The Pratt Sustainability Center is delighted to announce this Spring’s Pratt Earth Action Week (PEAW), which will take place from March 27 – April 2, 2023. This week-long series of sustainability events will celebrate the creative collaborations of the Pratt sustainability community and networks and help us connect, in person and remotely, across groups, disciplines, and initiatives. The week’s programming will continue to address intersecting crises, including climate change, biodiversity loss, and racial and social injustice that have brought into relief systemic inequalities and unsustainable systems but seek to highlight successes and ongoing progress made by our students, faculty, staff, and partners in response to these challenges. Events throughout the week will provide an architecture for conversation, debate, and the development of art and design solutions to these complex problems.
Virtual Student Work Exhibition
Monday, March 27 – Sunday, April 2
Online
PARTICIPANTS:
Students from across the Institute
A collection of sustainability-centered student projects drawn from across the Institute over the last year. Students were encouraged to submit their projects to be included in the exhibition and the companion in-person exhibition in the Student Union.
Student Work Exhibition
Monday, March 27 – Sunday, April 2
Online
PARTICIPANTS:
Students from across the Institute
A collection of sustainability-centered student projects drawn from across the Institute over the last year. Students were encouraged to submit their projects to be included in the exhibition in the Student Union.
Sustainable FDN Exhibition
Monday, March 27 – Sunday, April 2
Online
PARTICIPANTS:
Students from across the Institute
Sustainable FDN is a virtual exhibition, viewable in Milanote, of assigned projects related to sustainability, made by Foundation students and curated by department faculty,
FDN Independent Project Sustainability Competition
Monday, March 27 – Sunday, April 2
4th Floor, Main Building
PARTICIPANTS:
Foundation Students
The FDN Independent Project Sustainability Competition is an exhibition and competition, viewable online in Milanote during PEAW and on the Main Building’s 4th-floor exhibition walls during the summer, of Foundation class-assigned and independent projects chosen by the students themselves and related to sustainability. This competition is open to Foundation students only.
Pratt Earth Action Week Opening Reception
Monday, March 27th | 12:00 pm-2:00 pm
Student Union
Presenters:
Donna Heiland, Provost
Carolyn Shafer, Director, Pratt Sustainability Center
Members of the Pratt Community are invited to celebrate the creative collaborations of the Pratt sustainability community and networks. Pratt’s long-term commitment to sustainability through engagement is exemplified in this Spring’s Pratt Earth Action Week incredible line-up of nearly 30 events!
As we begin this exciting week, we look forward to celebrating our accomplishments, recognizing those who have led the charge, and reflecting on opportunities to continue our positive trajectory towards becoming a creative driver of environmental, social, and economic sustainability tho
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*Open to Pratt Institute students, staff, faculty, and their invited guests only. Light refreshments provided.
Pop-Up Drop-Off Pavilion Installation
Monday, March 27th | 12:00 pm-3:00 pm
Main Lawn
DESIGNED AND FABRICATED BY:
Duks Koschitz, d.r.a. Lab, director
Robert Lee Brackett III, d.r.a. Lab, co-director
Matthew Muller, Pneuhaus, partner
August Lehrecke, Pneuhaus, partner
Levi Bedall, Pneuhaus, partner
Staveley Kuzmanov, Pneuhaus, fabricator
Pratt’s d.r.a. Lab developed an inflatable structure in collaboration with Pneuhaus.
The project is based on a design by a team of Pratt undergraduate architecture students developed in an Advanced Design Studio led by Duks Koschitz and Robert Brackett in the Fall of 2021.
The project advocates for design activism and raises awareness of film plastic waste in New York, using these repurposed materials to make a lightweight inflatable structure.
Plant Propagation Workshop
Monday, March 27th | 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm
Foundations Lab, Main Building, 401
PARTICIPANTS:
Foundations Lab
Foundations Department
Alice Zinnes, Professor, Foundation
In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn some basics of how to propagate new houseplants from existing ones. We will cover examples of how to start a new plant from a cutting and how to split overgrown plants to make new ones. Participants will leave with a new potted plant provided by the lab.
Participants are also welcome to bring in overgrown plants for advice or repotting, but this is not required. All Pratt students are welcome to attend, but seats are limited.
Diversifight the Built
Monday, March 27th | 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
TBD
This event will educate the students and the public about the social, environmental, and fiscal costs of using Fossil Fuels to power buildings and effective alternatives from an intersectional approach. We want to spread awareness about the movement to change policy that will transition NY to renewable energy sources and direct students to act.
