Christopher X J. Jensen
Associate Professor, Pratt Institute

Don’t blame people for being obese (blame their neighborhood)

Posted 06 Sep 2018 / 0

Science News “Artificial intelligence spots obesity from space” Wow, if you are the kind of person who tends to put a lot of stock in “personal responsibility”, maybe you don’t want to read the brief article above. Because it is an amazing piece of evidence that individual human behaviors are highly influenced by the environments that Read More

A Minor Post, Behavior, Environmental Justice, Gene by Environment Interactions, Health & Medicine, Urban Ecology, Urban Planning

Wildfires driven more by lowered precipitation than elevated temperatures or reduced snowpack

Posted 06 Sep 2018 / 0

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences “Decreasing fire season precipitation increased recent western US forest wildfire activity” There’s a little bit of a “choose your climate change poison” to this study, but it is interesting to be able to isolate the specific climate-driven effects that are causing more wildfires to crop up.

A Minor Post, Climate Change, Urban Ecology, Urban Planning

Interdisciplinary artist Ellie Irons to speak at Pratt Institute on November 9th

Posted 20 Oct 2017 / 0

I am very excited to announce that artist Ellie Irons will speak at Pratt Institute on November 9th, 2017 at 6 pm in ARC Building Room E-02. Her talk is entitled Public Fieldwork & Weedy Resistance: Practicing Social-Ecological Art in the (so-called) Anthropocene and will provide a tour of her diverse individual and collaborative works of Read More

A Major Post, Activism, Adaptation, Biodiversity Loss, Climate Change, Commensalism, Community Ecology, Competition, Department of Mathematics & Science, Ecological Restoration, Ecology, Ecosystem Services, Grasslands, Habitat Destruction, Habitat Fragmentation, Invasive Species, Mutualism, Pollination, Pollution, Pratt Academic Senate, Public Art, Public Outreach, Resilience, Science in Art & Design, Sustainability, Sustainable Urban Design, Temperate Forest, Urban Ecology, Urban Planning

Pratt News features short piece on Dr. Roland Kays’s campus visit

Posted 02 May 2017 / 0 A Minor Post, Behavior, Conservation Biology, Department of Mathematics & Science, Photography, Population Growth, Pratt Institute, Public Outreach, Sustainable Pratt, Urban Ecology, Web

Urban Wildlife Podcast on the Cat Wars

Posted 10 Mar 2017 / 0

If you read my little podcast recommendations on this site, you know that I am a huge fan of the Urban Wildlife Podcast. I just checked out one of the most recent episodes, Cat Wars (also embedded as audio above), and it is my favorite far and away. Tony and Billy always bring a great Read More

A Minor Post, Behavior, Behavioral Ecology, Belief, Commensalism, Conservation Biology, Ethics, Felids, Invasive Species, Law, Mutualism, Population Growth, Predation, Public Policy, Radio & Podcasts, Temperate Forest, Urban Ecology

Urban Wildlife Podcast on Hedgehogs, Raccoons, and Urbanite Biophilia

Posted 16 Jan 2017 / 0

My Spring semester is almost upon me, and that means a lot of mindless computer work getting my classes configured. I love these moments, because they give me the chance to catch up on my favorite podcasts. I hadn’t checked out the Urban Wildlife Podcast in too long, and was excited to find that Tony and Read More

A Minor Post, Behavior, Behavioral Ecology, Cognitive Ability, Commensalism, Conservation Biology, Radio & Podcasts, Urban Ecology

Want to know where NYC’s water supply stands? There’s a DEP page for that!

Posted 02 Nov 2016 / 0

I recently discovered this page on the NYC.gov Environmental Protection site. It’s pretty cool: if you are worried about NYC’s water supply, you can get up-to-date information on where our reservoirs stand. When I ask my students to cite sustainability issues, they often point to how water is wasted in NYC on things like spraying Read More

A Minor Post, Ecosystem Services, Green Design, Public Policy, Sustainable Urban Design, Urban Ecology, Water Supply, Web

Alternative music legend Morrissey agrees to adopt 2 million feral cats in win-win for felines, Australian native fauna

Posted 01 Apr 2016 / 1

After criticizing the Australian government’s plan to cull feral felines last September, legendary vocalist Morrissey has agreed save the cats by adopting all two million of them. Australia’s plan to get rid of the invasive felines was motivated by studies showing that feral cats have already caused “the extinction of some ground-dwelling birds and small to medium-sized Read More

A Major Post, Activism, Belief, Biodiversity Loss, Conservation Biology, Ethics, Felids, Invasive Species, Predation, Sustainability, Urban Ecology

“Science: A Candle in the Dark” podcast on Urban Ecology

Posted 18 Feb 2016 / 0

In my search for good podcasts on urban ecology I ran into a real gem in Madhusudan Katti‘s Science: A Candle in the Dark. The podcast is an accompaniment to a science café series that happens monthly in Fresno, California. I love the idea of a science café as a hub of public-academic interaction and a place Read More

A Minor Post, Biodiversity Loss, Birds, Citizen Science, Conservation Biology, Habitat Destruction, Habitat Fragmentation, Public Outreach, Public Policy, Radio & Podcasts, Urban Ecology, Urban Planning

“In Defense of Plants” podcast on Urban Ecology

Posted 18 Feb 2016 / 0

Today I listened for the first time to the In Defense of Plants podcast. I have been looking for good podcasts on urban ecology, so I checked out Episode #14 (Urban Ecology!). In this episode, host Matt interviews Dave Spiering of the Tifft Nature Center in the City of Buffalo. Spiering discusses about how urban brownfield recovery Read More

A Minor Post, Biodiversity Loss, Community Ecology, Ecological Restoration, Habitat Destruction, Habitat Fragmentation, Invasive Species, Pollution, Public Policy, Radio & Podcasts, Sustainable Urban Design, Urban Ecology