Thursday, February 2, 2012
Greening in the Red Zone Book Interview
Monday, January 23, 2012
NCSE Environment & Security Conference
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Friday, November 4, 2011
2011 Global Environmental Action Conference Tokyo, Japan
| Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito |
| Japan's Prime Minister Noda |
| Keith Tidball of Cornell University Civic Ecology Lab and NY EDEN |
Pictures from the meeting are here. My presentations in English and Japanese appear below:
My presentation in Japanese is here:
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Serious business: The evidence on heat waves
Friday, July 1, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Urgent Biophilia- Presentation at Resilience 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
Conceptual Framework for Civic Ecology Education
http://escholarship.bc.edu/cate/vol3/iss1/11/
Sunday, January 16, 2011
"Oak Hatred" in Historic Sweden
On a recent trip to Sweden I was talking to a few of my colleagues about my interests in tree symbolism, while on a hike through a forested area in Stockholm featuring a few ancient oaks. My colleagues related to me the following: "a monarch decided in the 16th or 17th Century that oak were not to be cut since they should be used for warship building. This resulted in noblemen being ordered to protect oaks, whereas farmers stamped out and killed oak seedlings as fast as they could. If the farmers let the oaks grow up, they would loose usable land surface. So, on the whole, we lost oaks." I looked into this further and discovered a scholarly accounting of this phenomena by Per Eliasson, University of Lund, Sweden. He says, in a paper titled "The political history of the oaks in Sweden from the 16th to 20th century," that "The conflict in Sweden between the state power and the peasants over oak trees was one about many different values – culture, economy, politics and ecology. It was not only about ownership and timber, but also about the oaks role in damaging the crops and about the oak as a symbol of the crown." In another related paper titled "The Oak Tree, from Peasant Torment to a Unifying Concept of Landscape Management" by Jerker Moström of the National Heritage Board of Sweden, we learn of the Swedish historical expression “Tender oak trees and young noblemen should be hated,” an ironic peasant saying originating from the 18th century. According to Moström, the saying expresses the hatred within the peasant community towards the nobility and the oak trees at that time, caused by what they perceived as injustices in the contemporary Swedish forestry acts. He says that during the 17th century the oak became not only an important source of income for the nobility but also a physical symbol of the wealth and power of the aristocracy.
These papers and others can be found in the proceedings from a conference held in Linköpin, Sweden called The Oak – History, Ecology, Management and Planning, report 5617, May 2006. I found this interesting to contrast with the symbolism of the oak in the New World, especially the contemporary meanings I am exploring of the Live Oak in post-Katrina New Orleans and more broadly within the Gulf Coast region. These symbolic meanings of the oak and other trees in post-Katrina New Orleans are treated in depth in the forthcoming book Greening in the Red Zone in a chapter titled: Trees and Rebirth: Symbol, Ritual, and Resilience in Post-Katrina New Orleans.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Anthropology, Science and the Art of Media Sensationalization
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
URBIS Gains Traction
Click here for a journal article about UR
BIS.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Presentation at City Summit, COP 10- Nagoya, Japan
Sunday, October 17, 2010
World Expo Shanghai
One event was the "Future cities, Future citizens" Open Seminar at Nordic Light House, Shanghai, China.

I was especially proud of the work of Rocking the Boat at the event.
For pictures of the amazing city of Shanghai, see here.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Greening in the Red Zone in AnthroNews

October Anthropology News In Focus commentaries on disaster relief and recovery are now posted on the American Anthropological Association's Current Featured News page, free to the public throughout the month. This month’s In Focus articles are by Susanna M Hoffman; Jane Henrici; Miriam S Chaiken; Roberto Barrios; Michele Ruth Gamburd and Dennis B McGilvray; Keith G Tidball; Susann Ullberg; Lakshmi Fjord; and Anthony Oliver-Smith. Full issue content is available via AnthroSource, including additional thematic articles from other sections by contributors Graham A Tobin, Linda M Whiteford, Eric C Jones and Arthur D Murphy; Laura Wagner; Jérôme Grimaud; Marisa O Ensor; Howard F Stein; and Adam Koons.
This month’s issue also features color photographs in the online version.
After the catastrophic January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, AN immediately began hearing anthropologists discuss how they might contribute to recovery efforts. This was no surprise, given anthropologists’ frequent engagement with human rights, public health and social justice issues. With many practicing and academic anthropologists deeply involved with short- and long-term disaster relief and recovery efforts throughout the world, this thematic series explores how anthropology can make a difference in such challenging circumstances.
