Event Description
Learn about the emerging wildlife issues shaping our environment with the Drexel University Alumni Association and the Center for Science, Technology and Society (STS). Mingle with fellow alumni over brunch at Awbury Arboretum before participating in two engaging discussions. Then, spend the rest of the day touring Awbury Arboretum's 55-acres of public landscape and historic Francis Cope House at your leisure.
"Multi Species Urbanization: Challenging Traditional Conceptions of Nature"
Christian Hunold, PhD Two demographic shifts concerning cities are unfolding today. The first of these is hard to miss: City life is cool again! Empty nesters are snatching up downtown condos as fast as developers can build them. Corporate headquarters are ditching suburban office parks for central business districts, because that’s where the “cultural creatives” they covet want to live, work, and play. Gone are the days when struggling postindustrial cities were begging college seniors not to skip town the day after graduation. The second demographic shift is harder to spot, less familiar, and largely unintentional. Wild animals are thriving in many metropolitan regions in significant numbers. 21st-century cities attract a variety of “charismatic megafauna” whose presence in urban areas would have astonished mid-century Americans. Philadelphia, for example, is home to resident bald eagles, eastern coyotes, river otters, and beavers, not to mention many smaller species such as foxes and raccoons. It turns out cities aren’t just for squirrels and pigeons anymore! The reasons for this urbanization of wildlife are complex and varied. In the western US, sprawl-driven urban encroachment into animal habitat is more significant than on the East Coast, where the abandonment of agriculture and the recovery of forest cover have softened the boundaries between cities and their hinterlands. Effective pollution control and more tolerant attitudes toward wildlife are additional factors. Multispecies urbanization, I argue, is giving rise to fascinating “emergent ecologies” that create new ways of imagining cities that favor of an openness to the ways that ecology, community, and justice intersect. "Domesticating Bees: The Delicate Human-Honey Bee Relationship"
Chloe Silverman, PhD Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and other unexplained honey bee colony losses have damaged the U.S. beekeeping industry and threaten the approximately $15 billion worth of crops that, according to the US Department of Agriculture, depend on honey bee pollination. Entomologists and agricultural extension workers have proposed a variety of causes for these losses, ranging from pesticides to parasitic mites and viruses. One theme that emerges from conversations with beekeepers and entomologists alike is that contemporary honey bees need more assistance, in the form of monitoring and treating a range of health conditions, than they did in previous decades. Although feral bee colonies persist in the wild, and some beekeepers use chemical-free methods to manage their colonies, honey bees may be becoming increasingly dependent on human care to survive. This talk will describe the implications of that development for human-honey bee relationships. About the Speakers: Christian Hunold is an associate professor in the Department of Politics who has written widely on environmental politics and environmental political theory. He is also an passionate wildlife photographer. Chloe Silverman is an associate professor in the Department of Politics and the Center for Science, Technology and Society. She is the author of "Understanding Autism: Parents, Doctors and the History of a Disorder" (Princeton University Press, 2011), and is currently working on a book on pollinator health.
Cost of lectures, brunch and access to the Awbury grounds: $25. Register here. |
