Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge

Need a way to energize the youth in your community about a more sustainable future? The Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge gives students the opportunity, tools and inspiration to become those agents of change. Beginning August 19, 2009 through March 15, 2010, middle school student teams from across the country will be challenged to create sustainable, reproducible environmental improvements in their local communities. Top prizes will include a chance to appear on Discovery Network's Planet Green, a share in thousands of dollars in savings bonds, a Discovery Adventure trip and more. More information here.

Model Ordinances

Looking for good examples of ordinance language to adapt for your local community? Here you will find model ordinances and coming soon -- real-world ordinances from all over the nation used to better protect the environmental resources of a community. If you've got an innovative, approved ordinance or program that you think others could use, please send a copy to include in the library. This resource can be accessed at: http://www.cwp.org/Resource_Library/Model_Ordinances/index.htm

Kentucky Conservation Committee Seeks Campus Liaisons

The Kentucky Conservation Committee, (KCC), a nonpartisan coalition of environmental groups and individuals, is looking for Kentucky Higher Education students to participate in its advocacy efforts as Campus Liaisons. Campus Liaisons will have the exciting opportunity to spend time with KCC’s experienced legislative agent in Frankfort for a behind-the-scenes look at government. For information regarding eligibility, responsibilities and how to apply, go to: http://www.kyconservation.org/campus-Liaison.htm

Free Clean Water Resource

An independent PBS production company has created an environmental learning kit from its acclaimed new two-hour PBS Frontline documentary "POISONED WATERS." The materials pair ten five-minute video segments with ten companion essays in a 26-page discussion guide that addresses the state of America's water ways, new pollution threats, and strategies for combating pollution and habitat disruption. The kit, which comes in a compact packet the size of a DVD box, is suitable for environmental groups, college university and high school science and environmental teachers, park rangers and natural refuge guides, garden clubs, soil conservation districts, water keepers, and grass roots activities engaged in public education and community organizing. It is not for sit-down viewing. The material is suitable for an adult audience, not for elementary and middle schools and are free of charge. Those interested should contact Simona Raetz at Hedrick Smith Productions at simonaraetz@live.com

AQUATOX Release 3 - Now Available

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Science and Technology, has released an enhanced version of the aquatic ecosystem simulation model AQUATOX. AQUATOX is a PC-based ecosystem model that predicts the fate of nutrients and organic chemicals in water bodies, as well as their direct and indirect effects on the resident organisms. AQUATOX Release 3 contains many enhancements that increase the realism and utility of the model. The most important enhancements include:

- Capability to represent estuaries at a screening level
- Capability to model multiple linked river and reservoir segments
- Enhanced nutrients analysis, including nutrient release from sediments, daily dissolved oxygen fluctuations, and toxicity from low oxygen and ammonia
- Capability to simulate biological effects of suspended and bedded sediments
- Calculation of biological metrics
- Enhanced sensitivity and uncertainty analyses
- Toxicity data estimation from ICE (Interspecies Correlation Estimation)
- Expanded data management, graphics and statistical analysis
- The software is now open source, meaning that other modelers can customize AQUATOX for their particular application

Visit the AQUATOX web site at http://epa.gov/ost/models/aquatox/ for more information or for downloading the model and its associated documentation.

OEEF grant writing workshops September/October (OH)

Grant Writing 101/102, September 22, 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. at SunWatch Indian Village/Archaeological Park, 2301 W. River Road
Dayton, OH 45418 (Montgomery County), co-sponsored by the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery, SunWatch Indian Village, the Environmental Education Council of Ohio Region 4, and Ohio EPA Office of Environmental Education. A $15.00 fee will cover lunch and morning refreshments. To register, contact Donna Lewis, dlewis@boonshoftmuseum.org or (937) 275-7431 ext. 114.

Grant Writing 101/102, Wednesday October 7, 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. at the Hancock County Agricultural Center, 7868 County Road 140, Findlay (Hancock County), 45840, co-sponsored by the Maumee Valley Resource Conservation and Development Council, the Environmental Education Council of Ohio Region 3, and Ohio EPA Office of Environmental Education. A $25.00 fee will cover materials, buffet lunch and morning refreshments. To register, contact Scott.miller@oh.usda.gov or (419) 784-3717.

EPA Launches TMDL Program Results Analysis Web Site

EPA has developed a new Web site to communicate information about Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Program results to technically specialized audiences, including TMDL developers, state water programs, academia,
other federal agency programs, and EPA water quality staff. A TMDL is
a calculation of the maximum amount of a pollutant that a waterbody can receive and still meet water quality standards, and an allocation of that load among the various sources of that pollutant. The TMDL Program Results Analysis Project is a multi-year effort directed at measuring and analyzing programmatic and environmental results of the program.
The Web site provides a Clean Water Act Impaired Waters Program Pipeline navigation feature, fact sheets, EPA reports and Web sites, EPA grantee reports and Web sites, publications, and datasets related to this effort.

