Christopher X J. Jensen
Associate Professor, Pratt Institute

Urbanization is not urbanization: density, not size, drives sustainability

Posted 16 Oct 2015 / 0

Source: Scientific American Scientific American Graphic Science “Bigger Cities Aren’t Always Greener, Data Show” I do not love the headline here, because it suggests that size rather than density is the issue at hand. It is pretty clear what this data show: building low density cities is not sustainable. The issue here is that we Read More

A Minor Post, MSCI-271, Ecology for Architects, Pollution, Population Pressure, Public Policy, Resource Consumption, Sustainability, Sustainable Urban Design, Urban Planning, Web

I will speak about the tension between biological and cultural evolution at St. Francis College (December 11th, 2015 @ 3pm)

Posted 08 Oct 2015 / 0

I am excited to announce that I am scheduled to speak about the tension between biological and cultural evolution at Saint Francis College in Brooklyn Heights. The title of my talk is “Highly-creative baby-breeding idea propagators: what human (re)productive choices mean for the future of our species“, and it will provide a partial overview of Read More

A Major Post, Anthropogenic Change, Behavior, Breeders, Propagators, & Creators, Carrying Capacity, Cultural Evolution, Economics, Gene-Culture Coevolution, Human Evolution, Human Uniqueness, Parenting, Population Growth, Population Pressure, Psychology, Public Outreach, Reproductive Fitness, Resource Consumption, Sex and Reproduction, Sustainability

My ecological footprint for 2014-2015

Posted 06 Apr 2015 / 0

Every year in my ecology courses I have my students complete an ecological footprint analysis of their own lifestyle and the lifestyle of an older relative. I have been asking my students to do these for each of the eight years that I have taught at Pratt Institute, so I have accumulated a lot of Read More

A Major Post, Anthropogenic Change, Biomes, Ecological Footprinting, Ecosystem Services, Environmental Justice, Food, MSCI-270, Ecology, MSCI-271, Ecology for Architects, Quantitative Analysis, Resource Consumption, Sustainability

Envirolutions brings bottle transformation to Green Week 2015

Posted 03 Apr 2015 / 0

I have been lucky to serve as faculty advisor to the Envirolutions student club at Pratt for the past six years. There have been a lot of great projects done by the club over these years, and some of the best have been centered on Pratt’s Green Week, an annual on-campus celebration of sustainability. This Read More

A Major Post, Envirolutions, Life Cycle Analysis, Resource Consumption, Sustainability, Sustainable Pratt

Water, Alfalfa, China, and a modern Tragedy of the Commons

Posted 12 Aug 2014 / 0

NPR Morning Edition “In Time Of Drought, Arizona’s Alfalfa Exports Are Criticized” There are so many interesting aspects to this story. First and foremost, it illustrates that “tragedies of the common” are entirely, well — common — in modern economies. The rules of resource use dictate whether that resource will be over-exploited: if there are Read More

A Minor Post, Climate Change, Cooperation, Deserts, Ecosystem Services, Environmental Justice, Ethics, Radio & Podcasts, Resource Consumption, Sustainability, Sustainable Agriculture, Water Supply

This site is now hosted by A Small Orange

Posted 03 Aug 2014 / 0

As I chronicled in a previous post, I have been looking to switch my web hosting services to a company that has a sustainability policy. Well, I have made my choice. This site is now hosted by A Small Orange, which assures that 150% of their power needs are compensated by wind power credits. As this Read More

A Minor Post, Resource Consumption, Sustainability, Sustainable Energy, Sustainable Web Design

Choosing a more sustainable web host

Posted 28 Jul 2014 / 6

I am in the process of considering a shift in my web hosting service. I was spurred to consider a shift by Olivia Hu, a former student of mine who is also working on a new theme for this site. My current host is Bluehost. I chose their services four years ago when I first Read More

A Major Post, Resource Consumption, Sustainability, Sustainable Energy, Sustainable Web Design, Web

Pledge, Petition, Protect! All at Green Week 2014!

Posted 24 Mar 2014 / 0

Every year, Pratt’s Sustainability Coalition hosts Green Week, a celebration of Pratt’s efforts to build a more sustainable society within and beyond our campus walls. This year’s Green Week will feature a variety of events, including two events that I will be involved with. The first event has become an annual tradition: New York City’s Department Read More

A Minor Post, Activism, Center for Sustainable Design Studies, Envirolutions, Resource Consumption, Sustainability, Sustainable Pratt, Sustainable Transportation

Interesting numbers on the sustainability (or lack thereof) of the aviation industry

Posted 20 Feb 2014 / 0

Air Transport Action Group “Facts & Figures” I recognize that these statistics are being presented by an industry advocacy group, so they should be taken with some skepticism (I don’t have the time to fact-check them). But they are interesting, and damning enough of air transport (while also accenting our very strong dependence on this Read More

A Minor Post, Climate Change, Economic sustainability, Information Design, Pollution, Quantitative Analysis, Resource Consumption, Sustainability, Sustainable Transportation, Web

TurnUp seeks to turn excess art materials into treasure, not trash

Posted 04 Feb 2014 / 0

TurnUp is an entrepreneurial material repurposing project supported by Pratt’s Design Incubator. If it works, it should save a lot of students some money, decrease the impact of consumption, and save a lot of materials from going to the landfill.

A Minor Post, Center for Sustainable Design Studies, Closed Loop Systems, Economic sustainability, Economics, Pratt Institute, Resource Consumption, Sustainability