The Chicago area, despite its urban character, is home to significant biodiversity. Situated at the intersection of the northern boreal forest, prairie, savanna, and dune environments, Chicago is a crossroads for more than just our own species. Here the great eastern tallgrass prairies met oak-hickory woodlands as well as wetlands, savannas, swamps, and other associations, forming a complex mosaic of environments. The long history of human habitation in this region has significantly transformed local environments, but not all pre-contact environments have vanished and local efforts at restoration and conservation have begun to make a significant difference in the extent and health of indigenous plants and animals. Our logo is derived from the Hickory (Carya); local oak-hickory forests are dominated by Shagbark Hickory (C. ovata) and Bitternut Hickory (C. cordiformis).2002-2003 Workshops
| October 24 | Wes Jackson (The Land Institute) A False Hypothesis? What if it’s True? Reflections on How we are Maintaining our Place in Nature. |
| November 5 | Discussion of the CoP-8 Convention |
| November 19 | Ron Meyers (Harris School of Public Policy), “Environmental Values and Ethics: A Heuristic for Considering their Diversity and Relationship to Environmental Protection” |
| December 3 | Angela Gugliotta (History), “Hell with the Lid Taken Off: a Cultural History of Air Pollution, Pittsburgh before 1942” |
| January 16 | Martha Adams Bohrer (English), “Calendars of Nature: From the Practice of Natural History to Romantic Subjectives” |
| January 30 | Alison Hunter (Biological Sciences), “Environmental Risks of Genetically Modified Crops” |
| February 20 | Sarah Trainor (Env. Studies), “Conflicting Values, Contested Terrain: the Significance of Religious, Moral and Cultural Values in Conflicts over the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument” |
| March 4 | Joint with Center for Integrating Statistics and Environmental Science. Michael Greenstone (Economics), “Economic Growth, the Environment, and Cost-Benefit Analysis” |
| April 3 | Richard B. Norgaard (Energy & Resources Group and Agricultural & Resource Economics, University of California, Berkeley), "Collectively Seeing the Whole: Problems and Prospects for Systemic Environmental Understanding" |
| April 24 | Joint with Center for Integrating Statistics and Environmental Science. Peter Karieva (The Nature Conservancy), “The Numerology of Priority-Setting, Goals, and Measuring Performance in a Global Conservation NGO” |
| May 20 | Wendy Liles (SSA), “It’s not easy being green: What gets in the way?” |
| June 3 | Aaron McCright (Env. Studies) and Terry Clark (Sociology), “The Environmental Movement and City Politics: Examining the Effects of Political Culture and Public Opinion” |
Workshop Archive
New Graduate Teaching Opportunities for 2008-2009
The Program on the Global Environment has a number of opportunities for advanced graduate students specializing in environmental topics, regardless of discipline.
