Christopher X J. Jensen
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

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

While we vacuum the seas, we may as well clean them of debris…

Posted 20 Oct 2015 / 0

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment “Norway to start trawling for trash” I guess this is a cool initiative, one that capitalizes on a philosophy of as long as you are out there sweeping the seas for fish, you might as well dispose properly of all the garbage that you “catch”. But I can’t help Read More

A Minor Post, Articles, Biodiversity Loss, Marine Ecosystems, Pollution, Sustainable Harvesting

Should we compromise with nations that hunt whales?

Posted 06 Oct 2015 / 0

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution “A deal with Japan on whaling?” Having been a fan of Whale Wars for awhile, and being predisposed to thinking that we ought to protect large, social, cooperative, cognitively-advanced animals, it is a bit hard for me to accept legal whaling of any kind. But as this article points out Read More

A Minor Post, Activism, Articles, Belief, Biodiversity Loss, Conservation Biology, Cooperation, Economics, Ethics, Public Policy, Social Norms, Sustainable Harvesting

Carrying capacity — but not growth rate — varies with habitat quality (at least for moose)

Posted 17 Aug 2015 / 0

Ecosphere “Characterizing demographic parameters across environmental gradients: a case study with Ontario moose (Alces alces)” What I find interesting about this study — besides its unprecedented investigation of something that would seem pretty critical to basic conservation efforts — is what was and was not intuitive in its findings. Moose have higher carrying capacities where Read More

A Minor Post, Articles, Carrying Capacity, Community Ecology, Conservation Biology, Ecological Modeling, Habitat Destruction, Intrinsic Growth Rate, Parasitism, Population Growth, Sustainable Harvesting

Cod gone on Cape Cod

Posted 25 Jan 2014 / 0

NPR Morning Edition “Why The Cod On Cape Cod Now Comes From Iceland” It is fascinating how “cultural” the alteration of this fishery turns out to be. Somehow “Cape Dogfish” just does not have the same ring.

A Minor Post, Anthropogenic Change, Biodiversity Loss, Conservation Biology, Cultural Evolution, Marine Ecosystems, Radio & Podcasts, Sustainable Harvesting, Wild Foods

My ESA 2012 Poster is on Faculty of 1000 posters

Posted 19 Sep 2012 / 0

F1000 Posters “The Evolution of Sustainable Use: a flash-based classroom tool for teaching population biology and sustainable resource management“

A Minor Post, Anthropogenic Change, Biodiversity Loss, Carrying Capacity, Cooperation, Ecological Modeling, Marine Ecosystems, Multilevel Selection, My publications, Population Growth, Public Policy, Sustainability, Sustainable Harvesting, System Stability, Teaching, Teaching Tools, The Sustainable Use of Fisheries

National Geographic on the yartsa gunbu bubble

Posted 23 Aug 2012 / 0

National Geographic “Tibetan Gold” This story encapsulates a whole host of unsustainable human behaviors: First, we have people over-harvesting an ecological product in a manner that risks its collapse; Second, the over-harvesting is driven by a cultural superstition that has spread without any real basis in fact; and Third, the entire over-valuation of these parasite-infested-worms is Read More

A Minor Post, Anthropogenic Change, Articles, Belief, Biodiversity Loss, Coevolution, Cultural Anthropology, Cultural Evolution, Ecology, Economic sustainability, Ecosystem Services, Memetic Fitness, Parasitism, Population Growth, Resource Consumption, Sustainable Harvesting, System Stability, Tundra

Would you like a few red-listed species with that shrimp cocktail sir?

Posted 25 Jun 2012 / 0

PLoS ONE “Management Implications of the Biodiversity and Socio-Economic Impacts of Shrimp Trawler By-Catch in Bahía de Kino, Sonora, México” Anyone who cares about marine conservation and believes that they can ethically eat seafood is somewhat delusional. Further evidence that there is no such thing as industrial-scale “safe catch”.

A Minor Post, Biodiversity Loss, Marine Ecosystems, Resource Consumption, Sustainable Harvesting

Can cod come back?

Posted 14 May 2012 / 0

Nature “Transient dynamics of an altered large marine ecosystem“

A Minor Post, Articles, Biodiversity Loss, Conservation Biology, Extinction, Sustainable Harvesting