Round Table

CIVIC ECOLOGY: FROM STEWARDSHIP TO SUSTAINABILITY

Auditorium, Pérez Art Museum Miami, 1103 Biscayne Blvd | Transportation Options

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The Center for Subtropical Affairs is a non-profit ecological learning center that works with students of all ages, offering hands-on learning and job training in their plant nursery and welcomes the community of Little River to learn more about environmental design, organic food production, renewable energy, resource conservation and improved overall environmental health. Join the Center’s Co-directors and local experts in this roundtable discussion to speak about sustainable futures, specifically civic ecology in the urban core, practical environmental education, and land stewardship. With a special focus on Mycology and the role of fungi and The Million Orchid Project, this discussion is for those interested in plant communication, the soil food web, nutrient cycling and the importance of diversity in all ecosystems.

Christiana Morrow is the Co-director at The Center for Subtropical Affairs. Morrow began serving her community by working in prison re-entry programming in the suburbs of Washington D.C. Upon moving to Miami, she co-founded the Center with the goal of providing local residents with the ecological education necessary to survive in the expanding urban environment. She works under The Million Orchid Project cultivating the mycorrhizal fungi that orchids require to survive and be successfully reintroduced into their natural habitat.
 
Casey Zap is the Co-director at The Center for Subtropical Affairs.Casey had a long career in music, event, and film production in NYC focused on connecting and building the surrounding artistic community before moving to Miami. The richness of South Florida’s unique subtropical environment coupled with a passion for rare and exotic fruit trees ultimately led to him co-founding the Center in the hopes of sharing the knowledge he has acquired with the residents of the city he loves and to continue the process of learning from nature. He currently works under The Million Orchid Project in the laboratory at Fairchild Garden cultivating the mycorrhizal fungi that orchids need to survive and be in their natural habitat.
 
Dr. Jason Downing is an Orchid Biologist and Professor. During his graduate programs he held positions at Fairchild Garden and Smithsonian Environmental Research Center working on research related to orchid ecology, specifically interactions with pollinators and mycorrhizal fungi. He is currently the Orchid Biologist at Fairchild Garden where he focuses on orchid research, propagation, education, and conservation efforts under The Million Orchid Project.
 
Joshua Sagarribay is the President of Miami Biotech High School Horticulture Club. Joshua attends Biotech High School, where he does research projects for NASA, including experimenting with growing peppers and mushrooms in space for future astronauts and settlers on Mars. He also grows medical mushrooms such as Reshi, Lions Mane, and Turkey Tail which have been proven to help halt the progression of Alzheimer’s and cancer by studies led around the world. He wishes to become even more involved in his community by working at the Center for Subtropical Affairs and educating people on home medicine, cooking, horticulture and mycology.
 
Barbara Martinez-Guerrero is an Educator/Executive Director Dream In Green. She is a returned Peace Corps volunteer, and a classroom teacher for ten years both in Miami and New York City public schools. Upon her return to Miami, she began her informal educator experience through Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden’s environmental education outreach program, The Fairchild Challenge, where she integrated sustainability and conservation lessons to teachers and students locally, nationally and internationally.
 
Ian Wogan is an Arborist/owner True Tree Service. Mr. Wogan, co-founder of True Tree Service, is a Florida native who has dedicated his career to canopy restoration and tree health management in South Florida. He is a certified arborist who’s purview includes diagnosis of tree and landscape problems, expert witness and litigation, insect and disease identification and management, plant health care programs, training and education, tree planting programs, tree protection for construction projects, tree risk assessments and surveys, municipal & large scale tree canopy health management, and climbing tall trees.
 
Dr. John Cozza is a professor at FIU’s Department of Biological Sciences. Dr. Cozza is active in community outreach by volunteering at UM’s Gifford Arboretum, and with TREEmendous Miami, a group that does tree plantings in various public spaces in the area. He is interested in tropical biology, educational horticulture, sex expression and symbioses in plants, and, especially, finding new and effective ways to teach biology to students of all ages and backgrounds. He also looks forward to working with students and colleagues at FIU and in the community towards sustainable solutions for climate change, biodiversity conservation and human advancement.