Since I last blogged, I've been thinking about university extension activities and talking about them with a number of friends, clients and colleagues. I'm aware of two universities in the US with major extension programs; Wisconsin and Florida. My colleague Mark Hostetler at UF says that the vision in the US is for every state to have one university that does extension work.
So what is university extension? According to the UF website, 'Extension is a partnership between state, federal, and county governments to provide scientific knowledge and expertise to the public.' They call the extension program 'Solutions for your life' - what a great name!
Among the sustainable living work that Mark's involved in are his Living Green and Resource Efficient Communities programs.
From my extensive sample size of three cases, it seems that each university has its own areas of interest - UF has a focus on agriculture and environment, including low impact communities, while the University of Wisconsin-Extension (UWEX) 'provides statewide access to university resources and research so the people of Wisconsin can learn, grow and succeed at all stages of life'. UWEX fulfills the tradition of the 'Wisconsin Idea' – extending the 'boundaries of the university to the boundaries of the state through its four divisions of continuing education, cooperative extension, entrepreneurship and economic development and broadcast and media innovations.' North Carolina State University covers similar topics to UF, and also has a stormwater and erosion control program. Dr Bill Hunt from that program will be speaking at the 7th South Pacific Stormwater Conference in Auckland in May this year and it would be good to question him about how he works with communities.
The only formal extension activities I've been able to find in New Zealand are in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF), because it 'works right across the biological value chain from primary producers through to retailers and consumers – from "paddock to plate"'. Without calling it an extension program (though MAF has investigated whether government should play a role in extension), MAF does work 'closely with the Ministry for the Environment, district and regional councils and industry groups in promoting high standards of natural resource and environmental management and supporting the primary sector to remain sustainable, resilient and productive'.
Do our universities do extension work? Many of them run continuing education courses, but formal extension programs seem to be lacking.
Our Crown Research Institutes (CRIs) are charged 'with promoting the transfer and dissemination of research, science and technology' or, as Wikipedia puts it, 'In other words, they have the role of "making a difference" with the research they produce. They do this via strategic, long-term relationships with sectors ... to support, sustain, challenge and develop existing sectors and also to lead development of new sectors.' However they also have to deliver a 'return on equity'. So it seems that some extension-style activities may be carried out as part of their public good research funding.
I agree with comments by Simon Stokes in his President's comment that staff of regional councils, are in fact already providing an extension service in the pastoral farming sector. I know many regional and territorial councils do a huge amount of work with their communities, and that there is growing involvement of various research bodies working with them and communities in areas as diverse as farming, solid waste recycling, waste minimization and urban and rural stream bank restoration.
Extension is a wonderful community development model and there could be real benefits in applying some thinking from that model to the good work that is already being done by a number of agencies.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Cities - the new biodiversity haven: free webinar on 22 March
My colleague Dr Mark Hostetler from the University of Florida in Gainesville is running a free webinar on "Conserving Biodiversity in Subdivision Development". It's on Tuesday March 22, 2011 beginning at 2pm EST (on the East Coast of the USA, or 7am on Wednesday the 23rd of March for New Zealanders).
The webinar will be about an hour long with 15 minutes Q&A at the end. There is more information about Mark and his work below. You can take part in the webinar by clicking here.
Mark notes that many new residential developments and rural properties "are situated near or in habitats that sustain native plant and animal communities. Conserving or restoring the unique natural features inherent on every parcel of land benefits the local environment, property owners, and the region’s heritage. When land is subdivided, how does one conserve local biodiversity and minimize impacts on surrounding landscapes? Design, construction, and post-construction phases are often not discussed holistically when green developments are built."
Mark's webinar introduces "the key principles and practices required to create conservation subdivisions", and is a preliminary to a four-module continuing education course developed by the Program for Resource Efficient Communities at the University of Florida. The course is about "defining, recognizing, restoring, and managing residential communities for biodiversity within the urban and rural matrix. It will run in May in association with American Citizen Planner and Michigan State University. It is relevant to county and city planners, landscape architects, architects, civil engineers, environmental consultants, developers, private landowners, and interested citizens."
In future blogs I'll explore the extension model that is common in American universities, which enables academics to carry out research like Mark's, that is done with and for communities - a wonderful idea.
I'll also talk more about greening cities and how it meets a multitude of other needs - as well as about the business opportunities that follow from making our cities places for happier and healthier people.
