Penn State Great Valley: School of Graduate Professional Studies

with Doug TallamyRecent headlines about global insect declines, the impending extinction of one million species worldwide, and three billion fewer birds in North America are a bleak reality check about how ineffective our current landscape designs have been at sustaining the plants and animals that sustain us. Such losses are not an option if we wish to continue our current standard of living on Planet Earth. The good news is that none of this is inevitable. Tallamy will discuss simple steps that each of us can- and must- take to reverse declining biodiversity and will explain why we, ourselves, are

Join us for an incredible evening with Mark Segal, a trailblazer and advocate who has played a pivotal role in the LGBTQ+ communityMark Segal was 18 years old on the night of June 28th, 1969, when he entered the Stonewall Inn. Raised by the only Jewish family in south Philadelphia’s Wilson Park housing project, Segal was no stranger to being an outsider. He told his parents he was leaving Philly to go to school in New York. In truth, he’d left to find a gay community. Watching an episode of The David Susskind Show years earlier he’d learned that gay

Mountainfilm on Tour visits Malvern, PA on March 6!Join us for an evening of inspiring and captivating films handpicked from the Mountainfilm festival in Telluride, Colorado.Founded in 1979, Mountainfilm is one of America’s longest-running film festivals. The annual festival is held every Memorial Day weekend in Telluride, CO. Mountainfilm is a dynamic nonprofit organization and festival that celebrates stories of indomitable spirit and aims to inspire audiences through film, art and ideas.Mountainfilm on Tour in Malvern, PA will feature a collection of culturally rich, adventure-packed and engaging documentary short films that align with Mountainfilm’s mission to use the power of

The ecological implications of placemaking, food systems & localismOriginally from Gettysburg PA, architect and chef, Ben Walmer, comes from a family of five generations of fruit growers. It is from this agrarian background that he traces his connections to food and design and the motivation to launch Highlands Dinner Club (HDC) in New York City in 2009. Ben currently lives in central New Jersey and is founding architect and creative director of the NJ/NYC-based interdisciplinary design practice, Broadloom, whose diverse capabilities include design strategy, hospitality design, regenerative food systems design and agricultural master planning. HDC is a mobile social and

It's still possible to hold climate change to relatively safe levels but doing so will require revolutionary changes and global cooperation.Consumer trends and corporate practices over the past 50 years have set our planet on course for catastrophe. We stand at a key moment in the history of our planet, and our species. We have the option to make drastic changes in our lifestyle and society, or we can watch the planet pass the threshold of no return. It's our responsibility to learn what we can do and to implement change. Join Tony Buck to explore paths to a sustainable

Learn about your local watershed and what you can do to help protect Pennsylvania’s watersheds!Join Penn State Extension Master Watershed Steward Coordinator for Chester and Delaware Counties, Meagan Hopkins-Doerr, and Trout Unlimited board member Steve Grim to learn about our local watershed and what we can do to protect and improve our waterways. We will walk through Penn State Great Valley's pollinator meadow and basin area to take a closer look at native plantings that you can plant at home to improve your watershed. This program will take place outside. Please wear appropriate footwear and meet at the entrance to

You can help protect Pennsylvania’s watershed!Penn State Extension Master Watershed Steward Coordinator for Chester and Delaware Counties, Meagan Hopkins-Doerr, will teach us how to follow a few simple guidelines to manage your property to protect area streams and rivers and share information about how to certify your property. This session will touch on urban properties (renters and people with small lots to no control of outside land) and large property (campuses and municipalities).Learn how to improve and maintain the quality of water resources and habitat for wildlife and pollinators.

Learn more about the health and environmental benefits of biking and trail use, and the latest updates on the Chester Valley Trail system!Bike riding is not only a fantastic way to improve your physical and mental health, but also the health of the planet! Unlike cars, bikes do not release harmful emissions, nor do they require harmful chemicals (like antifreeze). Moreover, the development of roads requires the destruction of green space, and creates water runoff that contributes to ground and water pollution. Riding a bike reduces traffic and noise pollution, improving mental health and communities. Philadelphia is the top bicycle