Famine in Our Present Moment, Offering Alternatives in Bloomberg

As the world contends with a looming famine crisis, Gidon Eshel, research professor of Environmental and Urban Studies, rejects the narrative of inevitability, offering pragmatic solutions to save millions from going hungry. In the short term, the global livestock feed stockpile of “over 250 million tons of wheat, barley, oats, and other cereals” could be redirected to “lifesaving human food,” Eshel writes for Bloomberg. Long term, reductions in the consumption of beef could accomplish similar ends toward more efficient utilization of wheat and grains. Regardless, famine is not a foregone conclusion, Eshel argues, but rather one that the world, collectively, is choosing. “If, as predicted, millions will soon go hungry, it will not be a ‘Putin famine’ but a readily preventable famine of choice, arising because the people and leaders of wealthy nations have decided that preventing it is too inconvenient,” he concludes.

Read More in Bloomberg

Post Date: 05-17-2022

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Four Corners Community Farm, 324 Budds Corners Rd, Red Hook 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
The fourth workshop in this season-long Organic Gardening for Beginners series dives into basic garden bed preparation to boost soil fertility, while maintaining its integrity, thus creating a suitable environment to get your plants off to a great start. We then introduce alternative garden bed strategies and ask participants to consider which style(s) are right for them. Are you a renter with a small back deck? Maybe container gardens are your perfect match. Do you have a yard with rocky soil? Raised beds might be your best bet. We will discuss different planting practices to help you meet your goals, whether you want an intensive planting style that maximizes yield, or row-by-row for easy weed management. We also talk about the practice of “companion planting” to benefit the many lives in a garden. This workshop is free and open to all. Please register before Thursday, April 28th, if you need childcare, Spanish interpretation, or (for Bard students) transportation from campus.

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El cuarto taller de este serie de Jardinería Orgánica Para Principiantes arranca con preparación básica de tus camas de cultivo para agregar nutrientes al suelo, mientras mantiene su integridad, y así crear un ambiente adecuado para dar a sus plantas un buen inicio. Luego introducimos estrategias alternativas para sembrar y preguntamos a los participantes cual(es) estilo(s) es más apto para su situación. ¿Rentas un departamento con una terraza chiquita? Tal vez te late sembrar en contenedores. ¿Tienes un traspatio con suelo muy rocoso? Camas levantadas pueden ser la mejor opción. Discutiremos diferentes métodos de siembra para ayudarte a alcanzar tu metas, tanto como un estilo intensivo para maximizar su cosecha, o en filas para manejar malezas más fácilmente. Además tocaremos el tema del "compañerismo de plantas" en el jardín para aprovechar sus beneficios. Este taller es gratuito y abierto a todo público. Favor de registrar antes del jueves, 28 de abril, si requieres guardería para niños, traducción al español, o si eres estudiantes de Bard que quiere transportación desde el campus.

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Four Corners Community Farm, 324 Budds Corners Rd, Red Hook 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm EST/GMT-5
Register here / Registrarte aquí

This second workshop in a season-long series addresses starting and planting seeds for your garden. Should you start them indoors and then transplant them? Or should you plant them directly into the ground? We will discuss why each technique works well for certain types of crops, how to time your indoor starts, and methods of direct seeding for different sizes of gardens.

This workshop is hands-on! We will be in the greenhouse at Four Corners Community Farm starting seeds for your home garden or community plot right here at the farm. Bring a few of your own seeds to the workshop if you want to get some practice and take home the results! Childcare and Spanish interpretation are available. Transportation is available from campus for Bard students. If you would like any of these options prepared for you, please let us know by registering no later than Thursday, March 10. These events are free and open to the public.

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Este segundo taller del serie enfoca en sembrar y transplantar semillas para su jardín. ¿Es mejor empezar adentro y luego transplantar? ¿O es preferible sembrar directo en la tierra? Discutiremos cuáles técnicas funcionan mejor según la variedad de planta, cómo calendarizar su siembra, y los métodos adecuados para diferentes tamaños de jardín. Este taller es teórico pero también pondremos manos a la obra en nuestro invernadero sembrando semillas para su propio jardín o para su parcela adoptiva aquí mismo en la granja. Trae un poco de tu propia semilla para sembrar si quieres adquirir práctica y para llevar a casa el resultado.

Tenemos disponible guardería para niños y traducción al español. Transportación desde el campus de Bard también está disponible para estudiantes. Si deseas cualquier de estos servicios extras, favor de dejarnos saber en su registración antes del jueves 10 de marzo. Estos eventos son gratuitos y abiertos a todo público.

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Thursday, April 22, 2021

White Nationalism, White Supremacy, and the Environmental Movement
Online Event 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
National experts Eric Ward, Scot Nakagawa, and Lindsay Schubiner will lead the Bard community, regional community leaders, and Hudson Valley NGOs in exploring connections between white supremacy, the growth of white nationalism, and the environmental movement over the past 30 years.

Eric K. Ward is a nationally-recognized expert on the relationship between authoritarian movements, hate violence, and preserving inclusive democracy. In his 30+ year civil rights career, he has worked with community groups, government and business leaders, human rights advocates, and philanthropy as an organizer, director, program officer, consultant, and board member. The recipient of the Peabody-Facebook Futures Media Award, Eric’s widely quoted writings and speeches are credited with key narrative shifts. He currently serves as Executive Director of Western States Center, Senior Fellow with Southern Poverty Law Center and Race Forward, and Co-Chair for The Proteus Fund.

Scot Nakagawa is senior partner of ChangeLab, a national racial equity think/act lab addressing issues of demographic change and the transformation of racial identity and meaning in the United States in context of globalization, including the rise of white nationalism and of right wing nationalist movements in communities of color.

Lindsay Schubiner directs Western States Center’s program to counter the dangerous ascension of white nationalism and hate violence across the country. She previously led advocacy efforts against anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim bigotry at the Center for New Community. Lindsay has served as a congressional staffer handling housing, health, and immigration policy, and managed advocacy for sexual health and rights at American Jewish World Service.

https://bard.zoom.us/j/6091568866

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

A talk by artist and filmmaker Marwa Arsanios
3:00 pm – 4:30 pm EDT/GMT-4
In this talk, Marwa Arsanios will present the research she has been conducting since 2017, which took her to different geographies such as Iraqi Kurdistan and southern Colombia, and to the encounter of different women's communes and feminist cooperatives that are directly resisting the dispossession of their land and resources and fighting for a "diprivatization" and a communalization process. Working at the intersection of feminist, ecological, and land struggles, they are often making paradigmatic shifts that Arsanios will try to articulate. She will also talk about her position as an artist and researcher in relation to their struggles, especially when it comes to their theoretical and political paradigms.

Marwa Arsanios is an artist, filmmaker, and researcher who reconsiders politics of the mid 20th century from a contemporary perspective, with a particular focus on gender relations, urbanism, and industrialization. She approaches research collaboratively and seeks to work across disciplines. Arsanios has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Skuc gallery in Lujubljana (2018); Beirut Art Center (2017); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2016); Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam (2016); Kunsthalle Lissabon, Lisbon (2015); and Art in General, New York (2015). Her work has also been shown in a number of group exhibitions, including the Warsaw Biennial (2019), Sharjah Biennial (2019), Gwangju Biennial (2018), Lulea Biennial (2018), Let’s Talk About the Weather, Sursock Museum, Beirut (2016); Thessaloniki Biennial (2015); Home Works Forum, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut (2010, 2013, 2015); Here and Elsewhere, New Museum, New York (2014); 55th Venice Biennale (2013); and 12th Istanbul Biennial (2011), among others. Arsanios is the recipient of the Georges de Beauregard award at FID Marseille (2019) and the Special Prize of the Pinchuk Future Generation Art Prize (2012). She was a fellow at Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany (2014), and the Tokyo Wonder Site, Tokyo Arts and Space (2010). She is the cofounder of the 98weeks Research Project. Arsanios received a master's of fine art, University of the Arts London (2007), and was a researcher in the Fine Art Department, Jan Van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, The Netherlands (2011–12). She is currently a PhD candidate at the Akademie der bildenden Kunst in Vienna.

This event is organized in conjunction with MES301, Solidarity as Worldmaking.

Tuesday, April 20, 3pm Annandale / 9pm Berlin / 10pm Abu Dis

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Online Event 5:15 pm – 6:45 pm EDT/GMT-4
Environmental and infrastructural transformations in Turkey’s expansive swamps and marshes have unfolded against the backdrop of tightening authoritarian rule and the rise of wetland conservation. Drawing on fieldwork with farmers, scientists, and bureaucrats in two Turkish agrarian deltas, this talk explores how relationships between water, sediment, infrastructure, plants, and animals matter in contemporary Turkey, and what these relationships reveal about the intersection of moral and ecological concerns in the current moment. The “wetland” emerged as a globally significant scientific category over the course of the 20th century, becoming a key concept within Turkish state-making projects built on attempts to manipulate swampy nature. As transnational science and environmentalism cast the wetland in a starring role, Turkish farmers, scientists, and bureaucrats also drew on wetlands (sulakalanlar) as a novel idiom for claiming divergent ecological futures. I analyze these transformations between humans, non-humans, and their unstable surroundings in Turkey through the concept of moral ecologies—contrasting notions of just relations among people, land, water, infrastructure, animals, and plants. Divergent moral claims about ecology, infrastructure, and the livelihood of nonhuman animals have become central to a Turkish politics of livability. This approach to the wetlands of contemporary Turkey demonstrates how the valuation and governance of non-human creatures and elemental assemblages are not only entangled with human politics: they constitute it.

Caterina Scaramelli is an anthropologist of the environment and science. After completing her PhD at MIT's History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology and Society Program, she was a postdoctoral fellow in the Centre for Humanistic Inquiry and in the Anthropology Department at Amherst College, and an Agrarian Studies postdoctoral associate at Yale. Currently, she is research assistant professor in the departments of Anthropology and of Earth and Environment at Boston University. Scaramelli's research addresses practices and politics of environmental expertise and the political ecology of conservation. Her fieldwork in Turkey has focused on the making and unmaking of watery places—rivers, wetlands, marshes, urban waters, and agricultural irrigation—and now she is studying the cultivation and contested meanings of "local" agricultural seeds. Her first book, How to Make a Wetland: Water and Moral Ecology in Turkey, was published in March 2021 with Stanford University Press.

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Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Friday, December 11, 2020

Monday, December 7, 2020

Friday, November 13, 2020

Urban Legends
The South Bronx in Representation and Ruin
Online Event 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm EST/GMT-5
A cultural history of the South Bronx that reaches beyond familiar narratives of urban ruin and renaissance, beyond the “inner city” symbol, to reveal the place and people obscured by its myths.
For decades, the South Bronx was America’s “inner city.” Synonymous with civic neglect, crime, and metropolitan decay, the Bronx became the preeminent symbol used to proclaim the failings of urban places and the communities of color who lived in them. Images of its ruins—none more infamous than the one broadcast live during the 1977 World Series: a building burning near Yankee Stadium—proclaimed the failures of urbanism.
Yet this same South Bronx produced hip hop, arguably the most powerful artistic and cultural innovation of the past fifty years. Two narratives—urban crisis and cultural renaissance—have dominated understandings of the Bronx and other urban environments. Today, as gentrification transforms American cities economically and demographically, the twin narratives structure our thinking about urban life.
A Bronx native, Peter L’Official draws on literature and the visual arts to recapture the history, people, and place beyond its myths and legends. Both fact and symbol, the Bronx was not a decades-long funeral pyre, nor was hip hop its lone cultural contribution. L’Official juxtaposes the artist Gordon Matta-Clark’s carvings of abandoned buildings with the city’s trompe l’oeil decals program; examines the centrality of the Bronx’s infamous Charlotte Street to two Hollywood films; offers original readings of novels by Don DeLillo and Tom Wolfe; and charts the emergence of a “global Bronx” as graffiti was brought into galleries and exhibited internationally, promoting a symbolic Bronx abroad.
Urban Legends presents a new cultural history of what it meant to live, work, and create in the Bronx.

