Boston University Initiative on Cities’ Post

Join us online at Bath Spa University 12-1pm GMT Tuesday 28th January! eARTh spotlight with Ramey Wood: An experimental life of intergenerational eARTh work “Education is personal. At the outset I lay my cards on the table. I speak about my life, my history, my interests, my activities, my tastes and limitations, my point of view, my intentions. I ask for a similar candor. The world is bigger than one’s teacher. And no one knows it better than I.” (M.C.Richards, Centering) Have you ever wondered what it would be to commit your life, one’s whole life & career to ‘anticipatory intelligence’, to what it could be to practice, to conduct 'an experimental life of intergenerational eARTh work'? If so, this January’s eARTh spotlight with Ramey Wood might be perfect for you. We will be hearing about Ramey’s commitment and practice: What in all practical and professional respects can any such 'experimental life' be? Ramey earned a Master’s Degree in Interdisciplinary Learning at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and has shared this practice ever since. Located in Alaska, he co-founded with his mother 'Nine One Ten' in 2010, an Aging Advocacy venture purposed to act as a 'one-stop' collaborative and consortium of persons, professionals, collectives, each acknowledging in their own way, there would be need and opportunities for even more creative and diverse models of business and social ventures purposed to support others’ 'experiment'. If eARTh work works, the existing systemic expectations and infrastructure opportunities would necessarily be made and done differently. #earth #arts #education #intergenerational #possibility #experimentation #ecology #creativity #environment #sustainability #climateeducation Research and Enterprise at Bath Spa University Lucy English Benjamin Freud, Ph.D. Andy Middleton Charlotte Hankin https://lnkd.in/g5Y9s9Gd

Amazing work by the Southwest Fire Science Consortium on their new science synthesis, Fire in the Sonoran Desert. Funded by the Arizona Wildfire Initiative, this important synthesis asks questions such as, "What is the ecological trajectory of the Sonoran Desert? What should we be managing for?" They summarize the history and trends of fire in the Sonoran Desert and discuss future conservation strategies. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/gAkSH6nm #SonoranDesert #SWFSC #ScienceSynthesis

A new book by Lee Benda for geomorpholgists and watershed scientists that want to see the big picture, advance the science, and think outside the box: The Watershed Three-Body Problem "Extremes—storms, fires, floods, landslides, earthquakes—lie at the center of mountain watershed natural history. The raw materials for life explode on the scene. But that science collides with the old and entrenched philosophy of nature as balanced and with the psychology of extremes as disasters, resulting in misguided perceptions and policies—the watershed three-body problem. We have a 2,000-year-old preference for a well-behaved world, one where an iconic nature, at equilibrium, is the environmental ideal. There is a compelling aesthetic to stability and a nonaesthetic and an objectional view of nature when it’s unpredictable and violent. It’s easy to see where emotional preferences may lie, even if they don’t accord with how the world works......" https://lnkd.in/gaQV6qUg

"Positive energy brings good feelings, and dark energy often means harm. But the destruction in dark energy is also a subtle aspect of construction, like how even forest fires have their benefits. Sometimes enemies are our best teachers, people can learn from their mistakes, destruction sometimes means rebirth." Keanu Reeves. This quote reminded me of two extraordinary books: 'Year of the Fires - The Story of the Great Fires of 1910' by Stephen Pyne, Emeritus Professor, Center for Biodiversity Outcomes, Arizona State University; and 'The Chinchaga Firestorm - When the Moon and Sun Turned Blue' by Cordy Tymstra, Principle Consultant, Whitebark & Sage Wildfire Science and Management. https://lnkd.in/gh_BGkWc https://lnkd.in/gaumSPJb

📢 Abstract submissions are open for #EGU25! Are you using multitemporal Earth observation data to study, monitor, or restore #wetlands? We want to hear from you! Join us and the Stockholms universitets Östersjöcentrum/Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly 2025 in Vienna, Austria (27 April–2 May 2025), for a session dedicated to advancing wetland research with remote sensing tools. Focus areas include: 💧 Water dynamics 🌱 Vegetation changes 〰️ Disturbances 🪴 Soil moisture 🐟 Biodiversity 💡 We are especially looking for innovative approaches using multi-sensor techniques and machine learning to conserve and restore these fragile ecosystems. 📅 Submit your abstract by 15 January 👉 https://buff.ly/4g2ryQ9 Conveners: Sebastián Palomino Ángel, Tania Fernanda Santos Santos, Fernando Jaramillo. #Wetlands #EarthObservation #Multitemporal #MachineLearning #EGU25

