Category: Rochester

Regenerative Community Development Initiatives for the Greater Rochester Region

Bioregional Potluck Garden Party Thursday, June 22, 5:30-8:30 pm – Hosted by A Frog House

Building the Bioregional Learning Center On June 22 we’re introducing the idea of building a Bioregional Learning Center. We’ve been talking about it as a “soE launch,” but in reality it’s the beginning of a process to create the Center and design its programs. For details on the event, click here. We’re inviting you to…
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Our Bioregional Future

Reprinted from the Pachamama Alliance of the Rochester Area’s Newsletter (April 2023) By Jonathan Cloud Bioregionalism is not a new idea. Arguably, all civilizations prior to our own have lived bioregionally, adapting themselves to local conditions and trading within a limited biogeographic region. Modern civilization, however, as the first to “go global,” has created extensive…
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Rochester’s Bioregional Future

Great Lakes Sub-Basins (Wikipedia) A Turning Point? A recap of recent events — for those who were there, and those who weren’t The Emergence of Bioregional Activation Further to Joe and Penny’s whirlwind visit to the Great Lakes Basin Bioregion — Toronto, Cleveland, and Rochester were all major stops (between January 30 and February 12) —…
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Bringing Nature Back into the City

A Vision of Nature in the City – Photo by Danist Soh on Unsplash See the Updated Bioregionalism Post here Rochester Tree Canopy Initiative Meanwhile, our work with our Tree Planting initiative in the City of Rochester is continuing and gathering momentum. We’re working with TeJay Chess of Monroe Cornell Cooperative Extension, the City Forester,…
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More on Bioregionalism in the Great Lakes ~ Joe Brewer Feb 10th, 11th, 12th

  More on Joe Brewer’s visit to Rochester, and the context of this work: Joe Brewer and his partner Penny Heiple from the Bioregional Activators Network are coming to the Great Lakes Bioregion, including visits to Toronto, Cleveland, Binghamton, Ithaca, and Rochester. This is an international collaborative effort, drawing on decades of scientific research, to…
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Possible Planet 2022 Annual Year in Review Published

Possible Planet, the parent organization of Possible Rochester, has published its 2022 Annual Report, which includes information on both its local and its global activities. Download the PDF version here. There’s also a video presentation here. For additional information, please contact Jonathan Cloud, Executive Director at 908-581-8418 or jcloud@possibleplanet.org.

Image by Vikramjit Kakati from Pixabay

A New Way to Garden this Spring?

At the tail end of winter, it’s tempting to imagine the possibility of a new wave of gardening catching on this spring. Can we imagine streets and communities full of native plants and flowers, sunshine, busy with butterflies and bees? More than almost any other action that individuals can take, gardening has multiple benefits for…
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Restoring Backyard Ecosystems

Can Saving the Planet Start in Our Own Backyard? “We now know that restoring flourishing landscapes is critical not only to preventing further biodiversity loss, but is also critical to reversing global warming and addressing climate change. This project has the possibility of engaging millions of ordinary citizens in useful and meaningful action by providing…
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Using Art to Combat the Urban Heat Island Effect

As noted in SmartCitiesDive, “A Massachusetts group is teaching city leaders how to collaborate with artists on cooling methods and climate awareness.” Cities use art to combat extreme urban heat Read the full story here… For a description of urban heat islands in Rochester, see RochesterFirst.com, “Heat Island Defined: How cities act like giant ovens…
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A New Hope for Nature

In Nature’s Best Hope (2020), Douglas Tallamy takes a major step beyond E.O. Wilson’s call for half the Earth to be set aside for nature. Tallamy, a professor of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, argues that we need a substantial restoration of the natural environment in our own backyards. Only by…
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