Dispatch from snowy indianapolis, trading zones & thank you new supporters!

March 2014 Newsletter

Dispatch from SNOWY Indianapolis/City as Living Laboratory (I/CaLL) Work has begun on the NSF funded I/CaLL project where Mary and the CaLL team will be designing installations along five tributaries of the White River. The capitol was moved to the center of the state in 1820 with a vision that the majestic White River would be the city's life line of commerce and prosperity. The local love/hate relationship with the waterway began shortly after, when it became apparent that the White River was too shallow for navigation. The Great Flood of 1913, which devastated cities through out the mid-west, instigated the battle between urban development and open waters. The population growth and urban development buried large sections of wetlands and natural streams. The purpose of the project, organized by Butler University, which includes collaborations with artists, poets, musicians, choreographers, a host of scientists and community groups, is to re-establish links and advance stewardship of these essential waterways. During their most recent trip to a frigid snow covered Indianapolis, Mary and Belinda Kanpetchmet with local artists Brent Aldrich and Jamie McPherson, and Molly Trueblood, Community Organizer for I/CaLL at Butler University. Together they explored the now buried portion of Pogue's Run and walked deep into the tunnel. They questioned: What would it look like if we constructed our cities to respond to the needs of waterways? If we treated the river or stream like a community member, how would that change our pattern of development? This project is supported by the National Science Foundation Grant No. 1323117 through Butler University, Advancing Informal Science Learning (AISL)

Jane Jacobs Forum 2013: Women as City Builders Mary participated in the Municipal Arts Society Jane Jacobs Forum, an annual panel discussion of urban planning and policy experts that tackle the questions of urban development nationally,with a focus on New York City.

To watch video visit YouTube: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Jane Jacobs Forum 2013: Women as City Buildersâ&#x20AC;?

Trading Zones In Environmental Education Mary Miss is featured in a new publication edited by Marianne E. Krasny and Justin Dillon, Peter Lang Publishing (2013/14).Trading Zones presents a series of discussions among researchers in environmental and science education,community-based natural resource management, governance,communication, natural history, civic engagement, and art that explore the challenges and promise of environmental education to influence people, their communities, and ultimately the environment itself. A Consideration of Miss' work, written by Joseph E. Heimlich, introduces the book's three sections: Participation, Appreciation, and Place. In the first chapter Heimlich reflects on how sensory experience and participatory engagement are fundamental to environmental education. Heimlich uses Double Site: Greenwood Pond,commissioned by the Des Moines Art Center, where Miss,through collaboration with local groups, sought to lead viewers to multiple perspectives of the urban wetland and pond to foster a greater understanding of their roles in the immediate environment. Included in this publication is a chapter co-authored by John Fraser, CaLL's partner on the NSF funded test installation at 137th Street and CoPI on I/CaLL. Fraser's chapter reveals the emotional trials of environmental educators who are repeatedly confronted by a public that does not recognize the impact of environmental change.

MANY THANKS to Our Newest Funders and Renewing Contributors to Our Year End Appeal: The Greenwich Collection New York Community Trust The Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund