Four members of the consortium—Fordham, The New York Botanical Garden, The Bronx Zoo, and Montefiore Health System—have teamed up for a series of programs and events dedicated to educating others about the concept of a “healthy planet, healthy people.”
The first event will be an April 12 lecture at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus, “Celebrating the Legacy of Jane Jacobs: A Conversation with Greg Lindsay.” Jacobs was responsible for leading the successful opposition to the construction of the Lower Manhattan Expressway, which would have run along Canal Street. The University will also host talks by science writer Carl Zimmer and Eric W. Sanderson, landscape ecologist for the Wildlife Conservation Society at the Bronx Zoo. Zimmer speaks on April 21 at the Flom Auditorium in the William D. Walsh Family Library. Sanderson speaks on April 26 in the same venue.
Sanderson’s lecture on April 26 is an example of the collaboration between the zoo, which offers complimentary general admission to all NYC undergraduate college student, and Fordham.
The zoo will host a three-day long Earth Fair on April 22, which will include interactive exhibits such as a Carbon Footprint app that lets visitors figure out their own carbon footprint, a discussion about the amazing conservation success story of the rebound of the wild population of white rhinos, and a staging of Reusable the Musical.
John Calvelli, executive vice president of Public Affairs for the Wildlife Conservation Society, said that the partnership has inspired the zoo to consider new ways to reach out to the Bronx community. One initiative he said they’re exploring is providing free passes during the month to children who get their checkups with their doctors at Montefiore.
“By coordinating efforts and planning activities together, we strengthen the links between these vital neighborhood institutions and new ideas are born through collaboration,” he said.
The weekend of April 22 will see a flurry of activity at Montefiore and at the New York Botanical Garden as well. The hospital will host an Earth Day celebration on April 21, and on April 22, the Garden will host tours, a composting bin-making workshop and a screening of the 2013 documentary Seeds of Time, which follows an agriculturalist who is building a biological archive to maintain crop diversity.
For more information, visit the Bronx Science Consortium event page.
