Our affinity with the earth compels us to seek connections to nature. Nature can calm us, heal us, and inspire us. This very real relationship—a love of our living world—is known as Biophilia.
- Thursday, October 8, 2020, 7:30 – 8:30 p.m.
- Free, via Zoom
- Registration is required. Please register by 10 a.m. on Thursday 10/8. If you register after this time, you can’t guarantee we’ll have time to troubleshoot getting access to the Zoom meeting.
If you’ve already registered, you should have received the meeting details with Zoom link via email. If you have NOT received the Zoom link or are having any other difficulties accessing the meeting, please email us.
EcoAction Arlington invites you to our Love Our Living World kickoff event: Biophilia Live! a lively, enlightening program featuring presentations on the importance of connecting to nature. Our speakers’ stories will help you explore ways of interweaving nature into your life and livelihood in beneficial ways.
Join us for this free presentation live via Zoom on Thursday, October 8 as we discuss ways of connecting with nature. A connection that now more than ever can help soothe what ails us.
After each speaker’s presentation, participants will enter breakout rooms for a brief discussion. A moderated Q&A will follow.
This event has passed
Our Moderator is Lynn Borton. Lynn Borton is a facilitator—of conversations and transformation—with more than 25 years of experience in strategic governance and change management in the non-profit sector. Lynn hosts and produces the radio show Choose to be Curious on “Radio Arlington” – WERA, 96.7 FM. Her show features research and theory, but mostly its conversations about how curiosity shows up in work and life.
Meet Our Speakers
Dr. Laura Andreko, Robert and Kathleen Scanlon Endowed Chair in Values Based Health Care, Director of the Mid-Atlantic Center for Children’s Health and the Environment, & Professor
Laura Anderko, Ph.D., RN, holds the Robert and Kathleen Scanlon Chair in Values Based Health Care at Georgetown University School of Nursing & Health Studies. She is a Professor and Director of the Mid-Atlantic Center for Children’s Health and the Environment, and a scholar in the fields of epidemiology, public health, and environmental health. Dr. Anderko, a Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellow, serves as Research Co-Chair for the Alliance of Nurses for a Healthy Environment, Co-Chair of the National Environmental Health Partnership Council (APHA/CDC), and as Chair for the National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health Advisory Board (Maternal Child Health Bureau, HRSA). She previously served on the Environmental Protection Agency’s federal advisory committee, the Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee (CHPAC), the National Drinking Water Advisory Committee (NDWAC), and the National Environmental Justice Advisory Committee (NEJAC) Research Workgroup, as well as the Mid-Atlantic Health Equity Council (Office of Minority Health). In 2013, she was named a White House Champion of Change for her leadership in raising awareness about climate-related health effects. The next year, she earned the 2014 Nurse.com Nursing Excellence GEM Award for her work to advance and lead the nursing profession. In 2015, she was granted a five-year award, totaling more than $700,000, to lead a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initiative at Georgetown focusing on children and environmental health.
Elsabe Dixon, artist
South African born, VA-based artist Elsabe Dixon uses the biological life cycles of insects to investigate and rationalize her relationship with changing systems and network interfaces through audience interaction.
Dixon explores the concept of sensory memory and visceral reaction through her work. Her practice consists of facilitating conversations between professionals from the fields of medicine, engineering, and food production, about sericulture and its possible use or uselessness. During her residencies at Artisphere and Penn State University, Elsabe produced a new series of visual data and transcripts, engaged visitors in visual conversations by way of staged social interactions with nature.
As an immigrant Elsabé Dixon is interested in diversity, equity,accessibility, and inclusion. Elsabé worked for the Glenstone Foundation (Potomac, Maryland) and is past President of the Washington Sculptors Group, a non-profit organization that serves artists, collectors, curators, and art community groups in the Washington DC metropolitan area. She is a graduate of Averett University and holds an MFA in New Media Art from George Mason University. Elsabe Dixon is trained in cross-disciplinary practices, public engagement strategies, and community outreach.
While serving on the boards of Washington Sculptors Group, the Hillyer Gallery (Washington, D.C.), and the McLean Project for the Arts (McLean Virginia), she advocated for a sustainable membership base and community involvement in local programming. Elsabé is a contributing writer for East City Art, a Washington-based news source for art reviews and exhibition events. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History
View her artwork and follow Elsabe on Instagram here.
Nick Schauman of The Local Oyster
Nick Schauman is a Baltimore native with local traditions and Maryland seafood running through his blood. He grew up eating steamed crabs, Grandma’s crab soup, and raw Oysters at Lexington Market. As a young man, Nick graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in design. After several years working as a jack of all trades, he went to culinary school with dreams of bringing his childhood traditions to life. In 2013 he succeeded, creating Baltimore’s first traveling oyster bar. Seven years later Nick and his business partners, Patrick Hudson and Executive Chef Zack Mills own and operate two award-winning Local Oyster locations, nationally recognized restaurant True Chesapeake Oyster Co. and a farm by the same name. The team is currently working on two more projects slated to open in Spring 2021.