An excerpt from Pete's book can also be found HERE

Friday, November 13, 2020

Thursday, October 29, 2020

Thursday, October 22, 2020

Friday, October 16, 2020

Thursday, October 15, 2020

Friday, October 9, 2020

Thursday, October 8, 2020

Thursday, October 1, 2020

Thursday, September 24, 2020

Thursday, September 17, 2020

Thursday, September 10, 2020

Thursday, September 3, 2020

Thursday, August 27, 2020

Thursday, August 20, 2020

Thursday, August 13, 2020

Thursday, August 6, 2020

Thursday, July 30, 2020

Thursday, July 23, 2020

Thursday, July 16, 2020

Thursday, July 9, 2020

Thursday, July 2, 2020

Thursday, June 25, 2020

Thursday, June 18, 2020

Thursday, June 11, 2020

Friday, May 8, 2020

Thursday, April 16, 2020

Friday, April 10, 2020

Thursday, April 2, 2020

Friday, March 13, 2020

Thursday, March 12, 2020

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Alexis Becker, Assistant Professor of English, Ithaca College
Olin, Room 205 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
Bruce M.S. Campbell has recently suggested that climate history think of the period between the 1260s and 1470s as a distinct transitional period between the Medieval Climate Anomaly (or Medieval Warm Period) and the Little Ice Age. Alongside this re-periodization, I want to think about how climate can help literary scholars think about, and experiment with, our own often fraught periodizations. Near the beginning of what Campbell calls the Great Transition (a period that brought with it, in England, famine, plague, and a newly energized vernacular literature), was the Wolf Solar Minimum, an approximately seventy-year period of decreased solar activity. The Wolf Minimum period saw an uptick in certain kinds of literary productions in England, particularly Middle English versions and translations of romance. While the environment and textual production are intricately intertwined, I am not claiming that climate has a direct or immediately calculable effect on literature, literary production, or reading habits. But what happens when we use climatic periods, in addition to the other ideologically invested forms of chronological partitioning we currently use, to think with? What happens when we think about, for example, this period of decreased solar activity as a discrete period of literary production? Can it help us make sense of our own period of climate crises and cultural productions? As material for this experiment, I will be looking at a Wolf Solar Minimum text, one that was likely written during this period and which survives in a manuscript from this period. Sir Orfeo, a retelling of the Orpheus myth as an otherworld adventure with a happy ending, is in the Auchinleck Manuscript from around 1331. I will be reading this text—and thinking about its manuscript context—with attention to its climatic period.

Monday, March 9, 2020

Saturday, March 7, 2020

Friday, March 6, 2020

Please join us for a roundtable featuring anthropologists Bridget Guarasci (Franklin and Marshall College) and Gökçe Günel (Rice University), moderated by Sophia Stamatopoulou-Robbins.

Short presentations by Professors Guarasci and Günel will be followed by discussion with the audience.
Olin, Room 102 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm EST/GMT-5
Drawing on her ethnographic book project on the Iraqi-exile led, U.S. supported project to restore Iraq’s marshes, Professor Guarasci's paper will think about Iraq's marshes with Muzaffar al-Nawab, one of Iraq’s most beloved revolutionary poets. In the mid-twentieth century al-Nawab lived in the southern marshes of Iraq where he conducted educational outreach for a faction of the communist party. Al-Nawab’s poems feature meditations on nature, particularly on Iraq’s wetlands expanse and riverine ecology, its genealogical connection to civilizations past, and the relationship of this swampy environs to political movements in Iraq. Al-Nawab is sometimes called a “guerrilla” poet: his poems critique the corruption of authoritarian regimes and were banned in almost every Arab country. Her paper will show how his work insists on the connection between nature and revolution. In 2016 UNESCO declared Iraq’s marshes a World Heritage Site. Once drained by Saddam Hussein, Iraqi exiles in partnership with the US government subsequently re-flooded and conserved the marshes during the occupation. She will argue that twenty-first century environmental reformers insist on the apolitical nature of their work. Al-Nawab helps us see otherwise.
Drawing on her recently published book Spaceship in the Desert: Energy, Climate Change, and Urban Design in Abu Dhabi (Duke University Press, 2019), Professor Günel's paper will discuss how, in 2006 Abu Dhabi launched an ambitious project to construct the world’s first zero-carbon city: Masdar City. In Spaceship in the Desert Gökçe Günel examines the development and construction of Masdar City's renewable energy and clean technology infrastructures, providing an illuminating portrait of an international group of engineers, designers, and students who attempted to build a post-oil future in Abu Dhabi. While many of Masdar's initiatives—such as developing a new energy currency and a driverless rapid transit network—have stalled or not met expectations, Günel analyzes how these initiatives contributed to rendering the future a thinly disguised version of the fossil-fueled present. Spaceship in the Desert tells the story of Masdar, at once a “utopia” sponsored by the Emirati government, and a well-resourced company involving different actors who participated in the project, each with their own agendas and desires.

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Thursday, February 20, 2020

Friday, February 14, 2020

Thursday, February 13, 2020

Wednesday, February 12, 2020

Adrienne Downey | Principal Engineer, Offshore Wind | NY State Energy Research and Development Authority
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST/GMT-5
The 2030 date to achieve the Paris Climate Accords carbon target is forcing all of us to rethink "Business As Usual”. New York's recent commitment to 9GW of OffShore Wind is a game changer for this technology option in the US. Join NYSERDA's Adrienne Downey for an inside look at how this new industry will grow in the northeast over the next few years.

