RECENT BOOK TALK: THE NEW AMERICAN FARMER BY LAURA-ANNE MINKOFF-ZERN

On October 26th, 2020, Dr. Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern, Associate Professor and Program Director of Food Studies at Syracuse University, spoke about her recent book “The New American Farmer: Immigration, Race, and the Struggle for Sustainability'' (MIT Press, 2019) in on an online talk hosted by the Food Studies Program at The New School. The event was organized in connection with faculty member Kristin Reynolds’ Food and the Environment course, and there were more than 120 participants from across the United States in attendance. In this short piece, we include a brief summary of the book’s key arguments and reflect on its relevance for the study of food and sustainability.

Webinar, interviews, FacultyTishman CenterDecember 8, 2020Affiliated Faculty, book talk, food justice, agricultureComment

2020 Student Awards Update Part 2

The previous semester (Spring ‘20), the Tishman Environment and Design Center created student awards to help support the work of students doing research and projects around environmental and climate justice, which was especially critical during the beginning phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. We were glad to support fourteen projects which were carried out by twenty-three students from across the university.

In part two of the series, we highlight four more projects and as always we would like to thank all the students for their hard work and are proud to see them making a positive difference in the world.

Awards, StudentsTishman CenterDecember 2, 2020student awards, Student Highlights, Climate Justice

Finally, Corporate Sustainability Reporting is Hitting its Stride…now What?

It is true, the last four years have seen substantial environmental policy protections rolled back, there are reasons for hope. Businesses, as well as local and state governments, are seeing the bottom line benefits of data-driven ESG policies and are implementing new frameworks for comparable and transparent reporting. Though, implementing a sustainable framework into your business or organization can seem like a monumental task, know you are not alone, and there are systems to help you sift through the noise. We’ll get to that in a minute.

Alum Stories, EventsTishman CenterDecember 1, 2020Event, symposium, Affiliated Faculty, alumniComment

Meet our 2020 Aronson Fellow, Daniela Lam

Earlier this year, the Tishman Center put out a call for applications for our inaugural Arnold and Shelia Aronson Fellowship. The fellowship is meant to support students that are working towards pressing sustainability and environmental justice issues. Our first fellow is Daniela Lam, a Parsons student that is interested in using design to address issues of affordable housing, forced migration due to climate change and how marginalized communities will adapt to a rapidly changing world where floods, fires, hurricanes and other natural disasters (strengthened by climate change) will create even more uncertainty about where people can live.

StudentsTishman CenterNovember 12, 2020aronson fellowship, Student Highlights Comment

2020 Student Awards Update Part 1

We are facing a climate crisis and the threat it poses to life on Earth, frontline, fenceline and marginalized communities (including Women, Indigenous, People of Color and Global South communities) are among the foremost challenges of our time. Globally seas are rising, coastlines are eroding, weather patterns are changing, droughts and forest fires are increasing and species extinction is rising exponentially. Solutions to the climate crisis vary among stakeholders from across disciplines.

Awards, StudentsTishman CenterNovember 9, 2020student awards, Student Highlights, Climate Justice

Radical Reimaginations Recap

Imagine a world where climate justice is no longer a debated concept, but rather a lived, achieved reality for all. How did we get there?

That was the question the Tishman Environment and Design Center, in collaboration with the Social Movements + Innovation Lab, explored over the course of the five-part Radical Reimaginations for Climate Justice series.

Tishman CenterOctober 27, 2020Environmental Justice, Climate Justice, Just Transition, Social Justice

Video Interview Series 04: Interview with Dr. Nicky Sheats

For the fourth part of the Tishman Center’s video interview series, we spoke to Dr. Nicky Sheats, director of the Center for the Urban Environment of the John S. Watson Institute for Public Policy at Thomas Edison State University and a key member of the New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance (NJEJA). He is also a lawyer and longtime advocate for environmental justice.

EJ, Video Interview SeriesTishman CenterOctober 1, 2020Environmental Justice, covid-19, cumulative impacts, ICC

Climate Week 2020 Recap

Much like our Earth Week programming, we have had to shift our Climate Week 2020 events to all online; however, we got a great response and had around 500 plus people register to watch or participate in our events. We would like to thank everyone we worked with and that attended and hope to continue interacting with and working together with you all going forward. Please feel free to share your thoughts with us and see below for recaps and videos of all of our Climate Week events

EJ, Webinar, Workshops, EventsTishman CenterSeptember 28, 2020climate week, Environmental Justice, GIS, facultyComment

Hurricanes & Fires in a Pandemic: The Climate Crisis is here

As news comes in about the upcoming elections, set against a backdrop of a pandemic, we are now also bearing witness to two natural disasters in the United States: horrifying fires on the West Coast have killed at least 33 people and displaced thousands of others and, although firefighters are now starting to make progress against several of the wildfires, the dry conditions could still change the course of this step towards controlling the situation.

NewsTishman CenterSeptember 20, 2020Climate Action, climate, Events, environment, Government, Justice, New School Comment

Video Interview Series 03: Susan Blaustein on how to Adapt to Changing Times and Global Issues Affecting Women

Our third conversation in the interview series was with Susan Blaustein, the Executive Director of WomenStrong International, a community of organizations across the globe that focuses empowering women and girls. We spoke with Susan about how climate impacts affect women, inequalities that have stemmed from COVID-19 among other things. We hope you all enjoy this episode and please share your feedback with us.