Pratt BioBlitz Primer
Tuesday, March 28th | 12:00 pm-1:30 pm
ARC, Lower Level E13
WORKSHOP LEADERS:
Chris Jensen, Associate Professor, Math & Science
Ric Brown, Professor, Social Science & Cultural Studies
Mike Friedman, Visiting Assistant Professor, Math & Science
During this event, participants will learn how to use the SEEK app and the iNaturalist platform to identify organisms in their environment. We’ll get you up to speed with these amazing biodiversity documentation resources and then move out onto the Pratt campus to start identifying some species. Participants will get to contribute to Pratt’s own iNaturalist project and then will learn about the opportunity to participate in the City Nature Challenge 2023 BioBlitz, a weekend-long celebration of New York City’s biodiversity that takes place April 28th – May 1st, 2023.
Critical Discard Research Conference – Opening + Panel 1
Wednesday, March 29th | 10:00 am-11:50 am
Pratt Library, Alumni Reading Room
PRESENTERS:
Carl A. Zimring, Professor, Social Science and Cultural Studies
Uzma Z. Rizvi, Associate Professor, Social Science and Cultural Studies
Mahnoor Fatima, MS Candidate, Historic Preservation
Itzamna Huerta, MS Candidate, Data Analytics and Visualization
Daniel Boscov-Ellen, Assistant Professor, Social Science and Cultural Studies
Kumru Toktamis, Associate Professor, Social Science and Cultural Studies
Martin Dege, Assistant Professor, Social Science and Cultural Studies
Pratt’s new Center for Critical Discard Research presents a daylong discussion of research projects relating to practices, power relations, and systems of waste and wasting. Faculty from the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences will participate in a set of panels involving methodological approaches in archaeology, psychology, philosophy, history, and cultural studies on topics ranging from the gentrification of local wastescapes to artisanal repurposing of discarded materials in North Africa. People from across the Pratt community (and beyond) are encouraged to listen to the panels and ask questions of the participants. We hope that this inaugural event will foster dialogue about how Discard Studies approaches reveal more just ways of designing, planning, and working in the modern world.
10:00 am
OPENING REMARKS
Carl A. Zimring
“Introducing Critical Discard Research at Pratt”
10:30-11:50 am
PANEL 1
Uzma Z. Rizvi, Mahnoor Fatima, Itzamna Huerta
“A critique of excavation: A discard studies approach to archaeological practice”
Daniel Boscov-Ellen
“Après Moi Le Déluge: Capitalism and Intergenerational Climate Ethics”
Kumru Toktamis
“Laissez-faire, laissez-mourir: Earthquake as discard”
Martin Dege
“Human Waste and Wasted Humans: The Return of Subhumanism”
Critical Discard Research Conference – Panel 2
Wednesday, March 29th | 1:00 pm-2:20 pm
Pratt Library, Alumni Reading Room
PRESENTERS:
Nurhaizatul Jamil, Assistant Professor, Social Science and Cultural Studies
Ann Holder, Associate Professor, Social Science and Cultural Studies
May Joseph, Professor, Social Science and Cultural Studies
Paul Dambowic, Adjunct Instructor, Social Science and Cultural Studies
Pratt’s new Center for Critical Discard Research presents the second panel in a daylong discussion of research projects relating to practices, power relations, and systems of waste and wasting.
1:00 pm
PANEL 2
Nurhaizatul Jamil
“Modest Fashion, Islamic eco-ethics, Multi-species relationality”
Ann Holder
‘We Are All the Same, No Color Now:’ From Practical Emancipation to Radical Democracy”
May Joseph
“Malabar Sink: Perceptions of the South Asian Coast as Archaeologies of Discard”
Paul Dambowic
“How Discarded Material is Recycled in the Cultural Heritage of North Africa”
Critical Discard Research Conference – Panel 3
Wednesday, March 29th | 2:30 pm-3:50 pm
Pratt Library, Alumni Reading Room
PRESENTERS:
Clarence Jefferson Hall Jr., Visiting Instructor, Social Science and Cultural Studies / Assistant Professor, Department of History, Queensbury Community College
Cisco Bradley, Associate Professor, Social Science and Cultural Studies
Darini Nicholas, Adjunct Instructor, Social Science and Cultural Studies
Pratt’s new Center for Critical Discard Research presents the third panel in a daylong discussion of research projects relating to practices, power relations, and systems of waste and wasting.
2:30 pm
PANEL 3
Clarence Jefferson Hall Jr.