This webinar is part of a year-long project: Solve Climate By 2030 sponsored by The Bard Center for Environmental Policy The project takes as its starting point recent IPCC report that we have only ten years to forestall catastrophic climate change. Tthe project culminates on April 7, 2020 in a national Power Dialog: 52 simultaneous, university hosted webinars, one in every state, DC and Puerto Rico. In these webinars, local climate solutions experts will suggest three ambitious but feasible state, urban, utility or business initiatives that need to occur in Tennessee and Idaho, Missouri and New Jersey, Florida and Minnesota, if we aim to forestall catastrophic climate change. Following these state webinars, classes and other groups tuning in will have 60 minutes for “solutions sprints” designed to identify civic action opportunities for participants.Learn more at Solve Climate By 2030 , and sign up here to stay informed about the project.
BARD CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
The  Bard Graduate Programs in Sustainability  offer masters programs in  Environmental Policy,  Climate Science and  Policy, and Sustainable Business. The Bard Center for Environmental Policy’s career-focused, science-based, interdisciplinary master of science programs are located in New York’s beautiful Hudson Valley. The rigorous first-year coursework, followed by a required four-to-six-month immersive internship, culminates with a master’s Capstone Project and a 93 percent job placement rate within six months of graduation. Graduates are currently pursuing careers in many fields, such as alternative energy, international development, advocacy/lobbying, conservation, research, and strategic consulting. For more information: bard.edu/cep/.

Click HERE to access the webinar

Thursday, January 23, 2020 – Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Monday, December 9, 2019

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Joseph Kane | Senior Research Associate | The Brookings Institution
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST/GMT-5
The 2030 date to achieve the Paris Climate Accords is forcing all of us to rethink "Business As Usual." Join Joseph Kane, of The Brookings Institution, on Bard’s National Climate Seminar for a conversation on the economic impacts of sustainability and the Green New Deal on November 13th.

This webinar is part of a year-long project: Solve Climate By 2030 sponsored by The Bard Center for Environmental Policy The project takes as its starting point recent IPCC report that we have only ten years to forestall catastrophic climate change. Combining a national speaker network with a call for One-Night Teach-ins, the project culminates on April 7, 2020, in a national Power Dialog: 52 simultaneous, university hosted webinars, one in every state, DC and Puerto Rico. In these webinars, local climate solutions experts will suggest the top three ambitious but feasible state, urban, utility or business initiatives that need to occur in Tennessee and Idaho, Missouri and New Jersey, Florida, and Minnesota, if we aim to forestall catastrophic climate change. Following these state webinars, classes and other groups tuning in will have 45 minutes for “solutions sprints” designed to identify civic action opportunities for participants.Learn more at Solve Climate By 2030, and sign up here to stay informed about the project.BARD CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
The  Bard Graduate Programs in Sustainability  offer masters programs in  Environmental Policy,  Climate Science and  Policy, and Sustainable Business. The Bard Center for Environmental Policy’s career-focused, science-based, interdisciplinary master of science programs are located in New York’s beautiful Hudson Valley. The rigorous first-year coursework, followed by a required four-to-six-month immersive internship, culminates with a master’s Capstone Project and a 93 percent job placement rate within six months of graduation. Graduates are currently pursuing careers in many fields, such as alternative energy, international development, advocacy/lobbying, conservation, research, and strategic consulting. For more information: bard.edu/cep/.

Click HERE to access the webinar

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Friday, November 8, 2019

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Elysa Hammond | VP for Environmental Stewardship | Clif Bar
Online 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
The 2030 date to achieve the Paris Climate Accords is forcing all of us to rethink “Business as Usual.” Join Elysa Hammond on Bard’s National Climate Seminar for a conversation about how ecological thinking has shaped Clif Bar’s journey as a company, and how in the coming decade, Clif Bar sees its business success coming from solar inspiration.

This webinar is part of a yearlong project, Solve Climate by 2030, sponsored by The Bard Center for Environmental Policy. The project takes as its starting point a recent IPCC report that we have only 10 years to forestall catastrophic climate change. Combining a national speaker network with a call for One-Night Teach-ins, the project culminates on April 7, 2020, in a national Power Dialog: 52 simultaneous, university-hosted webinars, one in every state, DC, and Puerto Rico. In these webinars, local climate solutions experts will suggest the top three ambitious but feasible state, urban, utility, or business initiatives that need to occur in Tennessee and Idaho, Missouri and New Jersey, Florida and Minnesota, if we aim to forestall catastrophic climate change. Following these state webinars, classes and other groups tuning in will have 45 minutes for “solutions sprints” designed to identify civic action opportunities for participants.Learn more at Solve Climate by 2030, and sign up here to stay informed about the project.BARD CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
The  Bard Graduate Programs in Sustainability  offer master’s programs in  Environmental Policy,  Climate Science and  Policy, and Sustainable Business. The Bard Center for Environmental Policy’s career-focused, science-based, interdisciplinary master of science programs are located in New York’s beautiful Hudson Valley. The rigorous first-year coursework, followed by a required four-to-six-month immersive internship, culminates with a master’s Capstone Project and a 93 percent job placement rate within six months of graduation. Graduates are currently pursuing careers in many fields, such as alternative energy, international development, advocacy/lobbying, conservation, research, and strategic consulting. For more information: bard.edu/cep/.

