Hello, all. I'm really looking forward to this class. I expect it will be like no other you have taken before! We'll get into the most diverse ecosystem on the planet, the underground rainforest, in our own backyard. We'll study nutrient recycling at micro, local, regional, and biosphere levels. You'll take a hand with nature and propose a conservation/restoration project the scope and scale of which will be determined by our collective and/or individual ambition. And there will be several field trips where we document and participate in local Chicago wilderness projects. Our joint learning and contributions will project beyond the classroom of Spring07, firstly through an open wiki, 2ndly through blogs and letters to magazines, and local/regional papers (letters to the editors), 3rdly as proposals to the university, city and federal levels to get the work done. With that in hand we'll be on our way to personal, communal, and regional sustainable living setting examples for the world to see.
Send us your ideas for what you'd like to get out of this course, what experiences have brought your here, and what your current driving aspirations for change are?
http://natural.uchicago.edu/prairieecosystems
now links to a wiki, and we'll have a blog there as well. This will be our collaborative skeleton where outreach, projects, and projections are channeled. Details will follow about how to contribute and updates will be regular.
See you on the 27th.

Justin Borevitz and Geoff Morris