📚 What we're reading: "Why Appalachia Flooded So Severely from Helene’s Remnants" by Meghan Bartels in Scientific American. ➡️ Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/gar-dUgj A highlight: "Despite the known risk of these storms reaching Appalachia, scientists don’t know a whole lot about how they behave once they get to mountains. For example, high-elevation terrain often forces storm systems to drop more rain on the mountains’ windward side but scientists aren’t sure whether that phenomenon might play a role in cases like Helene’s Appalachian deluge." #EarthScienceData is critical for understanding our landscapes and making informed decisions. Making those resources open and coherent is also important as communities continue to recover -- including the Explore Asheville, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, NOAA: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration NCEI Office, and western NC people who graciously hosted us this summer.

🦪 #Europe's #oyster reefs once covered 1.7 million hectares, stretching from the #NorthSea to the #Mediterranean, according to new #research published in the #scientific journal #NatureSustainability. 💬🌊 "Oysters still exist in these waters but they’re scattered, and the reefs they built are gone. We tend to think of our #seafloor as a flat, muddy expanse, but in the past many locations were a three-dimensional landscape of complex living #reefs – now completely lost from our collective memory," said lead researcher Ruth H Thurstan. 💡 Led by the University of Exeter and The University of Edinburgh, and involving over 30 European researchers from the #NativeOyster Restoration Alliance (#NORA), the research draws on data from an array of scientific and historical sources, providing the first quantitative description of Europe’s formerly vast #oysterreefs - crucial #baseline data for #ocean #restoration action. 💬 "Our findings demonstrate that restoring even a fraction of these past #habitats requires both ambitious #policy agreements and a step-change in our understanding of the long-term nature of human-induced #ecosystem degradation and the scales of historical loss in #marineecosystems," the researchers state in the published article. ✨ Read more on this story here 👉 https://lnkd.in/d23VWThX

Come reimagine with us! “Rural Reimagined: A Grand Challenge for Appalachia” 2025 Appalachian Studies Association Conference Tennessee Tech University, Cookeville, Tennessee March 20-22, 2025 Photographs by Sabrina Greene-Rusk. One-fourth of the counties that comprise Appalachia are classified as rural—neither part of nor adjacent to a metropolitan area. The 48th annual Appalachian Studies Association Conference will explore the theme “Rural Reimagined” by celebrating the creative uses of technology, science, and the arts with the greatest potential to transform life in and proximate to the region’s rural communities. #appstudies2025 #Ruralreimagined #appalachianstudies #appalachia #appalachian #appstudies #asa #Asainaction 

Did you know you can find our map in the Atlas of a Changing Climate? The book is a great read and a beautiful collection of charts, infographics and maps that visualize the changes that influence ecosystems around the globe. Each visualization is accompanied by explanations and short stories that help make complex systems and issues understandable. #dataisbeautiful About the author: Brian Buma is a professor at University of Colorado, Denver, working in their Integrative Biology department tracking ecological change in a variety of climates and ecosystems. His writing and research have appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Science magazine, and High Country News. He's also served as a funded National Geographic Explorer. He has led research expeditions that span the globe, embracing the adventurous side of science. (from bookshop.org) Buy the book following the link below or look it up in your local library! https://buff.ly/3URqw1h #MapsReimagined #dataviz #ecology #ecosystems #climatechange #changingclimate #coffeetablebook #geography #environmentaleducation

With the right planning, Great Lakes coastal communities can be better equipped to withstand flooding and erosion. That's where MSU Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences research comes in. Assistant Professor Ethan J. Theuerkauf and his team from the College of Social Science at Michigan State University are equipping communities with the data they need to make good decisions. Read our story here: https://lnkd.in/gHscuyjs