Professor Susan Fox Rogers Leads Community Birding Walks on Cruger Island Road as Profiled in the Daily Catch
This spring, Susan Fox Rogers, visiting associate professor of writing, is leading Monday morning birding walks from 7 to 9 am down Cruger Island Road on Bard College’s campus. The walks, which will continue through May 27, draw an intergenerational audience and are part of a greater environmental education initiative at the Red Hook Public Library, where Rogers is the inaugural Ascienzo Naturalist in Residence.
Professor Susan Fox Rogers Leads Community Birding Walks on Cruger Island Road as Profiled in the Daily Catch
This spring, Susan Fox Rogers, visiting associate professor of writing, is leading Monday morning birding walks from 7 to 9 am down Cruger Island Road on Bard College’s campus. The walks, which will continue through May 27, draw an intergenerational audience and are part of a greater environmental education initiative at the Red Hook Public Library, where Rogers is the inaugural Ascienzo Naturalist in Residence. Typically, participants will spot at least four of the Hudson Valley’s most common birds: robins, chickadees, tufted titmouses, and white-breasted nuthatches. On occasion, birders will spy more unusual specimens. “On these morning walks, we have seen eagles and listened to winter wrens, spied a rare rusty blackbird with its blazing white eyes, and delighted in the wood ducks crying as they take flight,” Rogers says. Biology major William Mennerick ’25, who took up birding during the pandemic, enjoys the walks. “I love birds,” he said. “I savor the weekly evolution of the landscape over spring. It’s amazing when vegetation starts to come in and then we wait for the spring chorus of songbirds, all at once.”Post Date: 04-16-2024
Bard Is One of Two Colleges in the US to Be Certified as a National Wildlife Federation Plastics Reduction Partner
Bard is pleased to be one of the first two US colleges certified as a Plastics Reduction Partner by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). The NWF awarded bronze-level certifications to Bard College and California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, for their efforts to reduce single-use plastics on campus. “Bard students are eager to defeat the monster that plastic has become,” said Laurie Husted, chief sustainability officer at Bard.Bard Is One of Two Colleges in the US to Be Certified as a National Wildlife Federation Plastics Reduction Partner
Bard is pleased to be one of the first two US colleges certified as a Plastics Reduction Partner by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). The NWF awarded bronze-level certifications to Bard College and California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, for their efforts to reduce single-use plastics on campus. This certification acknowledges work by the Office of Sustainability, student advocates, and community partners to demonstrate significant action across four broad categories: education and awareness, behavior change, operational change, and institutional change. “Bard students are eager to defeat the monster that plastic has become,” said Laurie Husted, chief sustainability officer at Bard. “Next steps will be to fill some of the gaps we identified, including creating a Green Events Guide in collaboration with our new campus dining partner and continuing advocacy work.”Post Date: 04-11-2024
Bard College Receives $69,300 Grant from New York State Department of Conservation Hudson River Estuary Program
Bard College has received a $69,300 grant from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Hudson River Estuary Program. Bard’s grant is part of $1.8 million in total awards recently announced by Governor Hochul for 26 projects to help communities along the Hudson River Estuary improve water quality, enhance environmental education, and advance stewardship of natural resources.Bard College Receives $69,300 Grant from New York State Department of Conservation Hudson River Estuary Program
Bard College has received a $69,300 grant from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (NYS DEC) Hudson River Estuary Program. Bard’s grant is part of $1.8 million in total awards recently announced by Governor Hochul for 26 projects to help communities along the Hudson River Estuary improve water quality, enhance environmental education, and advance stewardship of natural resources. Funding will support Bard’s project to develop a “River Harmful Algal Blooms Watershed Characterization and Communication Toolkit,” which includes a Watershed Characterization report and communication materials focused on harmful algal blooms (HABs) in the Walkill River, an emerging water quality issue that can impact public health.The Bard College Community Sciences Lab will partner with the Wallkill River Watershed Alliance, Hudson River Watershed Alliance, and Riverkeeper to develop a public-facing HABs Watershed Characterization report for the Wallkill River, a Wallkill River HABs Communications Toolkit to help coordinate effective public communications about future HABs, and a broader Water Issue Communications Framework for watershed groups or municipalities across the region to guide communications planning for HABs or other emergent and emergency conditions that affect public health.
“This funding is an important investment in community-directed stewardship of Hudson River waterways, and I applaud the DEC for recognizing this,” says Bard Associate Professor of Biology and Environmental and Urban Studies M. Elias Dueker, who is also codirector of the Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities, and head of the Community Sciences Lab. “With the increased pace of climate change, current policies regarding nutrient loading, stormwater management, and wastewater treatment simply are not keeping up with the increasing likelihood of algal blooms in our waterways as temperatures rise and precipitation regimes shift. Community scientists with a true sense of connection to these resources are a vital bridge between on-the-ground, real-time realities and the capacity for regulatory agencies to keep communities local to vulnerable waterways like the Wallkill safe. Community science is key to true climate adaptation and resilience, and I am thrilled to be part of this collaboration.”
