Hugo Neu Corporation Sustainability Seminar Series: Achieving sustainability requires the community: The public as a critical partner

ABSTRACT

Sustainability is a balance, that is both dynamic and resilient. Both the act of achieving it, and the means to sustain it, require the skills and training of sustainability managers along with support and engagement from a broad spectrum of individuals including other scientists, planners, and practitioners. However, attaining long-term sustainability must leverage another critical partner, one who is often overlooked, and even sidelined; the local community. Members of the local community, along with the broader public must be engaged through active participation from the beginning. Their role is multi-layered, stemming from the planning sessions, through to implementation and long-term support the community is critical. The community intimately knows their area, the rhythms and behaviors, the choke points and priorities. Additionally, they hold connections and communications that are necessary for establishing the expectations, behaviors and understandings that will ultimately deliver on the promise of sustainability. Listening, to really hear, is a critical skill for sustainability managers, as is the interest and willingness to be adaptable in approach and design.

BIOGRAPHY

Margie Turrin is Director of Educational Field Programs at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University where she has spent much of her career building field-work into science experiences for learners and stewards from youth to lifelong learners. She uses the local environment as a tangible entry to science concepts, connecting these with issues that are relevant to our lives daily. Her primary goal is to build direct connections between people and their environment, establishing that relationship for youth participants and often reclaiming it for adults. Her work has taken her from the Hudson River to the both polar regions, where she has been involved in research projects in both Antarctica and Greenland. Whether in the Arctic or her local community her approach is to center local community connections in her work.

Ms. Turrin obtained a BS in Ecology from University of California, Irvine and an MS in Social Ecology from San Jose State University. She is on the board of The Hudson River Environmental Society and The Hudson River Environmental Conditions Observing System and serves as Chair of the Conservation Committee for the Rockland County Task Force for Water Resource Management. She is co-founder of Rockland Planning Land Use for Students that engages students and decision makers in exploring sustainable land use planning. 

Zoom Link:

https://stevens.zoom.us/j/99998532806

Website:

https://www.stevens.edu/sustainability-seminar-series

Jointly Sponsored by:

HUGO NEU Corporation
WSP
HDR
NOMADICS
H2M Architects and Engineers
Dewberry

Contact:

Dr. Dibs Sarkar