Moving Ahead

Since finishing my Master's degree in Environmental Policy & Management at the University of Denver this past March, I've been working a couple of part-time jobs in an effort to find my path forward in the context of those things that I am passionate about career-wise. In May I began working with a small non-profit called Eco-Justice Ministries, an organization that works with churches to help them develop their ministries in ways that are more socially just and environmentally sustainable. In late July, after finding out that I had not been accepted into a Ph.D. program that I'd applied to, I was instead offered a job doing research on urban sustainability and public lands planning at the University of Colorado Denver (UCD). While both of these jobs have allowed me to explore areas of deep interest, I have decided that the urban sustainability topic incites deeper passions in me. And in all honesty, I have come to believe that this path holds the better career opportunities for me over the long-term. To help get deeper into this field, I have applied and received acceptance into a Master’s program in Urban & Regional Planning at UCD. This will help fill in some of the knowledge on urban systems and planning not covered in my first master’s degree, and will give me an even better chance of getting into the Ph.D. program and a particular fellowship program I want to apply to for 2009-2010. It’s a logical step from my thesis work at DU, and a very exciting opportunity.

I hope to maintain some sort of connection with Eco-Justice Ministries and use my increasing knowledge and experience to help them fulfill their mission. I don't know if that will be in a paid capacity, or as a volunteer; I'll figure that out over the next few weeks as things come together. Eco-Justice Ministries' mission is an important one, and one I want to support. This move should give me all sorts of things to want to think through and discuss on this blog, so I'm sure I'll be keeping a record of the journey as I move ahead on this project. Stay tuned!

Feeding the People: Food & Urban Sustainability

In the process of catching up on some news feeds today, I ran across this article from the BBC on a sustainable global food system for the 21st Century. This is probably one aspect of sustainability that gets the least exposure, but could be one of the most important.

One thing the article notes is that due to the increase in urban population, more than half of the world's people now live in cities. This brings up an interesting question: where do these people get their food? Feeding the urban population of the world as it expands over the next decades will be a major component in creating sustainable cities. Traditionally, planners haven't gotten involved in this aspect of urban planning. This is beginning to change, however. In 2007, the American Planning Association (APA) developed a Policy Guide on Community and Regional Food Planning in a effort to break through misconceptions that food has no connection with professional planning practice. The policy guide goes on to look at the land use connections to food systems and the impact of fossil fuels used to transport food the incredible distances it now travels from farm to plate.

This is one area that I'll admit I don't have a lot of background in, but I can see being a key piece of the puzzle of urban sustainability. As I find more information on this, I'll post it here. If anyone reading this knows of any resources to look at, please feel free to share in the comments.