Free Watershed Academy Webinar 11/28/12 November 26, 2012

Free Watershed Academy Webinar on “How’s My Waterway? and Other Water Quality Apps” on Nov. 28, 2012 at 1-3pm EST

 

The US EPA is promoting their new apps and website which will  let users quickly learn about waterways in the USA, condition of thousands of lakes, rivers and streams  from their smart phone, tablet or desktop computer:   http://www.epa.gov/mywaterway    The app  uses mobile device locations or a user-entered zip code/city name  to send information on their local quality of water bodies. Way cool!    The webinar will also discussion the SwinGuide  (find a close beach and get beach status information!) and the RiverView (share pictures of your favorite river and share information on its condition) – two other apps you must check out and promote as well!

Note from their website:  “This app was released on the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, which Congress enacted on October 18, 1972, giving citizens a special role in caring for the nation’s water resources. Forty years later, EPA is providing citizens with a technology-based tool to expand that stewardship.”

Register for this webinar, view archived webinas or find out more!

 

Book Reviewers Needed! August 7, 2012

The Electronic Green Journal is looking for a new book review editor. They already have a list of books that need to be reviewed. If anyone is interested, please contact Maria Jankowska (majank [at] uidaho. edu)

NBII website to be taken offline! January 12, 2012

Not such good news,  but important to let you know so you can preserve some of the links:  

Due to federal budget cuts,  the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) website at http://www.nbii.gov/portal/server.pt/community/nbii_home/236 will be removed from the Web on January 15, 2012 .  Library of Congress/Web Archiving Team  says that as part of a collaborative web archive project to archive U.S. Federal Government Websites, this site has been crawled by the Internet Archive as a part of that project (though not publicly accessible yet but hopefully it has been preserved.) 

Thanks Maria Anna Jankowska for bringing this to my attention!

Creative Upcycling Decoration Ideas January 4, 2012

Thinking about next years holiday already? Maybe not but you could start now reusing old  or broken decorations or natural items found around your yard. Get creative in the new year and have fun – at your school or public library,  host a hands-on program for people to make upcycled/recycled holiday decorations   You can even put out a table of goodies, welcoming back college kids to the library, allowing them to get creative and enjoy being back on campus.

The How Do I Recycle This?  blog offered a great  ideas in 2010 (button wreaths,  origami decorations,  tin stars, star lights, and other fabulous ideas.) and now offers more for end of 2011 like old newspaper ball ornaments, ornaments from old sweaters, Christmas trees from twigs, paper chains from old maps, and old newspaper wreaths.

 

Trees made of books! December 20, 2011

Christmas tree of Books at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland

Always enjoy seeing libraries using discarded books to create art, purses, or  furniture! Go University of Warmia and Mazury of Olsztyn, Poland (and a Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia  – a shout out to my ancestors in Poland!) for their lovely giant Christmas tree created from books. See the writeup in American Libraries or visit their website for more info and videos.  Check out more trees made from books from my past blog posts too!

AASHE 2011 Conference Presentation Materials Now Available December 15, 2011

AASHE (Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education) now has available all of the conference posters, panels and presentations from 2011 conference in Pittsburgh last October and the 2010 in Denver. The conference materials are in one searchable database, searched by conference year, category, organization, session type and keyword.   Blog posts, photos and videos can also be found on the AASHE conference website.

Green Info Commons @UNB November 30, 2011

The University of New Brunswick in Saint Johns (Canada) created a new commons that is environmentally friendly, LEED  silver certified. The Hans W. Klohn Commons opened in Fall 2011 and includes the library, the student tech center, the writing center, the math/science help center and a commons cafe – a true campus information commons! The space includes lots of natural and LED lighting, reuse of rainwater, geothermal technologies, and elevators that actually produces power when used back into the building.  Find out more about the space through these videos:

Campus Sustainability Day Oct 26 October 25, 2011

Campus Sustainability Day, first conceived in April 2003, is  a national event coordinated with Society of College and University Planning. Many campuses are planning events and sharing events online – find out what others are doing and post your own events here. Register your campus for a Campus Conversation ‘A Useful Education: Sustainability in Admissions,  Retention, and Educational Value” so you can participate on 26th watching a short video webcast and engage in conversations sponsored by Second Nature.

How Can I Recycle This? September 23, 2011

Really, anything can be reused or repurposed.  This blog - How Can I Recycle This?  -  offers over 900 items and over 14,000 suggestions of ways to reuse, repurpose or recycle things that would otherwise go in the bin! Check it out, search for most anything and find creative and useful ideas for recycling!  From VHS tapes to crock pots to old lentils to  house keys.  Search and explore or share your own ideas.  You can also follow them on twitter.

Green Reads September 16, 2011

Our campus Sustainability Committee’s bookclub is reading two interesting green reads this year:

This fall -Sleeping Naked is Green: How an Eco-cynic Unplugged her Fridge, Sold her Car, and Found love in 366 Days by Vanessa Farquharson.

And in the spring -  Green Metropolis by David Owen.

any other good green reads to recommend? please comment!