Scientist Linda S. Birnbaum, Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) joined this expedition along Brooklyn’s waterfront with interest in assessing contamination exposure risks to human health, and threats from extreme weather events such as Hurricane Sandy. The Sunset Park neighborhood an environmentally overburdened area within NYC’s storm surge zone.

Expedition leaders initiated political discourse and conversation concerning the origin of Big Cypress National Preserve and its designation as a public commons after first being ravaged by the effects of capitalism. The Natural History Museum partnered with the park service to better understand the environmental and political factors influencing the ecological conditions of Big Cypress National Preserve and the Greater Everglades Ecosystem, focusing on oil wells and drilling in the Everglades and Big Cypress.

The Natural History Museum coordinated with local ecologists to enhance understandings of environmental issues in Kentucky, specifically in Whitesburg, Benham, and Berea. The expedition included tours of mountaintop removal sites, underground mines, and nature preserves.

In mid-August, The Natural History hosted an expedition to the Rockaway Pipeline. The Rockaway Pipeline will run through Gateway National Recreation Area, the oldest urban national park in the United States, and continue to Jamaica Bay, Jacob Riis Park, and Floyd Bennett Field. Fracking specialists led this expedition and outlined the potential impacts the pipeline has on New York’s communities.