Executive Director of Hudson River Watershed Alliance Emily Vail said: “The Hudson River Watershed Alliance is excited to be collaborating with scientists, local and regional organizations, and community members on this challenging and important issue. Harmful algal blooms can put people and pets at risk, and are an emerging threat in lakes and rivers. We’re looking forward to better understanding the latest science and communication strategies to keep people informed.”
Science Director of Riverkeeper Shannon Roback said: “Harmful algal blooms can pose health problems for both humans and animals who are exposed. As climate change progresses, we expect this risk to increase as blooms become more common. Effective public communication will be essential in reducing the harms. We are very excited that the NYS DEC Hudson River Estuary Program has funded our proposal to develop strategies to improve public outreach, communication and education around HABs, which we expect to have significant impacts to public health.”
“New York State is investing in projects that will improve resiliency and protect our natural resources both in the Hudson River Valley and across the state,” Governor Hochul said. “These 26 local grants will provide dozens of communities support to improve recreation, expand river access and education, and preserve and protect this iconic river for future generations of New Yorkers.”
Now in its 21st year, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Hudson River Estuary Grants Program implements priorities outlined in the Hudson River Estuary Action Agenda 2021-2025. To date, DEC’s Hudson River Estuary Program awarded 643 grants totaling more than $28 million. Funding for DEC’s Estuary Grants program is provided by New York State’s Environmental Protection Fund (EPF), a critical resource for environmental programs such as land acquisition, farmland protection, invasive species prevention and eradication, recreation access, water quality improvement, and environmental justice projects. Governor Hochul’s proposed 2024-25 Executive Budget maintains EPF funding at $400 million, the highest level of funding in the program’s history.
Post Date: 03-05-2024
More BOS News
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Bard College Continues Switch to Geothermal
Bard College Continues Switch to Geothermal
Bard College has commenced construction of a new state-of-the-art geothermal heating and cooling project that will replace the aging, fossil fuel–fired system currently in operation in the Charles P. Stevenson Jr. Library. “Bard College has been an early adopter of geothermal, with some systems on campus dating to the late 1980s. It is the default for all new construction projects, and nearly 38% of the campus building area utilizes the technology. However, converting the rest of the existing building stock is an entirely new set of challenges, especially when infrastructure is 50 to 100 or more years old,” said Bard Energy Manager and Special Projects Coordinator Dan Smith. “We are excited to partner with Brightcore and to tap its technical and financial expertise for this crucial step on Bard’s path to achieve carbon-neutrality.” Brightcore is serving as the turnkey provider of the project, delivering a full scope of services, from the feasibility and design, drilling and ground loop installation, mechanical connections, incentive procurement, and upon completion, ongoing system performance monitoring. The Stevenson Library’s new geothermal heating and cooling system further progresses Bard’s mission-driven focus on sustainability efforts. Through its Office of Sustainability, the College has pledged to achieve carbon-neutrality by 2035 and has made significant and measurable progress in meeting that commitment.
Post Date: 02-28-2024
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Bard College Institute for Writing and Thinking Hosts Conference on “Climate Change in the Classroom: Embracing New Paradigms” on April 26
Bard College Institute for Writing and Thinking Hosts Conference on “Climate Change in the Classroom: Embracing New Paradigms” on April 26
Bard College’s Institute for Writing and Thinking (IWT) will host its annual April Conference and welcomes educators of all disciplines on Friday, April 26 from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm. This year’s IWT conference will focus on “Climate Change in the Classroom: Embracing New Paradigms.” The conference will be hybrid, and participants can join online or in person at Bard’s Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, campus. Participants can learn more about the conference and register here.
The rate and severity of extreme climate events can bring on a feeling of numbness and resignation rather than catalyzing responsive resilience in the classroom. How can we refocus the conversation from crisis to education and adaptation? The 2024 IWT April Conference will conduct a deep dive into layered and often contradictory pedagogies about the natural world. This day of shared writing and reflection invites participants to join together in small, interactive workshop groups in order to explore a range of written, audio, visual, and hybrid texts—on topics from manifest destiny to global climate strikes—that are creating a new ecology of education.
The day will feature a plenary conversation by two Bard colleagues on the topic of climate change in the classroom from the perspectives of the humanities and STEM, respectively. Visiting Writer in Residence Jenny Offill is the author of three novels, Last Things, Dept. of Speculation, and most recently, Weather, which was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Eli Dueker is associate professor of biology and environmental and urban studies at Bard, codirector of the Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities, and head of the Community Sciences Lab.