Click HERE to access the webinar.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Dr. Geoff Bil, Visiting Assistant Professor History, University of Delaware
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium 4:30 pm – 6:30 pm EDT/GMT-4
From the Enlightenment era forward, the Pacific has served as a crucial touchstone for European speculation on differences between indigenous and Western cultures. My paper examines the role played by botanists in these considerations, with particular reference to social factors that shaped observations by European naturalists in Tahiti. Following a preliminary discussion of European-Tahitian botanical interactions over the course of James Cook’s Endeavour voyage (1768–71), I proceed to examine the heightened attention to epistemological contrasts between Tahitian and European environmental worldviews given in published accounts authored by Johann (1729–1798) and Georg Forster (1754–1794), who served aboard James Cook’s HMS Resolution (1772–75). I attribute this shift to the Forsters’ relative lack of acquaintance with Tahitian cultures and te reo Tahiti (the Tahitian language), owing largely to the more itinerant nature of the Resolution voyage. The second part of this presentation turns to HMS Bounty expedition’s (1787-1790) unprecedented length of stay at Tahiti to collect breadfruit trees en route to the Caribbean, which encouraged cross-cultural intimacies palpably—even dangerously—at odds with Forsterian dichotomizing. In bringing these case studies together, I reflect on a paradox: namely, that while some grasp of indigenous knowledge was fundamental to global botanical endeavors, it could also prove their ruination.

Dr. Bil received his PhD in history from the University of British Columbia in 2018. He was an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the Humanities Institute, LuEsther T. Mertz Library, New York Botanical Garden from 2018 to 2019. He has published most recently in the British Journal for the History of Science, and his manuscript. Indexing the Indigenous: Plants, Peoples and Empire is under contract with John Hopkins University Press.

Monday, October 7, 2019

Friday, September 27, 2019

Friday, September 13, 2019

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Friday, August 9, 2019

Friday, July 12, 2019

Friday, June 14, 2019

Tuesday, June 4, 2019

Friday, May 10, 2019

Tuesday, May 7, 2019

Thursday, April 18, 2019

Thursday, April 18, 2019 – Sunday, May 26, 2019

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Friday, April 12, 2019

Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Monday, March 25, 2019

Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Friday, March 8, 2019

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Tuesday, February 12, 2019

Friday, February 8, 2019

Friday, February 1, 2019 – Friday, March 1, 2019

Thursday, January 10, 2019

Monday, December 17, 2018

Friday, December 14, 2018

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Monday, December 3, 2018

Saturday, December 1, 2018

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Thursday, November 8, 2018

Monday, November 5, 2018

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Page Atcheson Matilsky | Executive Director | Our Climate
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
Join Bard CEP on October 17th at NOON EST for a conversation with Page Atcheson Matilsky, Executive Director at Our Climate.

The topic: Political engagement among young voters and mobilizing in support of carbon pricing and climate change.

Page Atcheson, Executive Director, has been a climate advocate for six years. She co-founded a statewide 350.org chapter while earning an environmental studies honors degree from the University of Vermont, and then moved to Montana to organize for the Northern Plains Resource Council. After serving as Oregon Climate's deputy director, Page recently managed field efforts for a statewide legislative campaign, where she recruited and coordinated a team of 30 organizations to build strong and diverse grassroots support for comprehensive climate policy. She recently returned to Our Climate to direct the organization's national expansion.

BARD CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
The  Bard Graduate Programs in Sustainability  offer masters programs in  Environmental Policy,  Climate Science and  Policy, and Sustainable Business. The Bard Center for Environmental Policy’s career-focused, science-based, interdisciplinary master of science programs are located in New York’s beautiful Hudson Valley. The rigorous first-year coursework, followed by a required four-to-six-month immersive internship, culminates with a master’s Capstone Project and a 93 percent job placement rate within six months of graduation. Graduates are currently pursuing careers in many fields, such as alternative energy, international development, advocacy/lobbying, conservation, research, and strategic consulting. For more information: bard.edu/cep/.

Click HERE to access the webinar

Monday, October 15, 2018

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Saturday, October 6, 2018

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Richard Alley, Professor of Geosciences, Penn State University
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
Join Bard CEP on September 19 as we kick off the National Climate Seminar 2018–19 series!

Richard Alley, professor of geosciences at the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, Penn State University, will join us to discuss the current state and trajectory of global sea level rise.

Dr. Alley is the Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences and an Associate of the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute at Penn State. His current research interests include glaciology; ice sheet stability; paleoclimates from ice cores; physical properties of ice cores; and erosion and sedimentation by ice sheets. Along with his many teaching accomplishments, Alley has authored numerous publications, chaired the National Research Council's panel on abrupt climate change, has been involved with advisory groups to improve national and international research, and has been active with media outreach to translate research findings to a broad audience with appearances on television and radio and in print outlets. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (news.psu.edu/expert/richard-alley).

BARD CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
The  Bard Graduate Programs in Sustainability  offer masters programs in  Environmental Policy,  Climate Science and  Policy, and Sustainable Business. The Bard Center for Environmental Policy’s career-focused, science-based, interdisciplinary master of science programs are located in New York’s beautiful Hudson Valley. The rigorous first-year coursework, followed by a required four-to-six-month immersive internship, culminates with a master’s Capstone Project and a 93 percent job placement rate within six months of graduation. Graduates are currently pursuing careers in many fields, such as alternative energy, international development, advocacy/lobbying, conservation, research, and strategic consulting. For more information: bard.edu/cep/.

Click HERE to access the webinar

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Monday, May 21, 2018

Friday, May 18, 2018

Thursday, May 17, 2018

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Thursday, May 3, 2018

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Monday, April 30, 2018

Friday, April 27, 2018 – Saturday, April 28, 2018

Thursday, April 26, 2018

Sunday, April 22, 2018 – Thursday, April 26, 2018

Saturday, April 21, 2018

Friday, April 20, 2018

Thursday, April 19, 2018

Saturday, April 14, 2018

Thursday, April 5, 2018

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Thursday, March 29, 2018

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Erik Kiviat, Cofounder and Executive Director of Hudsonia
RKC 111 5:00 pm EDT/GMT-4

Urban environments contain greenspaces that support many wild species, including uncommon and rare plants and animals. Many cities have overtaken biologically important coastal and other areas, and city greenspaces are the only places where many people experience nature and wildlife. Environmental decisions in urban areas have substantial impacts on biodiversity. Hudsonia’s Biodiversity Assessment Handbook for New York City (2013) described important habitats and species, and proposed methods for assessing and protecting them. We are now completing synthesis for the nearby New Jersey Meadowlands that indicates the importance of landscape permeability and habitat quality for colonizing species. Results facilitate protection of extant biodiversity in cities, conservation of rural biodiversity during urbanization, and planning for preservation, management, and restoration of urban habitats.