Dr. Mark Hostetler is an Associate Professor, Department of Wildlife Ecology & Conservation, University of Florida (UF). With over twenty years of experience in urban wildlife issues and natural resource management, Dr. Hostetler conducts research and outreach on how urban landscapes could be designed and managed, from small to large scales, to conserve biodiversity. He has extensive experience in working with homeowners, developers, and policymakers on ways to manage and design residential developments for biodiversity. Dr. Hostetler co-founded UF’s Program for Resource Efficient Communities (PREC) and collaborates with an interdisciplinary team of scientists and graduate students. In conjunction with PREC, Mark is working with policymakers and developers to establish natural resource conservation strategies in communities that are billed as “green” developments. In particular, he works with planners and built environment professionals to establish management programs for conservation subdivisions. Dr. Hostetler has a bachelor’s in biology from Purdue University (1987) and his master’s (1992) and doctorate in zoology (1997) are both from University of Florida. Following on from his Fullbright Fellowship during which he adapted his urban greening manual for New Zealand, Mark brings his senior students to New Zealand every year.
The webinar will be about an hour long with 15 minutes Q&A at the end. There is more information about Mark and his work below. You can take part in the webinar by clicking here.
Mark notes that many new residential developments and rural properties "are situated near or in habitats that sustain native plant and animal communities. Conserving or restoring the unique natural features inherent on every parcel of land benefits the local environment, property owners, and the region’s heritage. When land is subdivided, how does one conserve local biodiversity and minimize impacts on surrounding landscapes? Design, construction, and post-construction phases are often not discussed holistically when green developments are built."
Mark's webinar introduces "the key principles and practices required to create conservation subdivisions", and is a preliminary to a four-module continuing education course developed by the Program for Resource Efficient Communities at the University of Florida. The course is about "defining, recognizing, restoring, and managing residential communities for biodiversity within the urban and rural matrix. It will run in May in association with American Citizen Planner and Michigan State University. It is relevant to county and city planners, landscape architects, architects, civil engineers, environmental consultants, developers, private landowners, and interested citizens."
In future blogs I'll explore the extension model that is common in American universities, which enables academics to carry out research like Mark's, that is done with and for communities - a wonderful idea.
I'll also talk more about greening cities and how it meets a multitude of other needs - as well as about the business opportunities that follow from making our cities places for happier and healthier people.
Dr. Mark Hostetler is an Associate Professor, Department of Wildlife Ecology & Conservation, University of Florida (UF). With over twenty years of experience in urban wildlife issues and natural resource management, Dr. Hostetler conducts research and outreach on how urban landscapes could be designed and managed, from small to large scales, to conserve biodiversity. He has extensive experience in working with homeowners, developers, and policymakers on ways to manage and design residential developments for biodiversity. Dr. Hostetler co-founded UF’s Program for Resource Efficient Communities (PREC) and collaborates with an interdisciplinary team of scientists and graduate students. In conjunction with PREC, Mark is working with policymakers and developers to establish natural resource conservation strategies in communities that are billed as “green” developments. In particular, he works with planners and built environment professionals to establish management programs for conservation subdivisions. Dr. Hostetler has a bachelor’s in biology from Purdue University (1987) and his master’s (1992) and doctorate in zoology (1997) are both from University of Florida. Following on from his Fullbright Fellowship during which he adapted his urban greening manual for New Zealand, Mark brings his senior students to New Zealand every year.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Health, wealth and happiness
Confession time. Watersheds, landforms and the natural environment are my first love - but ecological economics is my second. Together they blend into the theme on which I now speak and write; business productivity.
This US trip has allowed me to fully indulge these three passions, and to develop a fourth addiction - to the New York Times. Its tone is at once literary and incisive, resulting in a conversational clarity as charming as it is compelling. Its size and shape enables everyone at the breakfast table to read their favorite section without difficulties relating to marmalade, coffee pots or seniority.
I attended the Princeton Alumni Day (lectures and lunch), a huge affair in which the work of current and past staff and students, as well as the ongoing fund-raising efforts of alumni, are celebrated. My sister-in-law and I first attended my brother's lecture on 'Greek tragedy and us', which was absolutely marvelous. It shed new light for me on the history and conventions of modern drama that enable us to move between different media and styles without even knowing we are using different tools and assumptions for each.
Then all three of us went to Professor Angus Deaton's lecture on 'Health, wealth and happiness around the world.' Wonderful work. This morning I discover not only does the New York Times have a Sunday edition, but that it contains two articles on just this topic.
The first, 'America's happiest man', summarizes the findings of the third annual Gallup-Healthways wellbeing index, and maps them across the whole of the US. As part of an effort to measure 'the good life', 1,000 randomly-selected people a day are asked questions on a number of topics including about how happy they were the previous day, work satisfaction, eating habits, illnesses and stress levels. The map is amazing, with clearly-defined geographic regions of joy and misery.
