Christopher X J. Jensen
Professor, Pratt Institute

Meta-analysis suggests that pesticides impair bee memory and learning

Posted 06 Sep 2018 / 0

I read about this first in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, but here is the actual article: Journal of Applied Ecology “Quantifying the impact of pesticides on learning and memory in bees” This is an important study, because it suggests that we need to ask more subtle questions about the impacts of pesticides on our pollinators!

A Minor Post, Mutualism, Pollination, Pollution, Sustainable Agriculture

No-till has some big no-catastrophic-climate-change potential

Posted 06 Sep 2018 / 0

I learned about this from reading Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, but here are some other sources reporting on the same study… NPR St. Louis Public Radio “Missouri could offset carbon emissions from agriculture by conserving the soil, report says” Climate Central “Missouri Farms Hold Big Potential as Carbon Storehouse” These are exciting findings! They Read More

A Minor Post, Climate Change, Sustainable Agriculture

Model suggests that warming climate will catalyze greater insect-pest crop losses

Posted 30 Aug 2018 / 0

Science “Insect threats to food security” Science “Increase in crop losses to insect pests in a warming climate” This is scary, especially since this is a global estimate that has never before been modeled. I found it interesting that the temperate-zone effects are most profound because the effects of warming are not so extreme as to lower Read More

A Minor Post, Climate Change, Food, Sustainable Agriculture

Both primates have their own uses for the same land

Posted 30 Aug 2018 / 0

PNAS “Small room for compromise between oil palm cultivation and primate conservation in Africa” This study reaches what is probably not a surprising conclusion: if we want to grow tropical plants for food, we are likely to displace tropical mammals. Palm oil is particularly frightening because it seems to like to grow in areas where endangered Read More

A Minor Post, Anthropogenic Change, Conservation Biology, Primates, Sustainability, Sustainable Agriculture

Science and art in dialogue: Pratt Manhattan Gallery hosts Dr. Rachael Winfree

Posted 02 Feb 2017 / 0

I am proud to have contributed to an exciting event happening next Thursday, February 9th, 2017 at 6 pm at Pratt Manhattan Gallery. For the past two months this prominent on-campus gallery has featured a show called Nectar: War upon the Bees. The show contains a great variety of works that engage questions of agricultural sustainability, human Read More

A Minor Post, Anthropogenic Change, Art & Design, Biodiversity Loss, Community Ecology, Film & Video, Food, Habitat Destruction, Habitat Fragmentation, Hymenoptera, Installation Art, Interactions, Mutualism, Photography, Pollination, Pollution, Pratt Institute, Science in Art & Design, Sculpture, Sustainability, Sustainable Agriculture

Julia Buntaine explores the potential power of art and science collaborations

Posted 18 Nov 2016 / 0

Last year, Pratt Professor Ágnes Mócsy started a new speaker series at Pratt called Art.Sci Affair. The series is designed to foster conversations about what Mócsy referred to as “scientists who dip into art” and “artists who dip into science”. This semester’s speaker was Julia Buntaine, an artist with a background and continuing interest in neuroscience. Buntaine Read More

A Major Post, Art & Design, Collaborative Art, Department of Mathematics & Science, Green Design, Industrial Design, Installation Art, Neuroscience, Public Art, Public Outreach, Resilience, Science (General), Science in Art & Design, Sculpture, Sustainability, Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable Urban Design, Talks & Seminars

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

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

Are technological optimists too optimistic about technological sustainability?

Posted 23 Nov 2015 / 0

Image courtesy of Pacific Southwest Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via Wikimedia Commons The Chronicle of Higher Education “Ecomodernists Spark Rhetorical Heat” In my Ecology for Architects course I have students work on an activity that asks them to advocate one of four “extreme” environmental positions: Population bombers; Neo-luddites; Deep ecologists; or Read More

A Minor Post, Activism, Anthropogenic Change, Articles, Environmental Justice, MSCI-271, Ecology for Architects, Public Policy, Resource Consumption, Risk & Uncertainty, Sustainability, Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable Energy, Sustainable Transportation, Sustainable Urban Design

Without sustainability in our diets, we won’t be sustainable

Posted 07 Oct 2015 / 0

NPR Morning Edition “New Dietary Guidelines Will Not Include Sustainability Goal” Man, this is a bummer. If our dietary guidelines are simply aimed at maximizing our bodily health but not the long-term health of our civilization and the planet upon which we depend, what’s the point of these guidelines? I love how the meat industry Read More

A Minor Post, Biodiversity Loss, Climate Change, Food, Freshwater Ecosystems, Habitat Destruction, Habitat Fragmentation, Marine Ecosystems, Pollution, Public Policy, Radio & Podcasts, Sustainability, Sustainable Agriculture, Terrestrial, Vegetarianism