Erik Kiviat is a cofounder and executive director of Hudsonia, and formerly taught natural history and environmental studies at Bard College. He holds a B.S. in natural sciences from Bard College, an M.A. in biology from the State University of New York at New Paltz, and a Ph.D. in ecology from the Union Institute. Erik has been interested in the urban biota since living in Manhattan as a high school student in the 1960s. He has studied biodiversity in New York City, northeastern New Jersey, and other urban and industrial landscapes intensively since 2000. With Elizabeth Johnson, he created the Biodiversity Assessment Handbook for New York City in 2013. Erik also conducts research on wetland habitats, biota associated with nonnative weeds, turtles and other herpetofauna, and human ecology, within and outside cities.

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Saturday, March 10, 2018

Thursday, March 8, 2018

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Monday, March 5, 2018

Monday, February 26, 2018

Thursday, February 22, 2018

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Todd Wolf, Union of Concerned Scientists
https://bluejeans.com/465542196 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST/GMT-5
Join Bard CEP on February 14th for a conversation on science-based policy as it relates to climate change with Todd Wolf, Senior Washington Representative at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Todd Wolf is senior Washington representative for the Climate & Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, where he advocates for preparing for the impacts of climate change, as well as a transition to a clean energy economy. He has ten years of experience in the House of Representatives, having served as deputy chief of staff for Representative Cheri Bustos (D-IL), and as senior legislative assistant to Representative Bruce Braley (D-IA), working on climate and energy policy. Todd has a B.A. in business administration and Spanish language from the University of Northern Iowa.

BARD CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

The  Bard Graduate Programs in Sustainability  offer masters programs in  Environmental Policy,  Climate Science and  Policy, and Sustainable Business.  The Bard Center for Environmental Policy's career-focused, science based, interdisciplinary masters of science programs are located in New York’s beautiful Hudson Valley. The rigorous first year coursework, followed by a required 4-6 month immersive internship, culminates with a Master’s Capstone Project and a 93% job placement rate within 6 months of graduation. Graduates are currently pursuing careers in many fields such as: alternative energy, international Development, advocacy/lobbying, conservation, research, and strategic consulting. For more information: bard.edu/cep/

Webinar: https://bluejeans.com/750938911
Dial-in Only: +1.408.740.7256
Meeting ID: 750 938 911

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Monday, February 5, 2018

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Monday, December 11, 2017

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Saturday, December 2, 2017

Thursday, November 30, 2017

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Thursday, November 9, 2017

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Thursday, November 2, 2017

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Thursday, October 26, 2017

Thursday, October 19, 2017

Monday, October 16, 2017

Thursday, October 12, 2017

Thursday, October 5, 2017

Monday, October 2, 2017

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Thursday, September 21, 2017

Friday, September 15, 2017

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Friday, May 19, 2017

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Thursday, May 4, 2017

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Friday, April 28, 2017

Thursday, April 27, 2017

Monday, April 24, 2017

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Saturday, April 22, 2017

Friday, April 21, 2017

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Monday, April 17, 2017

Monday, April 17, 2017 – Friday, April 21, 2017

Thursday, April 13, 2017

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Monday, April 10, 2017

Thursday, April 6, 2017

Saturday, April 1, 2017

Thursday, March 30, 2017

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Monday, March 13, 2017

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Saturday, March 4, 2017

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Monday, February 27, 2017

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Wednesday, February 22, 2017 – Thursday, February 23, 2017

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Thursday, February 9, 2017

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Thursday, February 2, 2017

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Friday, December 9, 2016

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Saturday, December 3, 2016

Friday, December 2, 2016

Thursday, December 1, 2016

Friday, November 25, 2016

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Friday, November 18, 2016

Thursday, November 17, 2016

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Saturday, November 12, 2016

Friday, November 11, 2016

Thursday, November 10, 2016

speaker Dr. Eli Dueker - Bard College
Cary Institute auditorium. 2801 Sharon Turnpike (Route 44), Millbrook, NY 11:00 am EST/GMT-5
The production of aerosols from surface waters in marine and freshwater environments results in the transfer of aquatic materials (including nutrients, bacteria, and viral particles) to air. These materials can then be transported by onshore winds to land, representing a biogeochemical connection between aquatic and terrestrial systems not normally considered. The implications for this connection are broad ranging. For instance, in urban waterfront environments, this transfer could result in the emission of pathogenic bacteria and viral particles from contaminated waters into urban airspace, and, in rural waterfront environments, this transfer could result in the distribution of water-originated bacteria to soil and leaf surfaces. Recent research has also firmly established the need for better characterization of these exchanges as it relates to climate modeling since aerosolized bacteria can serve as efficient ice, fog, and cloud condensation nuclei, often at temperatures warmer than other aerosol particles. Despite the potential importance of this microbial link between water, air, and land, water-originating microbial aerosols are largely uncharacterized. Eli’s past research has shed light on the role of coastal fog, wind speeds, and aeration remediation on local water-air microbial exchange and microbial aerosol viability. He has recently begun to harness community science at the watershed level to further address the gaps in our scientific understanding of the water-air microbial transfer. Since science-based watershed communities are fast developing across the nation in response to crises in equitable access to clean drinking and recreational waters, Eli is bringing an airshed approach to these efforts using the bacterial aerosol connection as a bridge. If what’s in our water ends up in the air, we need to pay closer attention to science addressing emerging contaminants and sources for bacterial contamination on the watershed level. Furthermore, if bacteria do provide important ice nucleation services, our land use decisions don’t only affect the types of run-off our waterways receive, but they also may determine the types of microbial aerosols released into the air by water and land.

