Title: The Nature of New York: Oxymoron or ecological reality? Date: 8/30/04 Lecturer: David Rosane

Transcription

1 Title: The Nature of New York: Oxymoron or ecological reality? Date: 8/30/04 Lecturer: David Rosane Description: New York City is the ultimate metropolitan landscape and urban construct; a place for people, not for wildlife; a city borne of the industrial revolution and an embodiment of the western doctrine of man-over-nature, wherein nature acceptable is nature tamed, subdued, embedded within a Central or Prospect Park. Unbeknownst to many however, New York City today continues to attract close to wild animal and plant species. Be they resident or migratory, animals such as Sturgeon, Snapping Turtles and Bald Eagles continue to reap subsistence from the city s widely overlooked array of habitat; its parklands, forests, marshlands, rooftop gardens, wildlife refuges, relatively untouched portions of ocean front and the Hudson River and Estuary. In this introductory lecture, we will review the predominant geographical, ecological, historical and cultural reasons for such an outstanding urban biodiversity within and around the boundaries of New York City. Naturally, questions will surface as to the numerous benefits and costs- of such proximity to Nature. Bio : David Rosane is an ornithologist, author and Cornell University Research Associate. He has worked for the past 15 years as a reporter, science writer and field biologist in Europe and the rainforests of South America. He is currently acting as Chief Naturalist for Nurture New York's Nature, Inc and in association with CUNY has helped design The Nature of New York, based on research he has completed for a book of the same title, to be published in 2005 in association with Carriage House Press and Pantheon. He has published one book with Carriage House Press (The Remarkable Birds of Punta Cana, NY, 2001), more than 80 articles in both popular and scientific journals and has recorded and produced 4 CDs of bird songs and native sacred music from South America. Mr Rosane operates his own media development consulting company and is the director of a foundation he created for the promotion of sustainable development in indigenous

2 Ye'kuana communities of Southern Venezuela. He currently directs the "Nature of New York Environmental Club, providing time for ecological literacy", in association with NNYN and the Institute of Virtual Enterprise of CUNY. Suggested readings/web resources: Natural Ecosystems in Cities: A model for Cities as Ecosystems. Anthony D. Bradshaw. In Understanding Urban Ecosystems: a new frontier for science and education. Alan R. Berkowitz et al, ed. NY Reinventing Eden: Western Culture as a Recovery Narrative. Carolyn Merchant. In Uncommon Ground: rethinking the human place in Nature. William Cronon, Ed. NY Title: The Natural Environment of the New York City region : A Sense of Place Date: 8/30/04 Lecturer: Tony Hiss Description: The New York-New Jersey metropolitan region is an immense natural area of world-class importance and the planet s leading urbanized area, and the most densely settled corner of the North American continent. But until now this astonishing natural treasure which survives and thrives even after 400 years of phenomenal economic growth has not even had a name. This talk will preview H2O: Highlands-to-Ocean, a new book which provides a name for and an introduction to the 5,350-square-mile H2O Region, the outstanding series of young, post-glacial, water-sculpted landscapes and waterscapes between the New York-Jersey Highlands and the Atlantic Ocean. The book, co-written by Tony Hiss

3 (it will be published in October by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation), presents 14 spectacular landscapes that anchor the region; assesses the State of the H2O Region by reporting on 14 regional indicators ranging from peregrine falcons and striped bass to sprawl and global climate change; and highlights the ongoing work of more than 100 Region-Builders individuals, groups, and government agencies who for over a century have steadfastly been the champions for the region s health and integrity. H2O: Highlands to Ocean is also about changing mental maps helping the 16 million people who live in the H2O Region see that they are surrounded by such a wealth of remarkable natural areas that all of us whether we live in a city high-rise or a mountaintop cabin have two addresses: a street address and a place in the larger landscape. Bio: Tony Hiss, an independent author, lecturer, and consultant about restoring America=s cities and landscapes, became a staff writer at The New Yorker in 1963, and since 1994 has been a Visiting Scholar at New York University, first at the Taub Urban Research Center, and now at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. In 2002 he also became a Fellow of the CUNY Institute for Urban Systems (CIUS). He is the author of twelve books, most recently AH2O: Highlands to Ocean@ (with Christopher Meier) and AThe View from Alger=s Window: A Son=s Memoir@ (a New York Times Notable Book). Other books include the award-winning AThe Experience of Place@; AAll Aboard with E. M. Frimbo@ (with Rogers E. M. Whitaker), a classic American travel book republished in 1997; and (with Robert D. Yaro) AA Region at Risk: The Third Regional Plan for the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut Metropolitan Area,@ which received front-page coverage from The New York Times in 1996; and two 1998 books with celebrated landscape photographers: APrairie Passage@ (with Edward Ranney); and ADisarming the Prairie@ (with Terry Evans).

4 Hiss=s next book, AFrom Place to about making transportation as enjoyable as the rest of life, has received underwriting grants from four foundations and the National Endowment for the Arts. He was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1994, and is now a Contributing Editor to Preservation magazine, and a Fellow of the New York Institute for the Humanities. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, Gourmet, The Atlantic, and Travel & Leisure. He is a trustee of the Orton Family Foundation; a director of the Battery Conservancy and of the Village Alliance; and is on the advisory board of Scenic America, Inc. and of the East Coast Greenway Alliance. He is listed in AWho=s Who in America.@ Hiss is spearheading NatureRail, a new environmental and transportation initiative that works with urban-area railroads to safeguard and restore the land they use, and to expand recreation and wilderness opportunities for all city and suburban residents. He organized a 1997 Rockefeller Brothers Fund conference about the future of the New York/New Jersey Harbor Estuary; this led, first, to the establishment of the AH2O (Highlands-to-Ocean) Fund,@ and this year to publication of H2O: Highlands to Ocean, the first comprehensive survey of the outstanding landscapes and waterscapes of the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area. Hiss wrote the vision statement for the Reconnecting America, a foundation originally set up by Amtrak in December He also wrote the report which at the beginning of the 1990s launched New York State=s 100-mile-long Hudson River Valley Greenway initiative. Hiss consults frequently on changing regional growth patterns; on visualizing and connecting to the future; and to help people in large urban areas feel the continuing presence and strength of the nearby natural areas that sustain them. He has lectured widely to large audiences in the U.S. and Canada. The National Recreation and Park Association awarded Hiss its 1995 National Literary Award for a lifetime of Aspellbinding and poignant@ writing about Ahow our environments, modes of travel, and other aspects of the American landscape affect our lives.@ AHis words,@ said the citation, Aare often poetic, always real.@ In 1998 he

5 received the George S. Lewis Award from the American Institute of Architects, New York Chapter for 35 years of writing that=s made New York a better city to live in. Tony Hiss lives in New York City with his wife, the novelist, Lois Metzger, and their thirteen-year-old son, Jacob.