Louisville Sustainability Forum: Can Biophilia Save Nature in Cities?

When Apr 05, 2017
from 12:00 PM to 01:30 PM
Where Passionist Earth and Spirit Center, St Agnes's Aloysius Hall, (1924 Newburg Road)
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No automatic alt text available.UofL Biology Professor, Margaret Carreiro, will be the featured presenter at this month's Louisville Sustainability Forum.

"Biophilia" describes how people have innate love for, attachment to, and even need for nature. It also expresses the notion that, as a design imperative, cities are more livable when they have more nature, and that people are happier and healthier when they have more contact with nature, from wild parks away from traffic to street trees and flowers.

Dr. Carreiro's UofL research has focused on the Ecology of Cities and Suburbs. She and her students have quantified how the takeover of our forests by invasive exotic plants, like shrub honeysuckle, affect soil erosion, soil nutrients, decomposition, earthworms and plant communities in our woodland parks, along our stream banks and interstate highways, and in forested wetlands.

Dr. Carreiro has also collaborated with the Louisville Olmsted Parks Conservancy on studies that assess the impacts of removing exotic plants from park woodlands. Now she has begun to study residential land and its potential to support species like pollinators in cities. She will speak on how we can join forces to make a large-scale contribution to the conservation of native species in this city and its suburbs, and why doing so is important not only for nature but for people.

After her talk, we'll hear shorter presentations on:

  •    Protecting, Restoring, and Celebrating the Waterways of Kentucky with Ward Wilson, Kentucky Waterways Alliance
  •    Creasey Mahan Nature Preserve with Tavia Cathcart Brown, executive director

Now in its eleventh year, the purposes of the Louisville Sustainability Forum are:

  1. We hold and promote the intention of sustainability for Louisville.
  2. We establish and nourish relationships that strengthen community and create change.
  3. We create a space for discussion that inspires, motivates and deepens our ability to catalyze social change.

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