Mr. Bittner talks about the significance of land and the natural world. I found it interesting to learn about his childhood and the lack of natural land. Since I live in the suburbs next to a small lake surrounded by trees, I have never really felt the long absence of nature. Nature has always been a part of my life, so I have definitely neglected its importance. After this talk, I reflecting and am planning on scheduling more time to spend outside whether to do work or take a walk. It was interesting to learn that the pandemic increased visitation and support for natural land. I hope that this increase remains constant as the people become vaccinated. In addition, it was interesting to learn more about the botanic gardens. I have always heard about botanic gardens, but I never did further research into them and visited it. I was surprised to learn about all the activities that the botamic gardens offer. Next semester, I am definitely making it a goal to visit the botanic garden and maybe even participate in the lecture series that they offer. As a whole, the podcast provided a lot of helpful information on how to interact more ith nature in Ithaca and reemphasized the importance of spending some time outside.

Todd and Andy talked about the importance of natural areas at Cornell and connecting with the land around them. This was something that I never really appreciated until I got here. I grew up in New Jersey, but since my brother lives in Manhattan, I spent a lot of time in the city. I guess being there a while you get used to the cityscape more than the trees. When I came to Cornell, things were kind of a shock. I’d never been in such a vast nature landscape. I guess that should’ve been expected, but in just one year I’ve really connected with the land around me. The landscape of the school feels welcoming, making me feel at home even during the most stressful parts of the semester.

I really enjoyed this fellow interview with Andrew Zepp and Todd Bittner. I was inspired by Professor Bittner’s statement that he himself is inspired by the phenomenal amount of things you can learn about the natural world, and this made me recognize there is much more to nature than I have originally thought. A lot of new students (25%) do not know about hiking and exploring nature so Professor Bittner helped create ithacatrails.org and I have personally used this a few times following the interview! Ultimately, it was very inspiring to hear both speakers talk so passionately about the natural world and I have committed to going out and exploring more!

I loved this Rose Buzz interview with Andy Zepp and Todd Bittner. I myself am studying agricultural sciences and found this all very compelling. Todd discussed how he manages a lot of lands and knows how many roles there are in the botanic gardens. I loved hearing about the favorite parts of their career. Todd is in awe of nature and recorded an increase in visitation to natural areas because of COVID-19.

Andrew loves seeing people agree and works with a land trust. He discussed how they had to change the way they work with safe processes and cleaning protocols, and how the legal system has closed down, but in general in a good financial state as a nonprofit.

We had a good discussion about how we are all outside more because of the pandemic.

Todd commented on how we get 25% new students every year and they usually don’t notice this resource. Todd also has gotten more freedom in his day-to-day schedule and can bike in the middle of the day because he is remote. I think of how on nice days I took my classes outside, which was never a feasible option before with most classes.

Andrew mentioned reopening in spring and that you can volunteer whenever you want and opportunities for photography that I might take up!

Todd commented on how it was foundational to get kids out in the world as a kid to support social and environmental justice. I agree 100% and hope that in my career I can be a changemaker towards this.

This past year, I think nature has taught us a lot. Even though screens and technology has increased in prevalence during the pandemic, the prominence of nature has as well. This view was echoed by house fellows Todd Bittner and Andy Zepp. The conversation revealed the importance that nature has for all of us, and how it has been an incredible resource during the pandemic. It was impressive to hear about all the behind-the-scenes work that goes on to keep the parks in the Ithaca area and on the Cornell campus up and running. As we talked about during the interview, one of the benefits of the pandemic was that many people rediscovered their love for the outdoors. The Ithaca area has so much natural beauty, and I was happy that I was able to experience it so much this past year. I now realize that people tend to take things for granted – and the pandemic has reinforced the importance and beauty of our outside. To this end, I truly hope that people remember their new-found love for nature and continue to spend time outdoors, even when we resume our “new normal” activities.

I attended the discussion with Todd Bittner and Andrew Zepp discussing public lands and Cornell lands. I found the discussion about including the public in the decision-making regarding land planning very interesting. The process was very community-oriented and the input of the Ithaca area was definitely the focus so that the parks would benefit the people the most. This is very different from where I am from. I have a park near my house and often the parks department asks for suggestions on new implementations, but they never add anything. It was nice to see that is not the case everywhere and that the Ithaca community was receiving new recreation areas that they helped design.

This was the first fellow interview that I had ever listened to. I wanted to listen to this one because I love the outdoors and I wanted to learn more about the botanical gardens an other outdoor gems that Cornell has to offer. I have bee to a lot of the different gardens fr plant science classes but not enough for just fun! I really enjoyed listening to the interview and was inspired to try to get out and explore more!

