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Category: "Nature and The Environment"

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Showing 1 - 19 of 19  

Earth in the Crucible: Sustainability as Value, Fact, and Experience

Matthew C. Ally, New York
These days, the word "sustainable" is tacked on to nearly everything: sustainable food, sustainable energy, sustainable growth, and more. But a concept that means everything to everyone is at risk of meaning nothing to anyone. So, what do we mean when we use the term "sustainability"?

Conservation Lessons Between New York State and Italy

Paul M. Bray, Albany
There would seem to be little in common between New York State and Italy when it comes to nature. But in fact, both have benefited from a over a century of conservation exchanges and collaboration -- including the surprising ties between Adirondack State Park and Italy's Abruzzo Park.

Rediscovering Hudson, Fulton and Champlain: Where New Worlds Meet Old Ambitions

Robert Spiegelman, New York
Voyages into the New World were floated by courage, vision, technology, and investment. Take a fresh look at the legacies of Hudson, Fulton, and Champlain: how each contributed to New York's rise as an economic power, and shaped New York's commerce and influence from the colonial era to contemporary times.

Letting in the Sky: Women Writers and Nature

Charlotte Zoe Walker, Gilbertsville
Based on "Women and Nature," a course Walker teaches at SUNY Oneonta, this lecture considers the work of major women novelists and poets, such as Virginia Woolf, Willa Cather, and Terry Tempest Williams, from the perspective of their concern for nature and the environment. Includes audiovisual materials.

Utopia: Living in a Nowhere Land

Timothy J. Madigan, Rochester
We often talk about “utopias,” but is there such a thing as a “perfect world”? And would you really want to live in it if there were?

All Things Herriot: James Herriot and His Peaceable Kingdom

Sanford Sternlicht, Syracuse
In the Great Depression how could a poor, newly graduated, veterinarian from Scotland, who had taken a job caring for farm animals in Yorkshire, England, become a household name as a world class storyteller?

The Great Earthquake of 1908: America Comes to Italy’s Rescue

Salvatore J. LaGumina, Garden City
America's generous response to the Messina earthquake of 1908 is considered one of the nation's greatest humanitarian efforts. How does it compare with our responses to other, more recent natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina?

New York City: Algonquin at the Core

Nadema Agard, N/A
A Multimedia Presentation by Nadema Agard (Powhatan/Cherokee/Lakota) to include Algonquin inspired art, cosmology, culture and history of the original New York City planners.

Cooling Mother Earth: New York's Footprint in Nature, Then and Now

Robert Spiegelman, New York
A tour-de-force in words and images, "Cooling Mother Earth" connects the extraordinary twin legacies of New York's Indians and great forgotten Naturalists, to take us back to our roots and better confront our environmental future.

Heritage Areas of New York State

Paul M. Bray, Albany
A new generation of parks, called “heritage areas,” has taken shape in New York and across the nation in the last 30 years. How are they different from earlier generations of public parks? What do they say about our changing notions of ourselves in relation to the land, and our nation's history? This eye-opening look at the heritage area movement by one of its founders includes an overview of the two dozen heritage areas in New York State.

The Wild, Wild East: New York's Drama of Westward Expansion

Robert Spiegelman, New York
America's first "Wild West" was New York's frontier. This multimedia lecture illuminates the fateful crossroads where settler dreams meet native lifeways, at the heart of Westward Expansion.

New York's Missing Link: The Sullivan-Clinton Campaign, Then and Now

Robert Spiegelman, New York
Revolutionary New York's epic Indian War has the most official state historical markers, but is otherwise barely remembered. This multimedia lecture shows why...

John Burroughs and the Art of Seeing Things

Charlotte Zoe Walker, Gilbertsville
Walker reviews the life and the works of the great naturalist John Burroughs (1837-1921), with emphasis on his relevance for readers today. Burroughs, who grew up in the Catskills, was immensely influential in his time, counting Whitman, Ford, Muir, and Roosevelt among his friends; yet, he kept his message simple.

Representing the American Landscape: The People’s Parks

Charles Mitchell, Elmira
From the Catskills, Niagara Falls, and Central Park to Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon: Learn how these places came to be, and what they say about our relationship to nature.

Nature: From Howling Wilderness to Vacation Destination

Charles Mitchell, Elmira
How did the Hudson River School painters and Dr. Seuss transform nature from a howling wilderness into a retreat beloved for its sublime beauty and recreation?

Life Speeds Up: Robert Fulton and a Changing New York

Robert W. Arnold III, Albany
When Robert Fulton docked his steamboat in Albany in 1807, he hadn't made just a voyage; he'd made history. The advent of steam-driven machinery meant that people need no longer rely solely on "natural" forces - muscle, wind, and water - to power their lives.

Only a Pond: The Story of Earth in a Drop of Still Water

Matthew C. Ally, New York
It’s just a pool of water in the woods. But look carefully into a pond, and you can see a reflection of our place in nature. Keep looking, and perhaps you'll get a glimpse of a sustainable future.

Minding the Body of Earth: On the Meanings of Environmental Awareness

Matthew C. Ally, New York
An exploration of the rise in environmental awareness: what it is, how you get it, and what it’s good for.

The Struggle for Environmental Justice: Cases from NYC and Beyond

Sherrie Baver, New City
The fundamental premise of the Environmental Justice movement is that poor people and people of color disproportionately face environmental harm in their communities and workplaces. The lecture examines struggles around such isssues as toxic waste sites, incinerators, and lack of green spaces in the quest for environmental rights.

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