A Public Outreach and Resource Seminar Series

Featuring case studies from throughout the US and International locations demonstrating how all water and life is connected, within, on, above and surrounding where we all live ….
And how anyone can take simple steps to make a difference ….

All will be free to attend live but will also be available post event on our education platform.
All begin at 9 AM HST – 10 AM HST (3 PM EST) via Zoom
Every Monday in October and November, December 14 and 21
Please login here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82139391920

November 2: Grey To Green: Managing Seven Hills and Five Rivers

• Host Dendra Best and Jacqueline Diaz-Nieto: Natural Flood and Water Management Coordinator at Sheffield City Council
  When catastrophic flooding hit the City of Sheffield in South Yorkshire UK in 2007, the City considered all options: sustainable systems, existing technologies and simple interventions that could have systemic benefits, rather than developing new complex solutions. The central transmission and conveyance systems were facing a massive repair bill. How could they stop this from happening again?

“There is always a place I can take someone’s curiosity and land where they end up enlightened when we’re done. That’s my challenge as an educator. No one is dumb who is curious. The people who don’t ask questions remain clueless throughout their lives.
― Neil deGrasse Tyson

But first a tribute – “Sheffield has lost one of its most quietly remarkable figures. Nigel Dunnett, Professor of Planting Design and Urban Horticulture at the University of Sheffield, who died in April aged just 63. He leaves behind a city that looks visibly different because of his vision.
The man who made Sheffield bloom: [Credit – https://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/topic/501333-nigel-dunnett-sheffields-landscape-pioneer-who-turned-grey-streets-green-has-died-aged-63/ ]
Most people in Sheffield have walked past his work without knowing his name. The wildflower planting along the ring road, the colour at Park Square roundabout with Park Hill looming behind it, the naturalistic meadows at Sheffield Manor Lodge on the Manor estate — all of it bears his fingerprints.

Dunnett was the driving force behind Grey to Green, Sheffield City Council’s award-winning urban greening project that has been reshaping the city centre since 2014. Described in some quarters as Europe’s largest urban green scheme, it was built with sustainability and flood management in mind as much as beauty. Speaking to the BBC in 2021, Dunnett described its ambition plainly: “The idea was to make Sheffield different, really make it a garden city.”