2705 Campus Road
Brooklyn
NY
Soils of Our City: Features & Applications
Cities can often hide the vital processes occurring in soils and the critical roles they play in supporting our urban lifestyles. Seldom is this resource recognized and therefore poorly understood.
The goal of the symposium is to recognize urban soils for all that they encompass! It will provide an opportunity to bring all backgrounds and disciplines into the same room to share, collaborate and discuss issues and aspects of urban soils.
Who should attend: Community groups, gardeners, farmers, artists, activists, academia, practitioners, industry, government folk/agencies....everyone interested in urban soils.
PROGRAM
The day will start with opening remarks, and keynotes, followed by a mixed session of technical and non-technical presentations, with interactive discussion.
The afternoon will conitnue with the mixed session, followed by three concurrent sessions:an advanced research session with presentations and discussions, a Compost Roundtable, and a Greenroof Soil Roundtable. The roundtables are geared towards specific issues around those topics and for developing working groups that will continue to work on these issues beyond the symposium.
The end of the day will close with audience feedback and closing remarks from our new international collaborators from Moscow.
The conference will be followed by a cocktail reception.
FEATURES
Bring your phone! Yes, at this symposium, we will ask you to use your phone! Rich Shaw and Rob Tunstead from the NRCS are going to walk us through the NRCS Soil Survey phone app!!
Bring your Soils! Be part of the Mosaic of City Soils! If we get enough soils, we will display this mosaic at the Symposium! We are hoping to get a variety of colours, so if you can, please bring in your soils from 6 inches below the surface.
Instructions: To be able to include your soil in the Mosaic, you must send about 2 tablespoons of soil (from 6 inches depth) in a clear sandwich bag in advance (by December 1st) to Environmental Sciences Analytical Center at Brooklyn College • 2900 Bedford Avenue • Brooklyn, NY 11210, with your address or city block number and zip code OR bring it with you.
ORGANIZERS
A partnership between Brooklyn College, NYC Soil & Water Covnservation District, The Gaia Institute, and US Department of Agriculture-NRCS to advance the scientific understandings and promote the conservation and sustainable use of urban soils through partnerships, resource sharing and coordination of programs.