Tuition fees are from $450 to $575, with Early Bird (before March 26) and Group discounts. Scholarships are available by application here. The IWT conference is Continuing Teacher and Leader Education 5.5 credit hours. Register here.
Post Date: 02-20-2024
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Bard College Receives $80,379 Grant from New York State Department of Conservation to Support Removal of Invasive Plant Species on Campus
Bard College Receives $80,379 Grant from New York State Department of Conservation to Support Removal of Invasive Plant Species on Campus
Bard College has received an $80,379 grant as part of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (NYS DEC) Invasive Species Grant Program that provides funding for aquatic and terrestrial invasive species spread prevention, early detection and rapid response, lake management planning, research, and education and outreach. Bard’s grant will support the removal and prevent the spread of invasive species from the College’s Annandale campus in the field between the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts and Robbins House on North Campus. Invasive species including the tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima), a rapidly growing deciduous tree native to China, and oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus), an aggressive climbing perennial vine, are destroying the meadow by outcompeting and displacing native plant species. The NYS DEC grant will fund a project to remove the invasive woody plant material, which will be cut, chemically treated, and dug out. Then, the meadow will be replanted with a mix of native grasses and wildflowers. This meadow restoration project will begin in the summer of 2024 and is expected to take one to two years to fully complete.
“Bard is incredibly grateful to restore our beautiful meadow back to its prior glory. Its overall appearance and the quantity of ecosystem services it can offer will be immediately enhanced with this unique opportunity to reclaim a central landscape on the Bard campus,” said Bard’s Director of Horticulture and Arboretum Amy Parrella. “Meadows serve as important habitat and provide food for a number of pollinators and mammals; serve as natural reservoirs for water, capture and store carbon from the atmosphere, and help maintain biodiversity in our environment. Unfortunately, invasive plants tend to be aggressive and would eventually take over our meadow in a matter of a few years. This grant will allow Bard to proactively halt this invasion and reverse the damage that has already occurred.”
“We are committed to protecting New York’s waterways, forest lands, and agricultural crops from dangerous invasive species,” Governor Kathy Hochul said. “This funding supports projects across the state that will help prevent the spread of invasive species in New York, protecting our natural resources, economy and public health from the negative impacts of this threat.”
This grant is supported by the NYS Environmental Protection Fund (EPF), a critical resource for environmental programs such as land acquisition, farmland protection, invasive species prevention and eradication, recreation access, water quality improvement, and environmental justice projects. Governor Hochul’s proposed 2024-25 Executive Budget maintains the EPF funding at $400 million, the highest level of funding in the program’s history.
Post Date: 01-28-2024
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Bard College Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities Receives $44,892 EPA Grant to Improve Air Quality and Public Health Across Underserved Neighborhoods in New York State
Bard College Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities Receives $44,892 EPA Grant to Improve Air Quality and Public Health Across Underserved Neighborhoods in New York State
The Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities (CESH) at Bard College has received a $44,892 sub-award through the Research Foundation for SUNY Albany as part of a federal grant with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The grant will support a project with the overarching goal of improving air quality and public health across underserved neighborhoods in New York State by establishing a community driven network platform to enhance understanding of sustainable outdoor and indoor air quality. The Principal Investigator for this grant is Dr. Aynul Bari at SUNY Albany.
Through the Community Sciences Lab within CESH, Bard will provide technical and analytical support for the project over two years for study sites in the Hudson Valley, including sites in Kingston, Red Hook, Annandale-on-Hudson, Newburgh, and Poughkeepsie. Specifically, CESH will provide and install weather stations, with air quality and meteorology sensors, at Newburgh and Poughkeepsie sites; and support Dr. Bari’s group in monitoring indoor and outdoor air quality in 40 homes in the Hudson Valley over the next three years—testing for a broad range of air pollutants, including black carbon, volatile organic compounds, ultrafine particles, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and ozone. Bard student involvement will include supporting monitoring efforts (indoor and out) and using the air quality data to assess air quality challenges in the Hudson Valley in classes.
“We are incredibly thankful to Dr. Aynul Bari and the Research Foundation for SUNY Albany for including us in this EPA grant,” said M. Elias Dueker, associate professor of Environmental and Urban Studies at Bard. “We look forward to using these funds to expand our indoor and outdoor air quality work with groups like the Kingston Air Quality Initiative and the Hudson Valley Air Quality Coalition. The right to breathe clean air inside and outside our homes is not something we can take for granted as we wrestle with important climate-based challenges, including increased wildfire smoke plumes from other parts of the country, flood-induced molding of our aging housing stock, and increased wood burning in our valley communities.”