Video Interview SeriesTishman CenterSeptember 15, 2020interview series, women and girls, Climate Justice, covid-19Comment

Is this America? Reimaging the City in the Age of Coronavirus

The Urban Systems Lab is proud to announce the launch of Resilience, a new quarterly publication. As cities around the world face unprecedented challenges, we invite submissions from designers, scientists, architects, students, activists and artists exploring a just and equitable response, and how new and progressive approaches to design, urban planning, city governance, climate justice and activism, as well as decision making can be reimagined. We are particularly interested in articles, stories, media and artworks concerned with examples of participatory decision making, the role of climate and racial justice in the upcoming local and national elections, and the role design and science can and should play in imagining the future of cities. What is a resilient and equitable vision for cities post-Covid? How has COVID-19 changed organizing? How do we design for restorative justice, and build resilience to both climate extremes and future health crises?

OpportunitiesTishman CenterSeptember 3, 2020reblog, climate, usl, journalComment

Video Interview Series 02: Maria Lopez-Nuñez on Lessons from COVID-19 for the Climate Crisis and Environmental Justice

For the second part of the Tishman Center’s video interview series, we would like to highlight Maria Lopez-Nuñez. As the Deputy Director of Organizing and Advocacy at the Ironbound Community Corporation (ICC) in Newark, NJ, Maria is an environmental justice activist deeply rooted in the Ironbound community.

EJ, Video Interview SeriesTishman CenterSeptember 2, 2020Environmental Justice, covid-19, cumulative impacts, ICC

Video Interview Series 01: Leslie Velasquez on Inequity, Covid-19 and EJ

We want to highlight the work of those looking to create positive change in the environmental and climate justice spaces and to share how we can support and elevate them; therefore we will be sharing their stories in the form of short interviews. Our first featured interview is with Leslie Velasquez, the Environmental Justice Program Coordinator at El Puente, a Brooklyn-based social justice and arts non-profit.

Gen Z and the Pandemic

We are at a critical time in our history and culture as a result of the spread of COVID 19. Every living generation is deeply impacted by the spread of this virus and the havoc that is is causing in our society, personal and professional lives. However there is one generation that is at a critical phase in its transition from student to entering the workforce and that is Generation Z (Gen Z). The study that we are conducting seeks to answer the questions of: “How does COVID 19 impact several areas in our society (including) Education, Work and Therapeutic Outcomes for Gen Z?”

OpportunitiesTishman CenterAugust 3, 2020Visiting Scholars, research

Apply for the Arnold and Sheila Aronson Fellowship

The Tishman Center is excited to announce the Arnold and Sheila Aronson Fellowship. The fellowship is designed to support student learning and practice at the Tishman Center. The Aronson Fellowship seeks to provide financial support to students who are, through their studies, research, or practice, finding solutions to the most pressing sustainability challenges facing the world today. Fellows will advance the mission of the Tishman Center and delve deeply into design, policy and environmental justice approaches intended to address the climate and equity crises.

OpportunitiesTishman CenterJuly 20, 2020Fellowship, Students, Environmental Justice, Climate Justice

Strategic Plan 2020-2023

It is our pleasure to share our new three-year strategic plan, which was completed early this summer. Tishman Center staff worked with an outside evaluator to streamline and update the goals and outcomes from our previous plan while looking to make our work more comprehensive. We also worked with key stakeholders across our community, including our affiliated faculty to refine our goals and measurements for the new plan.

HighlightsTishman CenterJuly 16, 2020Strategic plan, campus engagement, climate justice

Tishman Center Contributes to Report to Address EJ & Urban Heat

Before we start, I want you to do a thought experiment. Think about the images you see on news coverage when there is a heat wave in a city (when it is about 95 F/ 35 C for a few days). What immediately comes to mind? Who do you picture?

Staff Work, EJ, NewsTishman CenterJune 22, 2020Environmental Justice, Urban design, urban heatComment

There Was Never A New York "Pause" For The South Bronx

Here are some of the things you can't find during a pandemic: toilet paper, hand sanitizer, N95 masks, Nintendo Switches. As a kid growing up in the Hunts Point section of the South Bronx in the late '80s and early '90s, fresh air was a commodity we couldn't find either. No pandemic required.

Students, EJTishman CenterJune 18, 2020Environmental Justice, #COVID19, Students Comment

The Impacts of COVID-19 on Environmental Justice Communities

Earlier this month, Ana Baptista, Director of the Tishman Center and Chair of Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management program, gave a Congressional briefing in front of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce about the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on environmental justice communities.

An Interview with Beau Bree Rhee

In an art & design school, we (myself included) are tactile creatures that are interested in being seduced by beautiful and wonderful materials. Materials have been a way for me in Sustainable Systems to tap into that innate curiosity and generate a deep wonder towards our natural world. This is the first step towards generating a real personal connection with the students to the aims of the course Sustainable Systems. That is home base: reverence & wonder for our natural world. There’s so much doom & gloom and information around climate change these days; it’s easy for people to feel overwhelmed and shut down. But I think once you have awe, you’re able to work through the darkness.

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