Christopher X J. Jensen
Associate Professor, Pratt Institute

Science & Sustainability at the Green Meadow Waldorf School

Posted 22 Mar 2016 / 1

On Monday, March 21st I had the pleasure of visiting the Green Meadow Waldorf School in Chestnut Ridge, New York to discuss the role that science plays in helping people to achieve the goal of a sustainable society. In a talk entitled “Pulling Humanity Back Inside the Boundaries: How Science Serves Sustainability“, I gave students some Read More

A Major Post, Belief, Biodiversity Loss, Climate Change, Closed Loop Systems, Community Ecology, Conservation Biology, Ecology Education, Economic sustainability, Economics, Ecosystem Services, Eutrophication, Food, Habitat Destruction, Hypothesis Testing, Methods, Philosophy, Pollution, Public Outreach, Public Policy, Quantitative Analysis, Resource Consumption, Science (General), Sustainability, Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable Energy, Sustainable Harvesting, System Stability, Teaching, Water Supply, Wild Foods

Students succeed in convincing the Pratt Board of Trustees to divest from fossil fuels

Posted 21 Mar 2016 / 1

Historical photo of the Pratt Steam Power Plant courtesy of Wikimedia Commons This morning the Pratt community received a heartening message from our Board of Trustees: Dear Members of the Pratt Community, At its meeting on March 9, Pratt’s Board of Trustees took another major step in the Institute’s overall commitment to environmental sustainability by Read More

A Minor Post, Activism, Anthropogenic Change, Climate Change, Economics, Envirolutions, Higher Education, Pratt Institute, Sustainability, Sustainable Energy

Like to forage for mushrooms? Beware the Amanita!

Posted 15 Mar 2016 / 1

This short video, which came to my attention via the Scientific American “Observations” blog, does a nice job of explaining how an invasive mushroom species (Amanita phalloides) is causing new hazards for wild foragers in Northern California. The video is pretty basic — and a bit dramatic — but it does a good job of Read More

A Minor Post, Adaptation, Film, Television, & Video, Fungi, Invasive Species, Mutualism, Survival, Temperate Forest, Temperate Rainforest

What’s the meaning of professorial fashion?

Posted 14 Mar 2016 / 0

There’s an interesting article about professorial fashion published in Vitae today. Written by Ben Barry and entitled “Fashion Matters“, this short piece explores how professors have traditionally expressed their being “above fashion” by wearing either very predictable or very boring clothing. Barry claims that there’s a lot of under-utilized potential in the professorial wardrobe. He suggests that Read More

A Minor Post, Fashion, Higher Education, Resource Consumption, Sustainability, Teaching

Great conversation at my Columbia University Population Biology Seminar talk

Posted 14 Mar 2016 / 0

It was a great honor to speak on this past Monday, March 7th, 2016 as part of Columbia University’s Population Biology seminar series. I gave a talk entitled “Breeders, Propagators, & Creators: Culture, Biology, and the Future of Human Evolution” to a small group of biology faculty and students from a nice diversity of different Read More

A Major Post, Breeders, Propagators, & Creators, Cultural Evolution, Gene-Culture Coevolution, Human Uniqueness, Kin Selection, Parenting, Population Pressure, Public Outreach, Public Policy, Reproductive Fitness, Sex and Reproduction

Art in the Lab hosts Brain Awareness Week event on March 16th, 2016

Posted 04 Mar 2016 / 0

Art in the Lab, a really cool event-based science/art project, is celebrating Brain Awareness Week. On March 16th, 2016 at St. Francis College, neuroscientist and artist Greg Dunn will give a talk that starts at 5:30 pm. After the talk, attendees will get the chance to look at — and react creatively to — neuroscience-related models and Read More

A Minor Post, Neuroscience, Public Outreach, Science in Art & Design

I am honored to be visiting the Green Meadow Waldorf School as part of their week-long Sustainability workshop

Posted 04 Mar 2016 / 0

On Monday, March 21st I am scheduled to appear as the keynote speaker for the Green Meadow Waldorf School’s week-long sustainability workshop. Throughout the week high school students will be taking part in a variety of activities that they envisioned themselves, many of which explore the cultural and creative aspects of sustainability. My job will be to Read More

A Major Post, Anthropogenic Change, Green Design, Public Outreach, Quantitative Analysis, Sustainability, Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable Energy, Sustainable Harvesting, Sustainable Transportation