The second article, 'How to stop trading away the future', is a review by Nancy F Koehn of a book called 'The economics of enough: how to run the economy as if the future matters', by Diane Coyle and published by Princeton University Press. The author (Ms. Coyle, as the Times calls her in its courtly way) begins with financial borrowing that of course gives us money now that has to be paid back - in a future that has become someone else's present - and moves on to what she calls the 'other challenge', of environmental sustainability. For example, our ongoing depletion of stocks of fish, water and other resources 'shows our inability to assume responsibility for the impact of today's choices on tomorrow's prospects.' Diane Coyle says three elements - measurement, values and institutions - are needed to bring about a better balance between the present and the future.
And, I would argue, between the imbalances we see within and between nations, which were the subject of Professor Deaton's presentation.
Better measures of economic well-being than GDP are needed, Diane Coyle says, such as for health, education, employment and the environment, including stocks of not only of fish and other resources, but also social and other forms of capital.
This has been the subject of lectures I've given every year since 2004 at Auckland University - the 2011 series is coming up soon, and while my visit to the US has been focused on my the heavy construction sector, I've been extraordinarily fortunate to also run into the latest and greatest information for my annual updates of this topic - which finally seems to be coming back into fashion.
This time, may it be more than a fad.
Find out more about:
This US trip has allowed me to fully indulge these three passions, and to develop a fourth addiction - to the New York Times. Its tone is at once literary and incisive, resulting in a conversational clarity as charming as it is compelling. Its size and shape enables everyone at the breakfast table to read their favorite section without difficulties relating to marmalade, coffee pots or seniority.
I attended the Princeton Alumni Day (lectures and lunch), a huge affair in which the work of current and past staff and students, as well as the ongoing fund-raising efforts of alumni, are celebrated. My sister-in-law and I first attended my brother's lecture on 'Greek tragedy and us', which was absolutely marvelous. It shed new light for me on the history and conventions of modern drama that enable us to move between different media and styles without even knowing we are using different tools and assumptions for each.
Then all three of us went to Professor Angus Deaton's lecture on 'Health, wealth and happiness around the world.' Wonderful work. This morning I discover not only does the New York Times have a Sunday edition, but that it contains two articles on just this topic.
The first, 'America's happiest man', summarizes the findings of the third annual Gallup-Healthways wellbeing index, and maps them across the whole of the US. As part of an effort to measure 'the good life', 1,000 randomly-selected people a day are asked questions on a number of topics including about how happy they were the previous day, work satisfaction, eating habits, illnesses and stress levels. The map is amazing, with clearly-defined geographic regions of joy and misery.
The second article, 'How to stop trading away the future', is a review by Nancy F Koehn of a book called 'The economics of enough: how to run the economy as if the future matters', by Diane Coyle and published by Princeton University Press. The author (Ms. Coyle, as the Times calls her in its courtly way) begins with financial borrowing that of course gives us money now that has to be paid back - in a future that has become someone else's present - and moves on to what she calls the 'other challenge', of environmental sustainability. For example, our ongoing depletion of stocks of fish, water and other resources 'shows our inability to assume responsibility for the impact of today's choices on tomorrow's prospects.' Diane Coyle says three elements - measurement, values and institutions - are needed to bring about a better balance between the present and the future.
And, I would argue, between the imbalances we see within and between nations, which were the subject of Professor Deaton's presentation.
Better measures of economic well-being than GDP are needed, Diane Coyle says, such as for health, education, employment and the environment, including stocks of not only of fish and other resources, but also social and other forms of capital.
This has been the subject of lectures I've given every year since 2004 at Auckland University - the 2011 series is coming up soon, and while my visit to the US has been focused on my the heavy construction sector, I've been extraordinarily fortunate to also run into the latest and greatest information for my annual updates of this topic - which finally seems to be coming back into fashion.
This time, may it be more than a fad.
Find out more about:
- Professor Deaton's work at Angus Deaton at Princeton
- Gallup-Healthways wellbeing index at America's happiest man
- United Kingdom work on a similar topic at Understanding well-being
- Diane Coyle's book, at The economics of enough
- my own work on developing genuine progress indicators as part of the Progress Indicator Action Group, led by Dave Breuer of Anew New Zealand, at Genuine progress indicators for New Zealand
Thursday, March 3, 2011
New York - a wonderful city
I took another trip to New York yesterday and walked all through the financial district to have lunch with a friend. It was surprisingly low key and attractive - though my friend told me it was massively depopulated following 9/11. A lot of firms relocated afterwards and there is still a great deal of empty office space. One pleasant result is that lots of offices were converted to loft and other types of apartments, so people have moved back and the fruit and vegetable shops and other stores have followed them. With waterfront all around, there are small commuter and tourist ferries to take you anywhere, beautiful big old sailing ships and lots of private yachts and tiny craft for learners. It's gorgeous!