The TMDL Program Results Analysis Web site is available at http://www.epa.gov/owow/tmdl/results

Wonderful Wacky Water Critters booklets available

For a limited time, groups nationwide can place orders for large quantities of the University of Wisconsin-Extension's and WDNR's Wonderful Wacky Water Critters booklet. This booklet describes habitats and habits of many aquatic invertebrates (and a few
vertebrates) that live in our streams and ponds. You can view this 27 page booklet online (http://clean-water.uwex.edu/pubs/pdf/wav.wwwc.pdf). Each booklet also comes with an 11x17 inch folded copy of the Key to Macroinvertebrate Life in the River and Key to Life in the Pond, printed back to back. Many schools, service groups, and citizen monitors use the booklet and keys regularly.

Over the years I have been amazed at how many Wonderful Wacky Water Critters booklets have been ordered. So, in an attempt to offer this booklet to as many groups as possible, came up with a plan to place a mass order for many groups at once, by selling the booklets for $1.00 per copy plus shipping, for quantity orders (please order in sets of 25). You can download a pdf formatted order form or a Word formatted order form from this site:
http://www.usawaterquality.org/volunteer/VolunteerMonPrograms/Acheivements.html

Student Environmental Action Coalition Seeks Organizer

The Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC) has been connecting youth to environmental justice issues for over 20 years and is seeking an experienced and motivated individual to join the organization as a youth, student and community organizer on environmental justice and climate change issues in Appalachia. This position is full time and covers Kentucky. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. Please send resume and cover letter to masmith09@gmail.com or call 415-606- 3953.

Your Hometown Clean Water Tour

Your Hometown Clean Water Tour



Your Hometown Clean Water Tour (PA# 1587) has been re-printed and is available for ordering from LANDCARE (1-888-LANDCARE). The three-fold brochure is geared for elementary and middle school-aged youngsters and describes 13 conservation practices that urban/suburban dwellers can employ to help keep their water clean.

• Ohio Environmental Law Center Launches Website

The Ohio Environmental Law Center (OELC) website has launched at www.ohioenvirolawcenter.org. Keep current on the OELC's work to protect Ohioans' rights to have healthy air, land, and water, and provide them with a place to turn to for guidance and analysis of environmental-conservation issues. And save the date for two upcoming events: an OELC Open House, December 2 in Columbus and OELC Fundraiser in Cleveland on December 10. Learn more.

Webinar Recordings Focus on Using Recovery Act Funds to Train Green Workers

NALGEP
nalgep@spiegelmcd.com
09/04/09

On June 24, 2009, the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration released five solicitations for grant application (SGAs) totaling $500 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds for worker training and placement in green industries and sectors.

The New York State Department of Labor recently hosted two webinars that presented an overview of these funding opportunities and detailed the grant application requirements. The webinars focused in particular on two of the SGAs: the Energy Training Partnership and Pathways Out of Poverty.

-The Energy Training Partnership webinar discussed this $100 million funding opportunity to provide training and placement services in energy efficiency and renewable energy.
-The Pathways Out of Poverty webinar described this $150 million funding opportunity to create pathways out of poverty and into employment in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other green industries.

Both webinars were recorded and are available now for viewing by the public. In order to access these webinars, please visit: https://nysdol.webex.com/mw0305l/mywebex/default.do?siteurl=nysdol.

Once on the site, click "Recorded Sessions" in the left-hand navigation bar. After you have selected the webinar you are interested in viewing from the list, you will be asked to enter the recording password, which is dews2009.
These two webinars will be available online until mid October. After that time, please contact WDTD Employment at WorkforceSolutions@labor.state.ny.us to request a copy of a recorded webinar.

If you have questions, please contact Lisa Furner at Lisa.Furner@labor.state.ny.us.

WV Conservation Agency WaterNet newsletters available online

Water Net Resources is a publication of the West Virginia Watershed Resource Center and the West Virginia Watershed Network. Archived newsletters are available here. The current Fall issue, with information on trainings, watershed success stories, and volunteer opportunities, is available here.

Forthcoming Educational Resources on Freshwater Invertebrates

Flash Cards of Common Freshwater Invertebrates
of North America
Flash Cards of Common Freshwater Invertebrates of North America

Flash cards are recognized as an effective teaching/learning tool because they use visualization to associate information. Since 2002, images and information about freshwater invertebrates in J. Reese Voshell's popular book A Guide to Common Freshwater Invertebrates of North America have been used by teachers and students at all levels and in biomonitoring activities by a wide range of people from citizen volunteers to professional scientists.

There will be three sets of flash cards:

Set One--Major Classes and Orders
Set Two--Families of Mollusks, Stoneflies, Mayflies, and Caddisflies
Set Three--Families of Other Insects

release date: fall 2009

QuickGuide to Major Groups of Freshwater Invertebrates
Flash Cards of Common Freshwater Invertebrates of North America Set One

The QuickGuide is an easy and reliable aid to identifying common freshwater invertebrates to the taxonomic level of class or order, a level that is often satisfactory for teaching or learning the basics of freshwater ecology and for the biological monitoring of streams or ponds.

Release date September 2009.

see http://www.mwpubco.com/forthcoming.htm for more information.