Through touring major museums in New York City, and experiencing the beautiful artwork the city has to offer, our group, comprised of Black and Jewish students was inspired by the artwork which represented our cultures and heritage. Our project features the arts of Black and Jewish creators in New York City, as well as the art of up and coming Black and Jewish artists.
The 2022 Macaulay Honors College Bioblitz, allowed us the opportunity to participate in citizen science. While exploring Randalls island the Bat research scientists inspired great interest in the role bats play in New York’s ecosystem and how the threat of White Nose syndrome is affecting them. “White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a disease that affects hibernating bats and is caused by a fungus known as “PD”. It attacks the bare skin of bats while they’re hibernating in a relatively inactive state. As it grows, Pd causes changes in bats that make them become more active than usual and burn up fat they need to survive the winter. Since its discovery in 2007 WNS has been causing significant decline in the bat population. Our research looks at how New York has been affected by such and the quantitative effects of the disease.
The lab curriculum would help students learn essential skills like data collection and analysis, as well as add to the main topics in the course about environmental justice and activism. With the data that the students collected, they can speak to administrators and implement new policies to reduce waste on campus.
We attempt to apply the Campus as a Lab principle to the Brooklyn College School of Education.
We propose the class include a final project that investigates the energy usage of each building on Brooklyn College’s campus and creates a plan to implement what they’ve learned about urban planning and green buildings to create more green buildings on our campus.
Have you been to the High Line, Little Island, or anywhere else in NYC? Check out here to learn more about sustainability and architecture of New York City!
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, bee populations were falling and bees were increasingly in danger of being wiped out. Over the course of the pandemic. However, there has been a notable increase in the bee populations in New York City compared to pre-pandemic levels. Our goal was to find the reasons for this increase and find ways for local residents to aid this resurgence and prevent the bee populations from falling again.
As we visited museums and collaborated on various projects, one theme recurred: the different cultures in New York City. Every group member was able to connect their own heritage to what we saw around the city.
The City’s plan is a great opportunity for the City to reduce inequality in neighborhoods previously underserved by green infrastructure, as well as create new sources of ecosystem services such as water absorption and reduction of particulate matter and CO2 in the air. By planting trees only in neighborhoods that make the City look good rather than benefit communities that need them, or by planting trees that don’t maximize sustainability, the City could be wasting the 136 million in taxpayer dollars that it plans to spend on its tree planting plan.
Despite culture’s ubiquitous presence around us, we often underestimate the power of art, music, performance, and physical infrastructure in dividing or connecting us as people.