“Recovering the History of Imprisoned Labor in the Adirondack Park, One Discarded Photo at a Time”
Cisco Bradley
“The Rise of Black Creative Music in Spaces of Creation and Discard”
Darini Nicholas
“New Jersey’s Greenway: An outdoor recreation and transportation corridor for the community or another neoliberal waterfront development?”
The Designed Forest: A Walk and Talk with Landscape Architecture Faculty
Wednesday, March 29th | 1:00 pm-2:30 pm
Meet at Higgins Hall Lobby
PRESENTERS:
Melody Stein, Visiting Assistant Professor, Graduate Architecture and Urban Design
Bill Logan, Visiting Professor, Graduate Architecture and Urban Design
Rosetta Elkin, Academic Director, Graduate Landscape Architecture Program
Join Pratt Landscape Architecture faculty for a guided walk through Fort Greene Park, followed by a discussion focused on the potential and pitfalls of designed forests. This two-part event will consist of a guided walk followed by a brief presentation and discussion around the landscape and the landscape architecture department at Pratt.
UN Water Conference – Pratt Community Roundup
Thursday, March 30th | 11:30 am-12:30 pm
Online Event
PRESENTERS:
UN Water Conference Team
The Pratt community discusses its participation at the 2023 UN Water Conference and the opportunities ahead.
Participating faculty, students and partners will share outcomes and ongoing opportunities emerging from Pratt institute’s 2023 United Nations Water Conference side event, taking place the week before PEAW. Presenters will discuss the panel discussions and community workshops focused on One Water integrated systems and nature-based solutions. They will discuss opportunities for further engagement and collaboration.
Transformative Education for Sustainability
Thursday, March 30th | 12:00 pm-1:30 pm
ARC Lower Level, E09
PRESENTERS:
Chris Jensen, Associate Professor, Math and Science
Ashley Bales, Assistant Professor, Math and Science
Join your colleagues in sharing what transformative education for sustainability looks like at Pratt.
Education can do more than just provide students with knowledge: learning can transform students’ lives, shifting how they interact with the world. Nowhere is transformative learning more essential than in education for sustainability; if we wish to achieve a sustainable society, we need to work towards the achievement of transformative outcomes in the classroom in ways that compel action. In this workshop, we will introduce the concept of “transformative education for sustainability”, learning that leads students to take actions that contribute to sustainability efforts. Specifically, we will look at the ways students engage with sustainability concepts and/or values in their creative work as a means of addressing whether sustainability education at Pratt has been transformative. Participants will get the opportunity to share exemplary work and their experiences in the classroom, leading to a robust conversation about how to “see” and accomplish transformative learning. The organizers of the workshop will also present preliminary results of a pilot study looking for evidence of transformative sustainability learning in work posted as Pratt Shows portfolios.
Venice: Laboratory of Sustainability for the Earth
Thursday, March 30th | 2:00 pm-3:00 pm
Pratt Sustainability Center, Engineering Building 001
PRESENTERS:
Giana Gisolfi, Professor, History of Art and Design / Director, Pratt in Venice
Sarah Burry, M.S. Library Science and M.A. History of Art and Design candidate
A presentation of how Venetians have tackled issues of sustainability since the 5th-century refugees from war sought safety on soggy islands in the sea.
Since the Western part of the Roman Empire collapsed and thus failed to prevent invasion into Italy by Goths, Huns, and Lombards in the 5th-6th centuries, the people from northeastern Italy who found refuge on islands in the lagoon practiced sustainability. They lived on fish; their primary product was salt. They expanded and fortified the natural advantages of the site and found ways to build, eventually, a city of astounding beauty; as they had to be mariners, this city became the capital of the Venetian Republic which by 1405 spanned much of northern Italy, the Adriatic, and the Eastern Mediterranean. Although her power did not survive Napoleon, Venice remains. Maintaining the city in the sea required determination and ingenuity over the centuries and continues to be challenging today, as man-made mistakes (primarily of the last century) are addressed. Because of her beauty, artistic treasures, and vulnerability, Venice is benefitted by organizations such as Venice in Peril and Save Venice, which contributes to the efforts of the Commune and the Soprintendenza to preserve the city and her remaining artistic treasure. The result is that she is a center of sophisticated conservation campaigns to: shore up her boardwalks, fortify her buildings and their foundations, remove carbon from her facades and sculptures, and clean her paintings.