I really enjoyed this Fellows talk as this was the first time I was able to hear about the outdoor work being done around Cornell in all of the various natural areas. Last year I was not able to visit many of the natural areas, I hadn’t even been to Ithaca Falls despite loving the outdoors, so I have made it a point so far during the good weather to start visiting more locations around Cornell. I have already been to Ithaca Falls twice in the past two weeks and seeing the waterfalls frozen and surrounding areas was beautiful. Even the walk down to the natural areas made me appreciate everything that is being done to allow us to have these spot swell kept and maintained near campus. It was enjoyable hearing them talk so passionately and enthusiastically about their work and it made me appreciate the nature even more.

There is not much that I would want to retain from the past two years; not being able to spend time with others in person, staring at a computer screen for hours on end, and watching the pain of those around me has been mentally draining. However, I think that the general increase in exploring nature in a socially distanced context, even in the cold Ithaca winters, has led to a widespread appreciation of the outdoors. This has the potential to reinforce conservation efforts and reduce the irreparable effect that humans have on the environment. The Rose Buzz this week with Todd Bittner, Director of Natural Areas, and Andy Zepp, Executive Director of the Finger Lakes Land Trust, was encouraging. Both Zepp and Bittner talked about their experiences contributing to land protection, conservation, and reintroduction programs which support proper use and appreciation of the surrounding areas. I think the two most amazing things they mentioned were the increase in use of preserves and gardens due to the pandemic and the ability to reach people from several different countries through virtual seminars. I hope that we will keep at least a few aspects of this life after the pandemic ceases to control our every action. Although it it has distanced us from some people, it has also allowed us to connect with peers across the world.

It was great to hear from Andy Zepp, Executive Director for the Finger Lakes Land Trust and Todd Bittner, Director of Natural Areas for the Cornell Botanic Gardens this week. I enjoyed hearing about the environmental work they do. Something I was not expecting was that the land trust Mr. Zepp directs was his masters project. I found it really cool that he loves doing outdoor activities, so it’s super rewarding for him to enjoy his work in that way by being on the land he maintains. I appreciated hearing from Mr. Bittner, as well, because I am also from Illinois. Although I didn’t grow up on a farm, I enjoyed hearing about how his upbringing in the Prairie State led him to choose his current career. I agreed with him that there are still lots of things still to be learned about nature, which is one reason why it is so important to conserve it. I’ve only visited the Botanic Gardens once, but I hope to go back soon! I didn’t know about the Learning by Leading program before, and think it’s cool that the Gardens offer the opportunity to become better advocates for the conservation of plants, natural areas, and biocultural diversity. Mr. Bittner talked about potentially renewing a partnership with GIAC in order to get more children involved outdoors. I think this is a great step toward fostering an environmental consciousness for the next generation of students and leaders, so I was happy to hear about that, as well. I appreciated the advice both Mr. Zepp and Mr. Bittner gave about following their passions at the end of the talk, as well.

I attended the Fellow Interview with Todd Bittner and Andrew Zepp where they talked about natural areas that people have been increasingly visiting since the start of COVID. I’ve never visited the Cornell Botanic Gardens even though I’m in my third year so I really want to make a point of it one of these days before classes end in May. Something that was discussed was if people would continue visiting parks once the pandemic is completely over. I definitely think that people in general will have a new appreciation for the outdoors once it’s safe to travel again. Overall, I think that since people will be free to do other things, the amount of people visiting parks will be less than pandemic times, but more than pre-pandemic times. Hopefully due to this, people will start taking better care of the Earth, as a lot of environmental issues are still on the rise.

I recently saw this video in one of my engineering ethics classes about how a Senator brought snow into a meeting and used it as evidence that global warming was a hoax as it was “clearly cold outside”. I thought this ridiculous and reminded me of the people who believe COVID is a hoax. This is sort of unrelated to the fellow interview, but either way, I feel that in general people who think COVID is fake are the same kinds of people who think global warming is fake and don’t protect our natural parks.

A plethora of meaningful topics were discussed during today’s seminar,  but what struck out to me the most was how COVID-19 impacted the personal lives and habits of our guest speakers. Professor Todd Bittner discussed how although his lifestyle changed, the pandemic actually created more freedom. I resonate with this because, while the pandemic restricted my social interactions, I spent more time outdoors than I had ever done before. I took long walks around my neighborhood, often watched the sunset on the beach, and walked along trails in my local parks. This would not have happened if it weren’t for the pandemic. I discovered that spending time outside in nature keeps me at peace. Surrounding myself with nature keeps me grounded and reminds me of my blessings. I wish I spent more of my freshmen year exploring Cornell’s natural habitat, especially since my freshmen year was cut short due to the pandemic. However, with the weather slowly getting warmer, I’m definitely going to take more time this semester exploring the mesmerizing trails along campus as well as the surrounding parks! So while the pandemic brought forth a lot of anxiety and gloom, I am grateful to say I found something positive arise from this time of worry.