WHAT IS BIOCITIZEN? The word “biocitizen” is a contraction of “biotic citizen,” a term and idea conceived by Aldo Leopold (1887–1948) who is widely celebrated for conceiving the “land ethic.” A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise. A...Continue Reading
Biocitizen NY is so excited to introduce our very first intern, Stuart Robbins, who will be assisting with the Brooklyn-based Our Place Summer School by teaching, writing, and researching this summer! Stuart is currently in his last year pursuing a B.A. at Amherst College in American Studies. Focusing on the roles played by public spaces, Stuart...Continue Reading
This post is written by Sabrina Moore, who will assist Dr. Boyd Kynard in our innovative Living Rivers School, that lets middle and high school -aged students participate in conservation biology research that, when published and shared, increases public knowledge of the living systems that sustain us. When we know what sustains us, we take...Continue Reading
Biocitizen began in the forests of Cape Horn, when Kurt Heidinger, Francisca Massardo and Ricardo Rozzi developed Tracing Darwin’s Path, an interdisciplinary learning-adventure that immerses students in the biocultural history of that sublime portion of the earth. With others, they established the Omora Ethnobotanical Park as a Field Environmental Philosophy research and development “laboratory”. Their...Continue Reading
Our Place Summer School Scholarship Program 2019 Our Place Summer School is designed to “unplug” children by bringing them into direct contact with the creatures, geologies, hydrologies and infrastructures of the Nonotuck biome and the Westfield River watershed. (Click to read the Daily Gazette article about Our Place.) Thanks to the generosity of people who...Continue Reading
Salamanders, newts and wood frogs depend upon the vernal pools that appear during snow melt and vanish as the summer arrives. If you’ve wondered where these neighbors are born, and where they return to make babies, this video is a perfect introduction: Without these havens, our amphibian friends will disappear. In Massachusetts, we can certify...Continue Reading