Cattails. Aside from many food products and medicines, Native Americans used cattails for a variety of types of weaving. The different uses for cattails (Typha latifolia) have been well chronicled in the early historic documents of New England. Before European contact, the Native Americans of New England apparently did not make use of conventional looms for weaving. However, New England tribes did weave reeds and other materials into mats, baskets and other items using hand-held finger-weaving and braiding techniques.
Woven bags, belts and straps, shoes, military equipment, and even dolls were made from reeds like cattail. Specialized weaving beyond hand-held twining (using a formal loom) did not appear in part because birchbark was readily available in New England for containers and coverings. Blankets and mats were traditionally made on a suspension loom from rushes or inner bark. Return to NativeTech's Main Cattail & Grasses Menu Cattail & Grasses Bibliography and Books to Buy On-Line. About Us @ ICIS, Institute for Civil Infrastructure Systems. The Institute for Civil Infrastructure Systems (ICIS) at New York University’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service was established with funding from the National Science Foundation in 1998.
ICIS research focuses on a policy context to security and natural hazard threats to critical infrastructures. This research includes relationships among infrastructures, such as energy, transportation, telecommunications, water supply, and environmental protection infrastructure, and how these interdependencies affect their viability.
Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, ICIS homeland security and natural hazards research has primarily focused on critical infrastructure protection and has had funding from U.S. DHS through three university centers: In addition, ICIS receives funding from the U.S. Computing for Sustainability. Sustainability leadership is more than a slogan. Hauser In the last two or three years, we’ve seen a proliferation of courses that include the words “Leadership for sustainability.” Universities, nonprofits and my organization, The Natural Step, offer courses with some variation of this title. Is leadership just a term chosen for marketing purposes?
(Imagine a course entitled Sustainability for Followers.) If you attend a course on leadership, you’ll find that many of the attendees do not currently hold traditional leadership positions in organizations. As the Business for Social Responsibility report points out, this is particularly important today. With over 10 years of experience in Oregon, The Natural Step Network USA has observed a few common traits among organizations that have shown leadership in sustainability.
Leadership for sustainability is organic throughout an organization. Regina Hauser is director of The Natural Step Network USA.
Food and Environment.