The Community Sciences Lab (CSL) was created to support the work conducted by CESH. Built on the success of the Bard Water Lab and its partnership with the Saw Kill Watershed Community (SKWC), CSL expands CESH’s reach by allowing us to refocus our work on projects that address the interconnectedness of land, air, water, and communities. CSL projects include: Saw Kill Monitoring Program, Roe Jan Monitoring Program, Kingston Air Quality Initiative, Bard Campus Station, Hudsonia Eel Project, and Amphibian Migration.
Post Date: 12-21-2023
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Bard College Awarded $69,886 by the Hudson River Foundation to Improve Water Quality Datasets
Bard College Awarded $69,886 by the Hudson River Foundation to Improve Water Quality Datasets
Bard College is pleased to announce that it has received $69,886 from the Hudson River Foundation for Science and Environmental Research, Inc., a New York nonprofit corporation based in New York City. The funding will support a two-year project to update and improve water quality datasets that will be used to strengthen community advocacy and better address public health, policy, and management questions.
The principal investigators on the project, Elias Dueker, associate professor of environmental and urban studies, and Gabriel Perron, associate professor of biology, will work with students to analyze microbiological micropollution samples and then synthesize those results with historical water quality data obtained from Bard and community partnership programs that monitored the Saw Kill tributary from the mid ’70s to early ’80s, and from 2015 to present. Bard faculty members Krista Caballero, Jordan Ayala, Beate Liepert, and Josh Bardfield, who helped write the grant, will also participate in the project during its second year.
“This partnership with Hudson River Foundation allows the Bard Center for Environmental Science and Humanities to strengthen its commitment to using science as a tool for environmental and social change,” said Deuker. “We hope this unique effort to utilize and elevate community-fueled science will serve as a model for contemporary and meaningful approaches to creating climate resilient communities in the Hudson Valley.”
The research will be presented to community groups, and community member participation will be solicited. The results will be published in white papers and academic journal articles with the hopes that the information will be used to inform tributary stewardship and management decisions. Bard will partner with the Saw Kill Watershed Community and the Hudson River Water Association to disseminate the results.
The Hudson River Foundation (HRF) seeks to make science integral to decision-making about the Hudson River and its watershed and to support science-based stewardship of the river for all who live, work, and recreate there. As the primary resource and advocate for science and environmental research on the Hudson River and its watershed, the HRF connects the scientific community, policy makers, and the general public with a wealth of information and analysis. For the general public, HRF offers research results, reports, and opportunities for education regarding efforts to restore and sustain the Hudson’s waters. For the scientific community and policy makers, HRF is the gateway to scientific information, research opportunities, and dialogue about technical issues facing the river. For more information, visit hudsonriver.org.
Post Date: 10-17-2023
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Maryam Monalisa Gharavi MFA ’18 and Alisha B. Wormsley MFA ’19 Awarded Anonymous Was a Woman Environmental Art Grants
Maryam Monalisa Gharavi MFA ’18 and Alisha B. Wormsley MFA ’19 Awarded Anonymous Was a Woman Environmental Art Grants
In the program’s second year, two Bard alumnae, Maryam Monalisa Gharavi MFA ’18 and Alisha B. Wormsley MFA ’19, were awarded Anonymous Was A Woman Environmental Art Grants. The grants, given by the New York Foundation for the Arts, support environmental art projects led by women-identifying artists in the United States and US Territories that inspire thought, action, and ethical engagement. Maryam Monalisa Gharavi was awarded a grant for Oil Research Group (ORG), which “investigates two environments contiguously: oil, the world’s most important non-renewable resource, and data, the information environment that fertilizes the production of shared meaning.” Alisha B Wormsley was awarded a grant for Children of NAN: A Survival Guide, “a film for future Black femmes that spans Black womxn’s relationship to craft, land/space, and spirit.” Anonymous Was A Woman awarded $309,000 in total to 20 projects led by women-identifying artists this year.
Post Date: 10-04-2023
Sustainability Events
- 4/19FridayFriday, April 19, 2024
Bard Farm Spring Workshop #2
Bard Farm 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
Healthy soil=a healthy planet! Are you interested in sustainable farming/gardening, but you're a beginner when it comes to growing your own food? Join us at the Bard Farm where we'll talk about all things soil and build some beds!
~Please be prepared to get dirty!~
Register here. - 5/03FridayFriday, May 3, 2024
Bard Farm Spring Workshop #3
Bard Farm 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
Are you interested in sustainable farming/gardening, but you're a beginner when it comes to growing your own food? Join us at the Bard Farm where we'll talk about all things transplanting and put some baby plants in the ground!
~Please be prepared to get dirty!~
Sign up here. - 5/05SundaySunday, May 5, 2024
Bard Farm Spring Workshop Series
Community Garden 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
Calling all tea lovers! Have you ever wanted to choose what went in your cup? If so you’re in luck! We will be collecting herbs to create our own custom tea blends. Come pick plants with your own hands to turn into a lovely tea to enjoy. :)
Sign up here.