Category Archives: Water

Snow on the Ground, Water on the Mind

Posted on March 3, 2013 by Michael Bryson

Last Saturday, Feb. 23, my SUST 220 Water students (both past and present) joined me at a wonderful annual event here in the Windy City: the Chicago River Student Congress, convened by the environmental conservation organization Friends of the Chicago … Continue reading →

Posted in Chicago, Classes, Education, Events, Faculty, Field Trips, Pollution, Rivers, Roosevelt, Students, Sustainability, Urban ecology, Water | Comments Off

Winter Symposium on Sustainability at Augustana College

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Michael Bryson

Today I head west to the city of Rock Island, which hugs the Mississippi River in northwestern Illinois (right across the water from Davenport, Iowa). I’ve been invited to give a talk on urban sustainability issues in Chicago at Augustana … Continue reading →

Posted in Chicago, Conferences, Photography, Research, Rivers, Sustainability, Urban ecology, Urban nature, Water | Comments Off

Visualizing Earth’s Water

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Michael Bryson

Here is an image posted by one of my students to the last discussion forum of this semester in my Sustainability Studies 220 Water course, along with her comment about it. It can sometimes be challenging to wrap our minds … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts, Classes, Literature, Photography, Students, Sustainability, Water | Comments Off

Canoeing the Upper North Branch of the Chicago River

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Michael Bryson

This past Saturday, students in my SUST 220 Water and PLS 391 Natural Science seminars at Roosevelt University joined me for an urban ecology adventure on the Upper North Branch of the Chicago River. We convened mid-morning at Linné Woods, … Continue reading →

Posted in Classes, Field Trips, Parklands, Rivers, Roosevelt, Students, Sustainability, Urban ecology, Urban nature, Water | Comments Off

Assessing Water Quality on the Chicago River’s North Branch at West River Park

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Michael Bryson

Saturday, Sept. 8th, was the first day of class for my Sustainability Studies 220 Water seminar at Roosevelt University. Instead of staying inside our classroom all day, though, we took advantage of excellent late-summer weather here in Chicago to take … Continue reading →

Posted in Chicago, Classes, Field Trips, Parklands, Pollution, Rivers, Science, Students, Urban ecology, Urban nature, Water | Comments Off

City Creatures: A New Blog

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Michael Bryson

Here’s an exciting new blog to check out: City Creatures, a place of insightful writing about animals (and their human neighbors) here in Chicago’s urban and suburban environments. This is a project of the environmental non-profit organization, the Center for … Continue reading →

Posted in Chicago, Literature, Rivers, Urban ecology, Urban nature, Water, Wildlife | Comments Off

The Ethics of Place in Urban Areas

Posted on June 23, 2012 by Michael Bryson

This weekend I’m at Santa Clara University in California’s Silicon Valley at one of my favorite professional conferences: the annual gathering of the Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences. Like the literature and environmental folks I hang out with at … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Chicago, Conferences, Faculty, Rivers, Sustainability, Urban nature, Water | Comments Off

From the Chicago Portage to the Iron Street Farm: An Urban Landscape Exploration

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Michael Bryson

Last Saturday was the first field trip opportunity of the summer for my PLS 392 Seminar in Humanities class at Roosevelt, the focus of which is “Representing the Urban Landscape.” After last summer’s trip to Canal Origins and Stearns Quarry … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Chicago, Field Trips, History, Land use, Rivers, Urban nature, Water | Comments Off

Paddling Bubbly Creek: Water, Food, and Urban Ecology

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Michael Bryson

This past Sunday, 29 April 2012, students from my SUST 350 Service & Sustainability class joined staff and student interns from Growing Power‘s Chicago Lights Urban Farm for a canoe trip on Bubbly Creek, aka the South Fork of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Chicago, Classes, Field Trips, Food, Pollution, Rivers, Students, Urban ecology, Urban nature, Water | 3 Comments

World Water Day Is March 22

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Michael Bryson

This Thursday, March 22nd, is World Water Day — an annual event sponsored by the United Nations since 1992 to focus attention on the critical importance of freshwater and to advocate for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. This Thursday … Continue reading →

Posted in Events, Roosevelt, Schaumburg, Students, Water | Comments Off