Friday, October 1, 2010
NAAEE 2010
Dr. Kellert and I enjoyed some down-time after our presentations and explored
Niagara Falls from the ever-popular Maid of the Mists. It was great getting to know him better, and comparing notes on biophilia, Urgent Biophilia, and even how hunting and fishing might be explored as expressions of Biophilia... stay tuned for more on that.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Emergence
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL GRANT AWARD
Keith Tidball was among the 62 research travel grants for the 2010-2011 academic year awarded by the Einaudi Center. The recipients came from a variety of graduate fields across seven colleges. Most recipients (40%) are headed to Asia. A sizable number are traveling to Europe (25%), Africa (25%) and Latin America (10%) respectively.
Tidball's research proposal is titled "Greening and Greenspace as Conflict Amelioration in a South African Informal Settlement."
To view recipients of travel grants and explore the new interactive world map that provides an overview of their destinations, see http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/funding/tg_recipients.asp.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
A Conversation with Students in Stockholm

I was invited to speak with a group of about a 100 young people attending Global College, an upper secondary school that is located in the center of Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. Global College is a public school with approximately 400 students between the ages of 16-19, and 25 teachers. All public schooling in Sweden is free of charge and co-educational.
Thomas Elmqvist from the Stockholm Resilience Center spoke about global change and teh importance of resilient strategies for the urban environment. I spoke with the students about New York City's Million Trees campaign. The questions these students asked were insightful and plentiful. I was impressed. And I was proud of New York City.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Friday, March 5, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
New article published in the Journal of Extension
Civic Ecology: Linking Social and Ecological Approaches in Extension
Thursday, February 18, 2010
UNESCO URBIS Partnerships concept

Friday, December 18, 2009
New Article Published in the journal Cities and the Environment
Marianne E. Krasny, Cornell University Community gardens are heterogeneous environments that integrate environmental restoration, community activism, social interactions, cultural expression, and food security. As such, they provide a context for learning that addresses multiple societal goals, including a populace that is scientifically literate, practices environmental stewardship, and participates in civic life. Several theories are useful in describing the learning that occurs in community gardens, including those focusing on learning as acquisition of content by individuals, learning as interaction with other individuals and the environment and as increasingly skilled levels of participation in a community of practice, and social learning among groups of stakeholders leading to concerted action to enhance natural resources. In this paper, we use preliminary evidence from the Garden Mosaics intergenerational education program to suggest the potential for community gardens to foster multiple types of learning. Click HERE for the full article.
Keith G. Tidball, Cornell University
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
Tidball et al., 2009. "The Case for a Community Greening Research Agenda." Community Greening Review. ACGA; Columbus OH
Newly published, the most recent edition of the Community Greening Review is focused on research and features some of the big names in greening scholarship, including Frances Kuo, Rachel Kaplan, Laura Lawson, Bill Sullivan, and others.Click on the photo to access the PDF at the ACGA website.
Tidball et al., 2009. "The Case for a Community Greening Research Agenda." Community Greening Review, Vol. 13. American Community Gardening Association: Columbus, OH.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Resilience presentation added to Urban Forestry South Expo Library
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Growing safe affordable good food in the City of Buffalo New York
“This project will help more people join the Good Food Revolution that’s underway,” said Will Allen, founder and CEO of Growing Power. Buffalo’s Mayor Byron Brown has endorsed this project and will be in attendance over the weekend.
“We need to learn to grow good food closer to where people live. These systems show how we can accomplish this in a very small area using intensive, sustainable practices. ”
–Will Allen, CEO of Growing Power
Growing Power is a national non profit organization and land trust based in Milwaukee with outreach training centers throughout the United States and around the world.
Additional Contact Information:
Community Action Organization | 70 Harvard Place | Buffalo, NY 14209
716-881-5150
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
Congress Introduces Community Garden Bills!
Best of all, Inslee's got a total of 18 co-sponsors for his bill, including:
Del. Madeleine Bordallo [D-GU]
Del. Donna Christensen [D-VI]
Del. Eleanor Norton [D-DC]
Rep. Earl Blumenauer [D-OR3]
Rep. André Carson [D-IN7]
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver [D-MO5]
Rep. John Conyers [D-MI14]
Rep. Donna Edwards [D-MD4]
Rep. Eliot Engel [D-NY17]
Rep. Raul Grijalva [D-AZ7]
Rep. Marcy Kaptur [D-OH9]
Rep. Barbara Lee [D-CA9]
Rep. Carolyn Maloney [D-NY14]
Rep. Doris Matsui [D-CA5]
Rep. James McGovern [D-MA3]
Rep. Dennis Moore [D-KS3]
Rep. James Moran [D-VA8]
Rep. Lynn Woolsey [D-CA6]
If you see your representative listed here, please thank them! If you don't, drop them a line and tell them you support these two measures and you'd like them to co-sponsor them!
Monday, June 8, 2009
More Defiant Gardens Fort Drum Press
Click on the picture for the story from the Fort Drum newspaper.
The Cornell Chronicle also recently ran a story on Defiant Gardens...you can read it here.
Finally, the Children and Nature Forum newsletter recently featured Defiant Gardens. See below or see a pdf of the Defiant Gardens section of the newsletter here.

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Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Seneca Wild Harvest Table
To see the poster, click on the image.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
World Environmental Education Congress 2009 Presentation
Friday, May 15, 2009
"Defiant Gardens" Military Families

The Defiant Gardens Military Families Project has opened the planting season with a bang.
The program was featured on a local news program recently, and yesterday, kicked off the planting season at Fort Drum with a workshop and planting day with project collaborators from The Growing Connection. My photos of this event can be found here.
For background on the project, read the funded proposal here.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Cornell College Of Agriculture and Life Sciences Fights for Urban Well-being
Friday, May 1, 2009
Million Trees NYC Work Shop a Success
Agenda
Directions to all workshop locations are available at http://tinyurl.com/MTNYClocations
Click on each marker to create custom driving, transit or walking directions from your location.
Tuesday 28 April, 6-8pm
Welcome reception
The Arsenal roof, 830 Fifth Avenue (at East 64th Street and Fifth Avenue, just inside Central Park)
Speakers:
Adrian Benepe, Commissioner, City of New York Parks & Recreation (NYC Parks)
Drew Becher, Executive Director of New York Restoration Project (NYRP)
Michael Rains, Director, US Forest Service Northern Research Station
Wednesday 29 April, 8:30-11:00am (breakfast at 8 am)
Opportunities for Research and Collaboration in the Context of MillionTreesNYC
Gracie Mansion, East End Avenue at 88th Street
Speakers:
Susan Donoghue, Assistant Commissioner for PlaNYC, NYC Parks
Cristiana Fragola and Megan Shane, Directors for MillionTreesNYC, NYC Parks and NYRP
Fiona Watt, Assistant Commissioner for Forestry, Horticulture & Natural Resources, NYC Parks
Morgan Grove, Research Social Scientist, US Forest Service Northern Research Station
Timon McPhearson, Assistant Professor of Ecology, The New School
David Maddox, Chief Scientist, Sound Science
Wednesday 29 April, 11:15-5:30pm
Field visits to MillionTreesNYC planting and research locations
Locations around New York City, transportation and bag lunch provided
Field visits to MillionTreesNYC planting and research locations across a variety of site typologies such as street trees, public housing grounds and natural area reforestation. At each site there will be presentations and discussion by practitioners and researchers concerning current work, challenges to success, and the needs and opportunities for research.
Thursday 30 April, 8:30-5:00pm
Federal Building, 290 Broadway (at Duane St), 30th Floor
Opening Talk: What MillionTreesNYC and the City of New York can offer researchers
Jacqueline Lu, Director of Research & Analysis, Forestry, Horticulture & Natural Resources, NYC Parks
Introduction to the process of the day
David Maddox, Chief Scientist, Sound Science
Small groups to develop thematic research agendas in diverse topics
Facilitated breakout sessions and discussions in small groups, each of which develop a draft research agenda (i.e., research questions) in one of several subject areas. All workshop attendees to participate in two groups of their choice, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
Subject areas include:
• Economic impacts
• Labor markets / green jobs
• Ecosystem services: local air quality and urban heat island
• Implications of scale (regional, climate, watersheds, population, etc)
• Green infrastructure and planting site design
• Reforestation dynamics and forest health
• Human health, well-being and quality of life
• Stewardship, civic engagement and social capital
• Ecosystem services: water quality and stormwater management
• Wildlife biodiversity and ecological communities
• Social justice and MillionTreesNYC
• Education and ecological literacy
Friday 1 May 9:00am-1pm
Federal Building, 290 Broadway (at Duane St), 30th Floor
Opening talk: Synthesizing an interdisciplinary research agenda
Keith Tidball, Associate Director of Initiative for Civic Ecology, Cornell University
Keynote: Building science collaborations between cities and researchers: Lessons from the Baltimore Ecosystem Study
Steward T.A. Pickett, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Discussion: Review and Q&A for each of Thursday’s topics
Designated leaders from each Topic Group. Open discussion with emphasis on opportunities for collaboration and cross-disciplinary work.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Social Learning-Towards a Sustainable World

A year ago, a colleague edited a book entitled Social Learning: Towards a Sustainable World in which Dr. Krasny and I had a chapter. Recently a student wanted a copy of the book and any reviews I was aware of. Having collected the reviews, I thought it would be useful to post them here.
Book review in International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, by J. Dillon 2007.
Book review in The Innovation Journal, by H. Doughty, 2008.
Book review in the Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, by J. Fien, 2007.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Civic Engagement in Achieving Greener Communities
For my presentation, click Here.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Creating Resilience in Sustainable Communities
To see the presentation I gave, entitled Civic Ecology: Resilience Thinking in Urban Social-Ecological Systems, click here.For a news story on my presentation entitled Civic Ecology: Resilience Thinking in Urban Social-Ecological Systems, click here.
The Syracuse Center of Excellence (SyracuseCoE) introduced Central Upstate New York to the best "green and clean" practices of urban development, neighborhood revitalization, technological innovation, and environmental stewardship at its 8th Annual Syracuse Symposium on Environmental and Energy Systems at the Oncenter, Syracuse, Sept. 29 and 30, 2008.
This year's Symposium theme was "Creating Resilience in Sustainable Communities." The two-day event surveyed the latest ideas and advancements in the fields of resilient human and natural environments (environments able to withstand both natural and human-made changes); sustainable design of homes, neighborhoods, and communities; and clean and green products and services that will benefit this generation and generations to come.
The keynote speaker was Majora Carter, one of the nation's pioneers in successful green-collar job training and placement systems. Carter founded Sustainable South Bronx in 2001 to achieve environmental justice through economically sustainable projects informed by community needs. She is a MacArthur "Genius" Fellow, one of Essence Magazine's "Most Influential African-Americans," one of the New York Post's "Most Influential NYC Women" for the past two years, a board member of the Wilderness Society, and she is recording a special National Public Radio series called "The Promised Land" for 2009 release. Learn more at majoracartergroup.com.
Other notable speakers included:
- Marty Anderies of Arizona State University's Global Institute for Sustainability, recognized as one the most comprehensive and integrated sustainability institutes in the nation;
- Paul Beyer, New York State's Director of Smart Growth, who is helping implement new groundbreaking policies at the state's town, county, and regional levels;
- Kevin Surace, CEO of Serious Materials, who leads his company's mission to reduce energy usage and CO2 generation of the world's largest contributor: our buildings;
- Keith Tidball, a recognized innovator at Cornell University's Civic Ecology Initiative, who will speak about how civic participation plays a role in urban resilience;
- David Doyle of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Kansas, who is helping tornado-stricken Greensburg, Kan. rebuild "green."
- Matt Raimi of Californian firm Raimi+Associates, who will address his work in the Syracuse's Near West Side neighborhood and its status as one of just a few LEED-Neighborhood Development projects in the United States;
- John Spengler of Harvard and Peter Nielsen of Aalborg University, Denmark, two of the world's leading experts in indoor environmental quality research and technology development.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Snake Handling Comes Under Scrutiny

My work from the 1990's on Serpent-handling in Appalachia has resurfaced in a news piece on a public radio station in Louisville, KY. Follow the link below.
Snake Handling Comes Under Scrutiny
For more on Serpent-handling and my research, see The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture article on the subject.
Posted using ShareThis
Monday, September 8, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
Urban Community Forestry and Resilience
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Polar Bear listing and old ANWR drilling debates
Memorandum
(a) Under which laws could environmentalists and other opponents challenge private oil
exploration at ANWR? Specify which claims they are likely to make, and, given the
facts above, discuss their chances of success.
(b) What difference, if any, would it make if the polar bear were listed as threatened?
(a) There are a number of legal challenges that can be expected regarding environmental concerns over exploration of ANWR. They range from obvious challenges, such as compatibility with National Wildlife Refuge purposes[1], Endangered Species Act (ESA)[2] and Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA)[3] protections, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)[4] compliance, ambiguity over lead agency status within the Department of the Interior, speculation on the Wilderness Act[5], and enforceability of the International Polar Bear Agreement[6], to more subtle and nuanced legal challenges involving Section 311 and Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (CWA)[7], dealing with oil spills and wetland protections respectively, and Native Lands issues.
(b) If the polar bear were listed as a threatened species, the voracity of a number of these legal challenges would be increased significantly.
The debate continues as to whether to allow energy development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Sharp increases in recent energy prices, terrorist attacks, and energy infrastructure damage from hurricanes have intensified debate. Few onshore
1. The most obvious potential challenge arises from the order that Bureau of Land Management (BLM) decide whether to authorize drilling in ANWR. Opponents are likely to take issue with the designation of BLM as the lead agency in the ANWR decision. Under the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act[15] it is the Secretary of the Interior acting “through the US Fish and Wildlife Service” who administers Refuge lands. This language was added by Congress in 1976 to ensure that management of refuges could not be assigned to other agencies.[16] Under current law, the Director of the FWS may approve an activity only if it is compatible with the purposes for which the System and the particular unit were created.[17] The Refuge Administration Act does not close refuges to possible oil and gas leasing, but many individual units are withdrawn and leasing is rare.
The American Petroleum Institute should anticipate legal challenges to oil and gas drilling in ANWR as described above. In efforts to keep legal options “open” and protect interests, it may be advisable to study proposed legislation that takes favorable positions as regards items 1-3 and marshal lobbying efforts accordingly and as appropriate. In terms of item 4, it may be prudent to commission scientific studies that demonstrate polar bear resilience to human activity and adaptability to various habitat types, as well as build alliances with other industries that are favorable to updating ESA. It may also be advisable to consider a legal defense fund.
[8] CRS Issue Brief IB10136, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR): Controversies for the 109th Congress, by M. Lynne Corn, Bernard A. Gelb, and Pamela Baldwin.
[9] Opposition to drilling in ANWR arguments can be found variously at http://www.alaskawild.org/ , http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/canam/washington/shared_env/default-en.asp , http://www.protectthearctic.com/ or http://www.tws.org/OurIssues/Arctic/index.cfm?TopLevel=Home
[11] Basic information on the Refuge can be found in CRS Report RL31278, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Background and Issues, by M. Lynne Corn, coordinator, (hereafter cited as CRS Report RL31278).
[12]
[13] ANCSA, P.L. 92-203
[14] ANILCA, P.L.96-487, 94 Stat. 2371
[15] 16 U.S.C. § 668dd(a)(1).
[16] P.L. 94-223, 90 Stat. 199.
[17] 16 U.S.C. 668dd(d).
[18] See Secretarial Order 3087, December 2, 1982, as amended February 7, 1983 (48 Fed. Reg. 8983).
[20] See 43 C.F.R. § 3101.5-1 and 43 C.F.R. § 3101.5-4.
[21] This observation and resulting legal question/argument from CRS Report Legal Issues Related to Proposed Drilling for Oil and Gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by Pamela Baldwin, Legislative Attorney, American Law Division, 2002, p5.
[22] 16 U.S.C.§668dd
[23] Section 3(c) of H.R. 5429, §3(c) of H.R. 2863, and §4001(c) of S. 1932
[24] NEPA, P.L. 91-190; 43 U.S.C. §§4321-4347
[25] Section 3(c) of H.R. 5429
[26] H.R. 2863 (Division C, §3(c))
[27] S. 1932 (§4001(c))
[28] Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears, T.I.A.S. No. 8409, 27 U.S.T. 3918 (Nov.
15, 1973).
[29]
[30] Draft Report to Congress on Status of
International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears, Prepared by
Wildlife Service,
[31] Donald C. Baur, Reconciling Polar Bear Protection under
International Agreement for the Conservation of Polar Bears, 2 ANIMAL LAW 9, 85
(1996).
[32] 50 CFR § 17.3 (1994)
[33] More information available in these subjects upon request.
























