Sustainability Research Workshop Sustainable Ecosystems Table 18 May 2012 Philippe Vidon – Physical geographer. Work on hydrology and biogeochemistry at watershed scale. How can we blend modern science and how climate change will affect water systems to be more sustainable? Water quality and quantity focus. Technical solutions are fine but we must understand how these are perceived by people. Lack of integration results in inefficient use of public funds. Susan Dieterlen – landscape architect, ESF, interested in research about use of trails and parks by underserved groups; working with Maren King to study the evolution of parks in the shrinking city related to perceptions of nature and the shifting ecological role a park system plays in a city. Management of parks changes as the funding base shrinks. All of this related to design of trails and parks. People and the environment – human behavior, decision‐making, cognitive function related environment. Using cows grazing in vacant lands. Linda Jones – at a teaching institution, science is in the minority (Empire State College); despite not having much science at this institution students want sustainability. Developing an undergraduate research program beyond what happens in a lab class, now in a school with no labs. Doing citizen science environmental monitoring: soil temp, water levels, looking at Japanese Beetles. How will non‐natives adapt to climate change? Collecting data now for ultimate ability to do research – focus is on students collecting data since it’s a teaching program. Some people don’t like the term “sustainable” – they seem to understand it as “nothing changes” and they know this is NOT true, therefore they see it as problematic. Soil Conservation Service work – has this had an unintended consequence – capture of nutrients and carbon….NRCS. Gary Kleppel – oceanographer and he owns a farm; interested in the ecology of human‐
dominated landscapes, in particular interested in grazing. The interaction between the animal who is processing the primary production, how this interacts in the ecosystem and within the animal itself. Managing invasives with animals. NYS has the first protocol for using livestock to manage its land. NYS DEC manages 770,000 acres. Sheep are currently being used. First part of sustainability with farming is profitability because if you are not, you don’t have a farm. Robert Ewy – Potsdam. Bioenergetics, biofuels, plant person. Only UG program . Growing biofuels on marginal lands. Willow, in particular. Have lots of wetlands so drainage is important. Willow as a replacement for heating oil – pellets. Valerie Luzadis – science‐policy collaborations; social‐ecological systems; complex problems of human‐environment interaction. Higher education organization to deliver effective interdisciplinarity. Perceptions of invasive species. Cost benefit analysis is a start but needs to be expanded to include other values. Sustainability is a practical application of science. How to take science out of ivory tower. Research Discussion A very strong focus of this group was on integration of existing science and the behavioral aspects of sustainability – what drives behavior with the context of sustainability?. Topics How people use land Sustainable agriculture Invasive species BMPs Issues Complex systems and the related uncertainty Behavior Communication Process of interdisciplinary science and expert/non‐expert collaborations – compatibility and affordances Approaches Citizen science Participatory Interdisciplinarity Valerie’s Note: the follow‐though to actual proposals that get submitted after meetings like this tends not to happen unless someone champions a specific project. I wonder, though, if it would be useful to create a list of the ideas that could be posted so anyone could use it to stimulate their thinking. Major Questions and Methods Understanding social‐ecological interactions better to determine the parts we can more effectively manage. And barriers to adoption of sustainability practices – behavioral aspects of sustainability. Moving ahead: Due July 1, 2012. Develop 5 page narrative for SUNY Collaboration $50K for an RCN‐type workshop that focuses on our main question for a dual purpose: 1) to have specific outcomes advancing understanding of the topic; 2) to serve as the foundation of an NSF RCN proposal. Next steps: Someone needs to take the lead to draft a base narrative developing these ideas to which we can all contribute. First step – use Track Changes and make comments on these notes and see what we come up with and send them to the whole group. Who will be the leader?