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Saturday, May 12th, 2012 #1303 |
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Deep fried Glades Mark Renz photo art
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Seeking Summer Teacher to Assist Lox Refuge
Training Dates:Monday, June 11 - Thursday, June 14
Program Dates: Monday, July 2 - Friday, August 10
Duration: 6 weeks, Monday - Friday, plus initial 4-day training
Salary: $1,500 ($250/week) (training is unpaid)
Deadline to Apply: Friday, May 25
The Summer Teachers Assisting Refuges (STAR) program provides opportunities for teachers to connect to the resources in a National Wildlife Refuge. Teachers then develop lesson plans based on their Refuge experience for use in the classroom and natural resource areas. The program focuses on teachers from schools with diverse student populations, who have had little or no experience with National Wildlife Refuges or limited opportunity to explore the relevance Refuges can have in their lives and the lives of their students.Our Refuge is piloting the first STAR program this summer.
For more information:
http://www.loxahatcheefriends.com/upload/LoxSTARDescription.pdf
To apply:
http://www.loxahatcheefriends.com/upload/LoxSTARApplication.pdf
The STAR program is sponsored by the Friends and made possible by the Harvey Eisen Education and Training Fund, established by friends and family of long-time volunteer and Board member Harvey Eisen.
If you would like to help replenish this fund and help train future teachers, you can mail your contribution to
: Friends of Loxahatchee, 10216 Lee Road, Boynton Beach, FL 33473 Att: Steve Horowitz/Training Fund.
You can also donate online at:
http://www.loxahatcheefriends.com/contributions.shtml
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 | A word about our sponsor: Planet Earth
Who determines the definition of "sound science"? Repubs? Dems? Indys? None of the above? How about if we let scientists make the determination? Okay, but which scientists? Does it matter who they work for or who pays their salaries or grants? How do we find impartial scientists? Who should pick them? Are the pickers impartial? How do we know?
Surely, there must be a way for politics to be set aside and a non-partisan science panel to have a greater voice in decisions that involve a thorough knowledge of a particular environmental problem or challenge. Wouldn't such a panel be to our collective advantage? Of course it would - if we think long term and globally while acting short-term and locally.
If. If only if.
Mark Renz photo art & words
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America's most endangered Rivers
Designated as Endangered in 2006, the Caloosahatchee is not improving.
Caloosahatchee River, Florida
Threat: Releases of toxic water
The Caloosahatchee continues to be regularly inundated with toxins, leading to fish kills and human health problems. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers effected a revised operating plan in 2008 that allows for less fluctuation in river levels: meaning more frequent releases. Drought combined with nutrient pollution has given rise to severe outbreaks of red tide and blue-green algae in the Caloosahatchee. This pattern of neglect puts at stake the $2 billion tourism industry, the commercial fishing industry, and important habitat for wildlife, including the endangered Florida manatee. ..... |
Red Tide Report
Present Status; Southwest Coast:Karenia brevis, the Florida red tide organism, was not detected in water samples collected this week alongshore of Pinellas, Hillsborough, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee and Collier counties or alongshore and offshore of the Florida Keys (Monroe County). One sample collected alongshore of Manatee County contained background concentrations of K. brevis.
A decaying bloom of the cyanobacterium Trichodesmium is present alongshore of southwest Florida. FWRI has confirmed presence in samples extending from Pinellas County south through Lee County. Offshore blooms, detected via satellite images, are also present. Reports of foul smells have been received; however, there have been no reports of fish kills associated with this bloom.
This Web site also provides links to additional information related to the topic of Florida red tide including satellite imagery, experimental red tide forecasts, shellfish harvesting areas, the FWC Fish Kill Hotline, the Aquatic Toxins Hotline (for information or to report human health effects), and other wildlife related hotlines:
(http://myfwc.com/research/redtide/events/status/contact/ ). ) and click on "Harmful Algal Bloom Species". Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks, Karen Karen E. Atwood Harmful Algal Bloom Group FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute |
 | Bluesy Trio
Great blue herons -- Mark Renz photo
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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) will be holding a Project Delivery Team (PDT) meeting for the Central Everglades Planning Project (CEPP) Monday, May 14 from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the South Florida Water Management District Headquarters in the Governing Board Auditorium, Building B-1, 3301 Gun Club Road, West Palm Beach, FL 33406. PDT meetings enable federal, state and local agencies and tribal governments to provide their input into the Central Everglades Planning Project. Members of the public may attend the PDT meeting and provide public comment at the end of the meeting.