Hatha Yoga for Alignment
Thursday, March 30th | 3:00 pm-4:00 pm
Yoga Studio, East Hall 303
PRESENTERS:
Jeanette Doherty, Visiting Instructor, Integrative Mind & Body Program, Pratt SCPS
Please join us for this Yoga practice, connecting movement with breath for alignment, flexibility, and balance. A yoga mat is needed. All are welcome.
MOD TIME
Thursday, March 30th | 4:00 pm-6:00 pm
Higgins Hall, North 104
PRESENTERS:
Carlos Arnaiz, Assistant Professor, Graduate Architecture and Urban Design
Kerim Eken, Assistant Professor, Graduate Architecture and Urban Design
The Genealogy of Modular Architecture and the Evolution of Possible Futures. The book is about creating a map of past modular inventions with particular emphasis on the limits of details, materials, assembly methods, and economic models. This will include a panel of students sharing their research and designs with the community.
Climate Moves Culture
Friday, March 31st | 9:00 am-10:30 am
Online Event
PRESENTERS:
Chris Cirillo, Assistant Professor, Construction Management, Facilities Management, and Real Estate Practice
Jenna Dublin-Boc, Assistant Professor, Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment
Craig E. Colton, Carl O. Sauer Professor, LSU, Department of Geography and Anthropology
Moving buildings, culture, people, and natural resources due to climate change. Panelists representing two to three case studies of moving cultures (people, built fabric, intangible heritage) due to climate change.
Let’s Repurpose Food at ReThink’s Kitchen with LEAP
Friday, March 31st | 10:00 am-1:00 pm
ReThink Food, 180 Maiden Lane, New York, NY
PRESENTERS:
Flora Lau, ReThink Food
Let’s turn excess and wasted food into prepared meals for our local neighborhoods in need! Assist and learn to mindfully peel vegetables, wash and pick herbs/greens, juice fruits, jar goods and participate in tasks and activities for the preparation of meals at ReThinks’ kitchen with LEAP.
More than 38 million Americans lack reliable access to nutritious meals. Meanwhile, 108 billion pounds of food go uneaten in the U.S. — the equivalent of 40% of the country’s food supply. To combat this, LEAP is partnering with Rethink Food to help bridge the gap between perfectly good food that goes to waste and the demand for meals that many of our food-insecure neighbors face. Participants will assist the Commissary team with different tasks and activities in the preparation of meals for their community partners and cooking excess food into some classics and favorites. Tasks may include portioning/labeling, peeling vegetables, washing and picking herbs/greens, juicing fruits, sorting donations, prepping food, and/or packing meals. While servicing our local community, let’s learn how to mindfully repurpose food and embed sustainable practices in our homes!
The Nature of Art Today
Friday, March 31st | 10:30 am-11:30 am
Online Event
PRESENTERS:
Travis Holloway, Associate Professor, Social Science and Cultural Studies
What kind of art are we making at this critical moment in our planet’s history? Travis Holloway, author of How to Live at the End of the World: Theory, Art, and Politics for the Anthropocene (Stanford, 2022), will review works of art and literature from the last decade that consider climate change and challenge us to confront it collectively. As we will see, these works of art and literature often describe a new, shared sense of impending catastrophe or turn to epic as a literary form. They describe a different kind of encounter with a new “nature,” or narrate a relationship to the land brought about by colonialism, the plantation, or capitalism. Participants are encouraged to bring a work of literature or art (in the broad sense) to the workshop and describe how the artist or writer is responding to climate change.
Pratt Trail Network: Hike the Trail
Friday, March 31st | 12:00 pm-2:00 pm
Pratt Willoughby Avenue Entrance
PRESENTERS:
Ira Stern, Associate Professor, GCPE
Harrison Nesbit, MS Sustainable Environmental Systems Candidate
Aditi Galande, MS Sustainable Environmental Systems Candidate
Fort Greene Park Conservancy
Brooklyn Naval Cemetary Landscape
Pratt Center for Community Development
Taconic Fellowship
The Pratt Trail Network invites participants to step away from their screens to walk the full trail network (approximately 2.5 miles) and meet guest speakers and project partners along the way.
Awarded a Taconic Fellowship Grant in Fall 2022, the Pratt Trail Network designed a circular 2.5-mile trail linking Pratt’s Brooklyn campus with Fort Greene Park and the Naval Cemetery Landscape. The fellows invite participants to walk, relax, and, if they wish, make observations and collect ecological life-cycle (phenology) data. We encourage Pratt students, faculty, and community members, young and old join in exploring Fort Greene in a new way and learn some citizen-scientist skills! The two-hour walk will take place from 12 pm – 2 pm, beginning at Pratt’s Willoughby Avenue entrance and ending at the Dekalb entrance. Along the way, we’ll introduce participants to stakeholders representing Pratt’s campus, Fort Greene Park, and the Naval Cemetery Landscape.