Bio
Eli Dueker is an Assistant Professor in the Biology & Environmental and Urban Studies Programs at Bard College, and a Visiting Researcher here at the Cary Institute. His research is currently focused on the bacterial connection between water quality and air quality. This work requires crossing scientific disciplines, re-imagining ecosystem boundaries, and ongoing engagement of watershed communities to better understand the role and fate of bacteria in all phases of the water cycle. Eli has also recently established the Saw Kill Watershed Community, which is a community-based group taking a scientific approach to watershed conservation and protection, and the Bard Water Lab, which is housed in the Bard Ecology Field Station and makes water science accessible to water communities regionally.

We hope you can join us for Dr. Dueker’s seminar on November 10.

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Friday, November 4, 2016

Thursday, November 3, 2016

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Sunday, October 30, 2016

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Friday, October 28, 2016

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Friday, October 21, 2016

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Friday, October 14, 2016

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Monday, October 10, 2016

Friday, October 7, 2016

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Friday, September 30, 2016

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Friday, September 23, 2016

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Friday, September 16, 2016

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Friday, September 9, 2016

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Friday, August 26, 2016

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Friday, June 24, 2016

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Cindy Morris, Montana State University
Campus Center, Weis Cinema 4:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
Plant pathogens can cause diseases of considerable importance to food crops, forests, ornamentals, etc. But many of the microorganisms that can cause plant disease also are saprophytes and have aspects of their life history of which little is known. Growing interest in environmental microbiology has helped to uncover surprising aspects of life history of plant pathogens leading to new perspectives on the beneficial role that they might be playing for the environment. One example is Pseudomonas syringae as a plant-associated bacterium first described over 50 years ago. Our vision of its ecology has moved away from ubiquitous epiphytic plant pathogen to multifaceted bacterium sans frontières in fresh water and other ecosystems linked to the water cycle. Discovery of the aquatic facet of its ecology has led to a vision of its life history that integrates spatial and temporal scales spanning billions of years and traversing catchment basins, continents and the planet, and that confronts the implication of roles that are potentially conflicting for agriculture and society at large – as a plant pathogen and as a beneficial actor in processes leading to rain and snowfall. This new ecological perspective has also yielded insight into epidemiological phenomena linked to disease emergence. It sets the stage for the integration of more comprehensive contexts of ecology and evolutionary history into comparative genomic analyses to elucidate how P. syringae subverts attack and defense responses of the cohabitants of the diverse environments it occupies. I will present the vision of the evolving story of the ecology and biology of P. syringae and the conflicting challenges and opportunities for management of plant health and ecosystem services that ensue for this and other plant pathogens.

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Friday, May 20, 2016

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Sunday, May 8, 2016

Saturday, May 7, 2016

Friday, May 6, 2016

Friday, May 6, 2016 – Saturday, May 7, 2016

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Monday, May 2, 2016

Friday, April 29, 2016

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Monday, April 25, 2016

Friday, April 22, 2016

Monday, April 18, 2016

Friday, April 15, 2016

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Thursday, April 14, 2016 – Friday, April 15, 2016

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Saturday, April 9, 2016

Bard College Campus 9:00 am – 5:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
Join Hudson River Heritage as we delve into the historic architecture of the Bard College campus.Known as one of the most beautiful college campuses in the country, Bard’s location in Annandale-on-Hudson, bordering the river and featuring sweeping views of the Catskills, give it a tremendous advantage. Add to that generations of distinguished architecture and beautiful landscape, and it’s easy to appreciate the seductive appeal.
With its recent acquisition of neighboring Montgomery Place, the Bard campus now totals over 1000 acres. In addition to the former estate mansions that survive—Ward Manor, Blithewood, and Montgomery Place, a Gothic Revival gate house, chapel, dormitories, and academic buildings keep company with a Neoclassical library, faculty cottages in various styles, and more recent buildings designed by an impressive roster of prominent 20th century architects.
Our focus will be on the historic preservation and adaptive reuse of the 19th century buildings—the challenges and successes, as well as Bard’s plans for the future, including its goals for the use of the Montgomery Place site. Our keynote speaker will be Bard President Leon Botstein, whom we will recognize with an award for Bard’s leadership and vision with respect to its historic structures. We plan to offer tours of Blithewood throughout the day, and Montgomery Place in the afternoon.
Our daylong program starts with registration and coffee at 9:15 a.m. at Blithewood on the Bard campus, includes a catered lunch, and will conclude by 5:00 p.m. Scheduled speakers include:Terence Dewsnap, Emily Majer, Matt Alexander, Ward Stanley, Peter A. Watson, Jr., and Jim Brudvig.
Cost for the event is $50 for Hudson River Heritage members, $60 for non-members, and $25 for Bard undergraduate students with I.D. Please make your reservations below or via email at: [email protected], or via mail to P.O. Box 287, Rhinebeck, NY 12572.

Saturday, April 9, 2016

SUNY New Paltz On Saturday, April 9th, students from across New York State will converge at SUNY New Paltz to learn how they can take part in catalyzing a statewide transition to renewable energy. Following the ban of fracking in New York, we have a tremendous opportunity to lead the nation in building a renewable energy economy. This will reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, battle climate change, and create tens of thousands of jobs in the process.

The Sunlight Revolution Action Summit will bring together student leaders to begin building an organized statewide campaign to advance renewable energy and efficiency on campus as well as create more job opportunities for students to enter the renewable energy workforce. At the summit, Sunlight Revolution campaign coordinators and volunteers from across the state will share the vision for the initiative. We will also provide leadership training and the materials to launch the Sunlight Revolution campaign on their campuses during Earth Week April 17th - 23rd.

Help create a vehicle to give students a voice for building our renewable energy future in New York!