A trip to the 'Top of the Rock', or the top of the Rockefeller Center, put this lovely human-scale city into context - it really is big and the buildings are huge! It still surprises me that despite its scale, the experience of being in this city is so friendly and accessible. I'll be back!
A trip to the 'Top of the Rock', or the top of the Rockefeller Center, put this lovely human-scale city into context - it really is big and the buildings are huge! It still surprises me that despite its scale, the experience of being in this city is so friendly and accessible. I'll be back!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
A 6-foot man and a 6-foot gator in a 36-inch pipe...
Not a good combination!
This is the last of my alligator tales, recounted by Norm Shea, Director of Lakes Management in South Carolina. Norm was regaling a lunch-time group of us at the IECA conference (see a previous post) with some wonderful stories about his firm's work on storm drain inspection and maintenance. He has a team of divers who go through storm drain systems, noting where maintenance is needed to keep them functioning well for the protection of the community.
One of his divers prefers to do this survey work backwards, moving feet-first through the pipes. One day he was about 100 feet from the end of a 450-foot long pipe when his foot touched a stick, which he kicked out of the way. He had to kick it again to clear the obstruction, which then moved up the pipe, moved along under his belly and started to surface in front of him. In one terrifying moment he realized it was an alligator! With extraordinary presence of mind, he clamped its jaws with one hand (they can close their jaws with tremendous power, but can't open them with force) and tied its mouth shut.
Somehow he wrangled the beast backwards out of the pipe, where he and the rest of the team trussed it up in state-approved fashion to transport it to another water body - apparently quite normal practice! Alligators are not warm-blooded, and rely on external sources of heat to stay warm. As Norm said, 'Without minimizing the frightening nature of this encounter, the animal was very cold and when released, was moving in such slow-motion that it took over five minutes to move just a few yards into a place of shelter.'
The females bury their eggs to help them hatch, but the babies dig their way to the surface. So when they are ready to hatch, they start making a peeping noise. When the mother hears this, she crawls to the next, opens it up, helps any stragglers to break out of their shell, and carries them down to the water in her mouth.
With the help of a homeowner near one of these hatcheries, Norm filmed a hatching process - you can see this and other wonderful gator footage at http://www.kiawah-owners.org/Lakes-AlligatorVideos.htm. Find out more about Norm's work on his website www.kica.us.
This is the last of my alligator tales, recounted by Norm Shea, Director of Lakes Management in South Carolina. Norm was regaling a lunch-time group of us at the IECA conference (see a previous post) with some wonderful stories about his firm's work on storm drain inspection and maintenance. He has a team of divers who go through storm drain systems, noting where maintenance is needed to keep them functioning well for the protection of the community.
One of his divers prefers to do this survey work backwards, moving feet-first through the pipes. One day he was about 100 feet from the end of a 450-foot long pipe when his foot touched a stick, which he kicked out of the way. He had to kick it again to clear the obstruction, which then moved up the pipe, moved along under his belly and started to surface in front of him. In one terrifying moment he realized it was an alligator! With extraordinary presence of mind, he clamped its jaws with one hand (they can close their jaws with tremendous power, but can't open them with force) and tied its mouth shut.
Somehow he wrangled the beast backwards out of the pipe, where he and the rest of the team trussed it up in state-approved fashion to transport it to another water body - apparently quite normal practice! Alligators are not warm-blooded, and rely on external sources of heat to stay warm. As Norm said, 'Without minimizing the frightening nature of this encounter, the animal was very cold and when released, was moving in such slow-motion that it took over five minutes to move just a few yards into a place of shelter.'
The females bury their eggs to help them hatch, but the babies dig their way to the surface. So when they are ready to hatch, they start making a peeping noise. When the mother hears this, she crawls to the next, opens it up, helps any stragglers to break out of their shell, and carries them down to the water in her mouth.
With the help of a homeowner near one of these hatcheries, Norm filmed a hatching process - you can see this and other wonderful gator footage at http://www.kiawah-owners.org/Lakes-AlligatorVideos.htm. Find out more about Norm's work on his website www.kica.us.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)