Passive House for Everyone!
Friday, March 31st | 5:00 pm-6:00 pm
Online Event
PRESENTERS:
In Cho, Assistant Professor, Undergraduate Architecture
Cara Ha, Assistant Professor, Undergraduate Architecture
Empowering youth to counter climate change through designing a sustainable built environment. Celebrate students’ creative explorations of Passive House sustainability that empower youth to be environmental and social agents of change.
Sustaining Inner Balance through Meditation and Sound Bath
Friday, March 31st | 2:30 pm-3:30 pm
Online Event
PRESENTER:
Joelle Danant, Program Director and Visiting Instructor, School of Continuing and Professional Studies
Meditation and sound-baths soothe the mind & body, enabling wellness toward sustainability. All welcome. No prior experience is necessary.
Meditation and sound healing practices help relax the body and clear the mind, contributing to balance, wellness, creativity, and inner peace. Using sensory awareness and memory, we will begin with a guided elemental meditation to tap into our natural flow, followed by delving into a soothing, live sound bath using acoustic world instruments to deepen the meditative experience. From this expanded state of relaxed present-moment awareness, we can sustain ourselves and the world around us. All welcome. No prior experience is necessary.
New York Zero by Fifty? Decarbonization Pathways and Local Action
Friday, March 31st | 3:30 pm-5:00 pm
Pratt Sustainability Center, Engineering 001
SPEAKER:
Richard W. Leigh, Visiting Professor, Math and Science Department
Elizabeth Kelly, Visiting Assistant Professor, Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment
City and State policy is charting an aggressive course to zero emissions by 2050. Learn how local initiatives support these targets and accelerate Brooklyn’s carbon reduction goals.
Movie Night
Friday, March 31st | 7:30 pm-9:00 pm
No Name Cafe, Willoughby Hall
Join Envirolutions to watch The Lorax, eat snacks, and talk about sustainable practices at Pratt!
*Pratt students only
Art Therapy & Nature-Based Expressive Arts Therapy Introduction, Relevance, and Importance
Saturday, April 1st | 10:00 am-12:00 pm
Online Event
PRESENTER:
Katherine Kays, MPS Art Therapy and Creativity Development Candidate
“There is a need to add nature to our…strategies… that reconnect the world to the natural living world.” Learn about Nature-Based Expressive Arts Therapy, the therapeutic approach that “brings the arts and nature together to provide beneficial effects both for human and nonhuman worlds.” Participate in an art-making experiential to focus and enter a feeling of well-being. Virtually accessible to people ages 15 and up.
Prior to the workshop, find time to bring a feeling of stillness to yourself by sitting comfortably and taking three long inhales and three long exhales. After a feeling of stillness is reached, spend some time walking outside. Gather items found in nature suitable in size for your workspace and the construction of your art piece. Have a suitable workspace space cleared where you will be for the workshop. Other Materials: Paper/journal and pencil.
Heritage Engagement Amid Rising Water
Sunday, April 2nd | 11:00 am-12:00 pm
Pratt Sustainability Center, Engineering 001
PRESENTER:
Olivia Holland, Project Fellow
Radhya Kareem, Taconic Fellow
Taconic Fellows from the MS Historic Preservation ’24 discuss ongoing work with the East New York Community Land Trust, engaging residents of a flood-prone community and researching the neighborhood’s unique water-induced characteristics – from its historic environmental hazards to its cultural heritage.
The student fellows will present updated research into topics briefly discussed in Part 1 of the project that was shared from this past fall’s Pratt Earth Action Week event. Topics could include the history of the black cowboys in the area and historic water mapping.
Up-cycling Playshop
Saturday, April 1st | 2:00 pm-5:00 pm
Pratt Sustainability Center, Engineering Building 001
WORKSHOP LEADER:
Miranda Ratner, MFA Candidate Fine Arts
This event will offer participants a chance to artistically and playfully up-cycle materials, while unlocking limitless creative possibilities and environmental consciousness. This playshop provides a chance to work with discarded materials while cultivating sharper environmental awareness. Sanitized discarded materials such as single use plastics, fabrics, metals, etc will be supplied. Participants are encouraged to bring discarded materials to work with.
The Arrow Project