Summit itinerary includes: Launching of Sunlight Revolution, a campaign created by Frack Action and Mark Ruffalo Guest lectures from young professionals in the field of renewable energy and campus organizing Student leadership trainings including How to Write a Press Release, Petitioning, Public Speaking, Lobbying, Canvassing, & more Sharing of #SunlightRevolution posters, postcards and materials for Earth Day Network with existing college environmental groups, students, and clubs
Lunch, coffee and tea will be provided. Those traveling to New Paltz from out of the area can register to stay with an overnight host.

For students to RSVP, please go to: bit.ly/SunRev

Friday, April 8, 2016

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Monday, April 4, 2016

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Friday, April 1, 2016

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Friday, March 25, 2016

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Friday, March 18, 2016

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Friday, March 11, 2016

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Friday, March 4, 2016

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Friday, February 26, 2016

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Monday, February 8, 2016

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Monday, February 1, 2016

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Monday, December 7, 2015

Friday, November 20, 2015

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Friday, November 6, 2015

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Monday, October 26, 2015

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Friday, October 23, 2015

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Friday, October 16, 2015

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Monday, September 28, 2015

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Friday, September 18, 2015

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Reem-Kayden Center Room 102 Bard College and Simon's Rock are collaborating with Marist College to bring back our offering of a rather unique course in Tropical Ecology and Sustainability Studies on the Caribbean Island of Montserrat. Spend your winter in the tropics and get undergraduate course credit! A brief course description follows. If you are potentially interested, go to next Tuesday's information session at 6pm in RKC and/or visit the webpage on the poster below. As home to the Soufriere Hills volcano, a recently active volcano in the Caribbean, Montserrat presents unique study opportunities. The island contains numerous rare plants and animals, including over 800 species of plants, 1,240 invertebrates, and at least two critically endangered species found nowhere else in the world, the Montserrat Oriole and the Montserrat Galliwasp lizard. Montserrat is also one of two habitats for the critically endangered mountain chicken frog, the largest frog in the world! From a sustainability viewpoint, Montserrat’s numerous challenges make the island a fascinating microcosm of the larger planet. These include maintaining water and food supply, energy independence, effects of climate change, and the development of sustainable tourism and education. This program will allow participating students to engage directly with these issues.For four weeks over winter intersession, students will study the island’s ecology, including endangered and endemic species; receive training in ecological survey methods including snorkeling and coral reef survey techniques; and participate in one of several opportunities for community service. Students will live in residence with program faculty and staff.Last year's class were involved in the discovery of several new species of snails, and there might be an opportunity to search for a new species of frog on the island this year.

Friday, September 11, 2015

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Friday, September 4, 2015

Help develop a community-based watershed group!
Field Station The newly-formed Saw Kill Watershed Community Group (of which EUS is a part) has openings for 3 paid year-long student internships. These internships are open to students in their 2nd year and above who are passionate about water issues, both in the Hudson Valley and beyond. These interns would participate in the development of a strong community-based watershed group with a focus on long-term sustainable management of the Saw Kill Watershed (which includes Bard College, Montgomery Place, Red Hook, Rhinebeck, and Milan).

Interns will gain unique experience in helping to build this community effort, increased knowledge of watershed issues both locally and globally, expertise in working with community scientists to monitor watershed health, and experience with logistical planning and support for a community effort bridging several municipalities, institutions, and governmental bodies.

This internship will require 5-10 hours per week (hours will vary depending on meetings and community planning), and will run for the full school year. This is a paid position (amount TBD). Duties will include working with community members to support one of three committees within the Watershed Group: watershed community outreach, watershed stewardship, and watershed research; support for the new Bard Water Lab, which will conduct water quality science with community members in the Bard Ecology Field Station; weekly meetings with Bard EUS Faculty involved in this effort; and other tasks as necessary.

Interested students should submit a one-page letter of interest which describes why they want to participate in the internship, the skills they bring to the internship, the specific skills they would like to develop during the internship, and one faculty member who can serve as a reference for them. These one-page letters should be emailed to [email protected] by 9/4/15 at 5pm*. Decisions will be made and announced by 9/9/15*.

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Monday, August 24, 2015

Friday, August 21, 2015

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Friday, May 15, 2015

Monday, May 11, 2015

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Saturday, May 9, 2015

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Monday, May 4, 2015

Friday, May 1, 2015

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Monday, April 27, 2015

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Friday, April 24, 2015

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Monday, April 20, 2015

Friday, April 17, 2015

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Thursday, April 9, 2015

News + Events

Kingston Air Quality Initiative at Bard College Reports After Three Years of Monitoring

Kingston Air Quality Initiative at Bard College Reports After Three Years of Monitoring

Bard Student Research on Housing Justice Cited in Times Union Article “Evicted in Kingston: Voices from a Crisis”

Bard Student Research on Housing Justice Cited in Times Union Article “Evicted in Kingston: Voices from a Crisis”

Myra Young Armstead Spoke with the Times Union about the Life and Legacy of James F. Brown, “One of the Country’s First Black Master Gardeners”

Myra Young Armstead Spoke with the Times Union about the Life and Legacy of James F. Brown, “One of the Country’s First Black Master Gardeners”

Associate Professor of Biology Brooke Jude to Lead Regenerative Dye Research as Part of Daughters for Earth Grant

Peter L’Official Interviews Architect and Writer Sekou Cooke on Hip-Hop as a Blueprint for Architecture

Bard Biologists Elias Dueker, Gabriel Perron, Daniella Azulai ’17, and Mary Reid ’21 Copublish Study on the Impacts of Wastewater Treatment Discharge in Saw Kill River

“What Is a Pond?”: New Study Coauthored by Bard Professor Robyn L. Smyth Featured on ScienceDaily

Bard Professor Peter L’Official Wins Rabkin Prize for Visual Art Journalism

Professor Gidon Eshel Rejects the Inevitability of Famine in Our Present Moment, Offering Alternatives in Bloomberg

Events