The agenda for the PDT meeting is available at:
https://www.cerpzone.org/documents/PublicMeeting/Agenda_PDT_CEPP_14%20May%202012_Final.pdf
Additional information on CEPP is available at:
http://evergladesplan.org/pm/projects/proj_51_cepp.aspx
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Our Massive Marine Energy Potential: Scouring The Tropics For Thermal Energy
by Bruce Dorminey, via Renewable Energy World
The world's largest untapped source of solar energy doesn't lie on the vast sands of the Sahara or even atop the high chaparral of the desert Southwest. Instead, it stretches across at least 23 million square miles of earth's tropical oceans; the uppermost layers of which make a prime natural source of thermal energy.
Regardless of time of day or cloud cover, Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) promises to harness this thermal sea-based resource year round.
OTEC production converts heat energy from seawater into kinetic energy using the ocean's naturally steep temperature gradient. It's this juxtaposition of tropical (and sometimes subtropical) subsurface seawater at temperatures typically above 80 degrees F. and below 40 degrees F. that makes OTEC possible.
An OTEC plant literally pumps the warm surface seawater through a heat exchanger connected to a closed circuit filled with several hundred tons of liquid ammonia. Since ammonia boils at lower temperatures and at lower pressures than water, once the warm seawater hits the heat exchanger, it causes the ammonia to vaporize and expand in volume. As this ammonia vaporizes, it creates pressure to run a turbine coupled to a generator. In most cases, the resulting electricity would be delivered onshore via an undersea cable.......
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eGRID
The Emissions & Generation Resource Integrated Database (eGRID) is a comprehensive source of data on the environmental characteristics of almost all electric power generated in the United States. These environmental characteristics include air emissions for nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide; emissions rates; net generation; resource mix; and many other attributes.
eGRID's carbon dioxide output emission rates are commonly used in carbon footprinting calculators and greenhouse gas inventories. eGRID provides researchers and policy makers with a powerful set of information about electric generators in one place. eGRID data are used widely by EPA and others to show the impacts of electricity generation and the benefits of reducing demand for grid-supplied electricity.
eGRID contains emissions and emission rate information for the following air pollutants and greenhouse gases: nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O). CO2, CH4, and N2O are greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming or climate change. NOx and SO2 contribute to unhealthy air quality and acid rain in many parts of the country. eGRID also includes data on electric generation, fuel mix (for renewable and nonrenewable generation), and many other power plant attributes. eGRID presents this information for power plants and for states, three different sets of electric grid boundaries, and the United States in total.
See the eGRID website for details.
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 | A good speaker knows when to keep quiet.
Pig frog -- Mark Renz photo art
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- EVERGLADES ECOSYSTEM ASSESSMENTWater Management and Quality,Eutrophication,Mercury Contamination,Soils and HabitatMonitoring for Adaptive ManagementA R-EMAP Status ReportEPA 904-R-07-001, August 2007
US-EPA, Region 4 -
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
[
The United States Environmental Protection Agency's Everglades Ecosystem Assessment Program is a long-term research, monitoring and assessment effort. Its goal is to provide critical, timely, scientific information needed for management decisions on the Everglades ecosystem and its restoration. Since 1993, three phases of marsh sampling and one phase of canal sampling have been conducted throughout the Everglades at over 1000 different locations. The Program is unique to South Florida in that it combines several key aspects of scientific study: a probability-based sampling design, which permits quantitative statements across space about the condition of the ecosystem; a multi-media aspect; and extensive spatial coverage.
This Program:
- contributes to documenting the effectiveness of phosphorus and mercury control efforts;
- contributes to the joint federal-state Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) by quantifying conditions in three physiographic regions: Everglades ridge and slough; marl prairie/rocky glades; and Big Cypress Swamp;
- provides information on four groups of Everglades restoration success indicators: surface water, soil and sediment, vegetation, and fish;
- provides a baseline against which future conditions can be compared and the effectiveness of restoration efforts can be gauged;
- assesses the effects and potential risks of multiple environmental stressors on the Everglades ecosystem, such as water management, soil loss, water quality degradation, habitat loss, and mercury contamination; and
- provides data with multiple applications - updating and calibrating surface water management models; updating models that predict periphyton or vegetation changes in response to phosphorus enrichment or phosphorus control; developing empirical models in order to better understand interrelationships among mercury, sulfur, phosphorus, and carbon; developing water quality standards to protect fish and wildlife.
www.sfrestore.org
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Bok Tower Gardens 11th Annual Live at the Gardens Summer Music Series
Lake Wales, Fla. - Bok Tower Gardens'11th annual Live at the Gardens Summer Music Series will kick off with Musical Snapshot on Saturday, May 19 at 7:30 p.m. Violinist Ashley Liberty and her pianist husband Daniel Strange will perform an eclectic mix from American spirituals to the jazz classic, "Orange Blossom Special," to the classical favorite, "Romanian Rhapsody." The summer concerts will be inside the Visitor Center with cabaret-style seating. |
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Honey bee trap Emerald spider -- Mark Renz photo
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Sincerely,
Eco-Voice Moderator
Eco-Voice, Inc.
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