Contact: Ann Hatch
214-378-1819;
ahatch@dcccd.edu
For immediate release — March 23, 2016
Keynote speaker Dr. Mark Nelson participated in the two-year Biosphere 2 experiment, a laboratory for studying global ecology.
(DALLAS) — Living in Biosphere 2’s geodesic dome and buildings seemed like a natural transition for Dr. Mark Nelson, whose work in ecotechnics took root literally in Fort Worth 10 years earlier on the roof of jazz club Caravan of Dreams, which also featured a geodesic dome. In those early years, Nelson brought the green movement into an urban, downtown setting, where he planted cacti and succulents above busy streets cluttered with cars and pedestrians. Then he took the movement even further in Biosphere 2 during the 1990s.
Nelson now serves as chairman and CEO of the Institute of Ecotechnics, a U.S. and United Kingdom nonprofit research group whose members are working within a discipline to harmonize or balance ecology and technology. He will be the keynote speaker for the Dallas County Community College District’s 2016 Sustainability Summit. His address, titled “Making Peace With Mother Earth: Practical Applications in Sustainability from a Biosphere Pioneer,” will be held at 8:45 a.m. on Friday, April 15, to kick off the free summit.
Biosphere 2 Veteran: Ecotechnics Builds Sustainability
Nelson, who will provide practical tips plus a broad view of ecotechnics during his presentation for the summit, is skeptical of ecologists who continue to share messages of “gloom and doom” about the environment. Instead, he said, “Positive changes are coming. So many good things are happening. The Russians, for example, are pioneers in closed ecological systems. I would like to see NASA look beyond machines and, instead, look at how nature has evolved, works and moves on.”
Nelson was a member of the first team of “biospherans” participating in a two-year experiment in Biosphere 2, which was the largest closed ecological system facility in Arizona. It served as a laboratory for studying global ecology and was an early prototype for long-term space habitation.
Unlike some "gloom and doom" ecologists, Nelson says, "Positive changes are coming." Attendees at the Sustainability Summit can learn more about his practical, optimistic approach.
That experience prompted him to expand his work in ecotechnics and to study drought (on a ranch in Santa Fe, N.M.), natural fertility, composting, grasslands, land restoration, gray water recycling and other issues.
Nelson said, “We need to restore natural fertility, which benefits farms and the people who are eating the food. Everything is connected; as a result, these changes are beneficial on a number of levels.” He added, “The movement to green up cities and produce more local food is gaining momentum, too. It reduces transportation costs and the use of fossil fuels as well.” Those practices are catching on in North Texas, too.
The biospheran said that he is optimistic about the future of the planet as views change, in both the academic community and in cities and towns across the globe. Nelson, who has worked with scientists from around the world on ecotechnics and sustainability issues, said, “Global climate change has gone unchecked for 50 years. The biosphere is greater than technology, and we’re just coming to that understanding.”
He first became interested in sustainability before the word was coined. “I was a product of the 1960s and Earth Day. I wanted to get involved with this work, which I believed would benefit myself and other people; it also has allowed me to give back to my environment,” Nelson recalled. “That’s also why I founded the Institute of Ecotechnics — because the world’s ecology and technology should have co-existed from the beginning but haven’t — until now.”
Nelson earned a doctorate in environmental engineering from the University of Florida (where he worked with the father of ecological engineering, H.T. Odom); a master’s degree in watershed management from the University of Arizona; and a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College. He is an editor for the journal Life Sciences in Space Research; is the author of several books, including his most recent work, “The Wastewater Gardener: Preserving the Planet One Flush at a Time”; and he also is head of the Biospheric Design Division of Global Ecotechnics Corporation and founder of Wastewater Gardens International.
DCCCD Sustainability Summit: Something for Everyone
From Biosphere 2 to backyard gardens … from pioneering pursuits to sustainable practices … DCCCD’s sixth annual Sustainability Summit has something for everyone who is interested in sustainable living. The one-day event, which is free and open to the public, will be held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Cedar Valley College, located at 3030 N. Dallas Ave. in Lancaster. Lunch will be provided for participants who register by noon on April 10. For details, visit
dcccd.edu/SustainabilitySummit.
In addition to Nelson’s presentation, participants can attend breakout sessions during the day covering four areas of interest: healthy living, environmental integrity, economic vitality, and social responsibility and justice.
This year, DCCCD summit organizers have added synergy sessions throughout the day that will give attendees a chance to spend a slightly longer period of time in broader discussions on a variety of these other topics: healthy, local and organic gardening; clean energy; movement building; sustaining policy; sustainability at home; and much more.
Nelson also is the featured speaker for a full-day workshop on Saturday, April 16, at Cedar Valley College. The cost is $99, and he will discuss a number of topics, focusing on “Innovative Approaches to Living Sustainably.”
To register for the Saturday workshop, visit the Carbon Economy Series website at
carboneconomyseries.com/uncategorized/ecotechnics-and-biospherics.
For more information about DCCCD’s Sustainability Summit, contact Maria Boccalandro, sustainability program director at Cedar Valley College, by phone at 972-860-5204 or by email at
mboccalandro@dcccd.edu.
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