Rebecca McMackin

Activist, Designer, Environmentalist, Parent, Public servant, Writer/Editor

Rebecca McMackin is an ecologically obsessed horticulturist and garden designer. She is currently the Arboretum Curator of Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, caring for one of the best tree collections in New York City. Prior to this, she spent a decade as Director of Horticulture of Brooklyn Bridge Park, where she managed 85 acres of diverse parkland organically. Their research into cultivating urban biodiversity and ethical management strategies has influenced thousands of people and entire urban parks systems to adopt similar approaches. In her imaginary free time, Rebecca writes, lectures and designs the occasional public garden. Her garden for the entrance to the Brooklyn Museum opened in 2023. She is passionate about pollination biology, environmental justice, and urban ecology. Rebecca holds a MS in Biology from the University of Victoria, a MS in Landscape Design from Columbia University, and was a 2023 Loeb Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She has been published by and featured in the New York Times, the Landscape Institute, and on NPR and PBS.

Flowers. Caring for land. Public service. Showing people how to connect to the world around us. Moths.

Flowers are not only beautiful. They are methods of communication between plants and pollinators.

Ecological Landscape Management, Gardening, Pollination Ecology, Public Horticulture

My 9 year old son helped me practice my TED talk many, many times. He simulated the unexpected by hurling pillows at me throughout. And while that particular tactic proved unnecessary, giving the talk was one of the most momentous experiences of my life thus far. Even the process of crating the talk was transformative. It was incredible to figure out what is so interesting, so important, that hundreds of thousands of people had to hear it. And then smash it into a 10 minute space ship to fly around the world. I am used to talking to gardeners. And, I didn't know this beforehand, but the biggest thrill of the TED talk was speaking to people who weren't yet gardeners. The idea that listeners might be inspired to begin gardening, to help the animals and plants around them in some small way, is the best thing I can imagine.

Roller Derby