Bryan Pijanowski
"Digital Nature"
Loeb Playhouse: 4 - 4:45 PM
Rapidly advancing sensor technologies have allowed ecologists to now capture many elements of nature - visually and acoustically – in digital form. Ecologists are becoming increasingly aware that the amount of “pure, untouched nature” is dwindling. In addition, our society is has transitioned to be an urban species that surrounds itself with the sounds of the built environment that disconnects us from nature. Our “ear bud” society in the future may only be able to experience nature through artificial means, in digital form, making us dependent only on past recordings of “pure nature” to know and experience what nature has to offer us for spiritual and recreational enjoyment. To inspire people to “turn their ears back on” and make them more aware of the wondrous sounds that nature has to offer people, I will discuss recordings that I have made and multi-media visuals that have been produced that showcase the beauty of nature. A discussion will follow that seek to generate ideas for how we can best protect the remaining natural, pure soundscapes and how we can best increase public awareness that nature’s sounds are precious.
Bio: Bryan Pijanowski is Professor and University Faculty Scholar in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources at Purdue. His main interest of work is in the area of soundscape ecology – the study of the relationship of all sounds in an ecosystem and how they relate to biodiversity and natural dynamics. He has recorded soundscapes from all over the world, including the temperate forests, Sonoran Desert, the estuaries off the coast of Maine, subarctic in Alaska, and the tropics of Costa Rica and Borneo. His long term soundscape study (7 years) at the Purdue research properties is being used to study long-term dynamics of forested and agricultural soundscapes. His work has appeared in Science, NPR Science Friday, BBC World News Service, and the Today Show. His work is being funded by the National Science Foundation as well. One project involves the development of an iMAX movie on Global Soundscapes that will teach middle school youth about the physics of sound, basic ecology, biodiversity and natural soundscapes. Over 500,000 of his recordings can be heard on his web site www.purdue.edu/soundscapes.