USDA Summer Scholar Opportunity

Pack Institute Call for Proposals

Randolph G. Pack Environmental Institute

 

Advancing scholarly and popular knowledge of key contemporary issues related to environmental policy and regulation.

 

Call for Proposals

Graduate Student Research Travel Grants in Environmental, Natural Resources, or Conservation Policy

 

 

ESF's Randolph G. Pack Environmental Institute announces a Call for Proposals to provide partial financial support for a limited number of ESF graduate student research travel grants in the area of environmental, natural resources, or conservation policy.  The grants likely will not exceed $500, and are for travel for purposes of data collection commencing prior to June 30, 2013, or for non-reimbursed research travel expenses incurred during the current academic year prior to that date.  Conference paper presentation is not included in this small grant program.

 

To apply, prepare a brief proposal with the following information:

§  name and contact information

§  graduate degree program

§  research abstract (max. 250 words)

§  brief description of research site (destination)

§  relation to Pack Institute mission

§  total travel expenses

§  how remainder of travel will be paid for

§  other grants supporting this research (amount and purpose)

§  graduate degree program

§  adviser's name and dated signature

 

Proposal may be in electronic or hard copy form, and should be submitted to: Professor Valerie A. Luzadis, Director, Randoph G. Pack Environmental Institute, 106 Marshall Hall, SUNY-ESF, e-mail: envsty@esf.edu . Deadline: 5:00 pm, Monday, April 15, 2013.

 

 

The Randolph G. Pack Environmental Institute supports and encourages the research and public service activities in domestic and international environmental, natural resources, and conservation policy.

ESF's Department of Environmental Studies presents a public talk:

Outcomes of Rio+20 and 

The Future of Sustainable Development

Dr. David O’Connor

Division of Sustainable Development

United Nations

12:00-1:30pm, Friday, March 29

Nifkin Alumni Lounge, Marshall Hall

SUNY-ESF, Syracuse

Dr. David O'Connor heads the Policy and Analysis Branch of the United Nations Division for Sustainable Development. His team provided the technical and analytical support for the negotiations before and during the Rio+20 Conference of June 2012, that resulted in the document entitled, The Future We Want. Dr. O'Connor has worked for almost a decade in his current capacity, before which he spent a decade and a half at OECD's Development Centre in Paris. He has been working on sustainable development issues since the first Rio Conference in 1992. He is the author of a book, Managing the Environment with Rapid Industrialization: Lessons from the East Asian Experience; and has published extensively on climate policy in developing countries, estimating the co-benefits of climate policies using economy-wide modeling, and the intersection among the climate change, forests and biodiversity agendas. His team at the UN soon will launch a new, flagship Global Sustainable Development Report to support the work of the newly established, High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. Dr. O'Connor's team is also leading the technical work in support of an intergovernmental Open Working Group that is defining the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, as post-2015 successor to the Millennium Development Goals.  

OCC Presents: Climate and Energy Author, Jeff Deyette

Cooler, Smarter: Practical Steps for Low-Carbon Living

Wednesday, March 27, 11:30am

Storer Auditorium

Onondaga Community College

Jeff Deyette

Hear from Jeff Deyette, assistant director of energy research and senior energy analyst for the Union of Concerned Scientists who will discuss strategies to reduce our impact on global climate change. Deyette is co-author of Cooler, Smarter: Practical Steps for Low-Carbon Living. Deyette has written multiple books related to climate change and alternative energy including: 

• “Ripe for Retirement: The Case for Closing America’s Costliest Coal Plants”

• “A Bright Future for the Heartland: Powering the Midwest Economy with Clean Energy”

• “Tapping Into Wind Power”

• “Burning Coal, Burning Cash: Ranking the States that Import the Most Coal”

• “Clean Energy, Green Jobs”

In Storer Lobby, the Whole Earth Club will have local food, drink, a raffle, and prizes for all participants. Educational displays will provide information about green living and Whole Earth Club mugs, T-Shirts, and Frisbees will be available. Sponsored by the Whole Earth Club.

Chasing Ice Documentary Screening

Chasing Ice

Climate Change - Impacts and Solutions in CNY 

www.chasingice.com

Monday, April 22 Earth Day

7:00 pm  

The Palace Theatre, 2384 James St.

75 minute documentary

 by James Balog,National Geographic photographer 

Immediately following the film a Climate Impacts and Actions in CNY panel presentation will explore the documentary's environmental implications from a local perspective. The panel will consist of Dave Eichorn, syracuse.com meteorologist; Chris Carrick, Energy Program Manager for the Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board; and Yvonne Rothenberg, Founder of the CNY chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby. Moderating the panel will be Chris Bolt, WAER news and public affairs director.

The film follows nature photographer James Balog as he documents melting glaciers in Alaska, Iceland, Greenland and Montana. Using time-lapse cameras, his videos compress years into seconds and capture ancient mountains of ice in motion as they disappear at a breathtaking rate. Called the Extreme Ice Survey,  Balog sets up still cameras that have been programmed to take a picture, once every hour, for three years, of the same glacier, from a fixed spot. 

The scale of the glaciers, and the almost hallucinogenic clarity of the images, make the resulting footage, based on three years' shooting, most impressive. One piece of ice we see breaking off is said to be the size of lower Manhattan. 

The visuals are riveting, and they drive home the point that the film makes in voice over narration by Balog, interviews with glaciologists and climate scientists and occasional charts and graphs: Ice is melting at an alarmingly unglacial pace.

Chasing Ice has won 23 awards at film festivals around the world, including: The Environmental Media Association's 22nd Annual BEST DOCUMENTARY AWARD. 

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Ticket prices: (suggested donations) At the door: Adults - $10, Seniors & Students - $5, Children 12 and under - Free. Advance sale tickets Adults only $7.  For advance sale tickets go to http://www.greeningusa.org/chasing-ice/

Free parking in rear of Palace Theatre. 

Green and energy related organizations will be staffing display tables in the lobby prior to and after the event. 

For information on how to help sponsor this event contact Sam Gordon, 422.8276 ext.204, 
sgordon@cnyrpdb.org or Peter Wirth, 476-3396, pwirth2@verizon.net

Island Press Video Conference

Island Press and SER Student Video Contest with $500 Scholarship Award

Why Restore?

This probably isn’t the first time you’ve been asked that question, but here’s your chance to share your answer with the world. Produce a video no longer than four minutes that addresses the question “Why restore?” You can share details of an ecological restoration project you started, facilitated, or in which you participated that explores restoration, its importance to ecology and the broader environment, and its impact on the community at large.

Rules

Sampling a forest using quadrants.
Photo by: Evelyn A. Howell

Contest is open to students and early-career professionals no more than two years out of school. Videos must be one to four minutes in duration and you can work individually or in teams of up to four. Videos must be uploaded to YouTube (include tags “islandpress,” “SER2013,” and “restorevideo”) and entrants must email restorevideo@islandpress.org with the full name(s), email address(es), and academic or professional affiliation(s) of each person in the team, a link to the video, and a 400-word description of the project by September 1, 2013. 

Judging

Videos will be embedded on this page beginning September 3 and the public will be able to vote for their favorite through September 8. Voting will be open to the public from September 3 – 8, 2013. A panel of judges chosen by the Society of Ecological Restoration and Island Press will review the five videos that receive the most votes. From the top five, the judges will choose the winning video based on criteria that include adherence to the principles of ecological restoration (resources, including SER’s primer on ecological restoration, available online), quality of presentation, and persuasiveness of the argument for the merits of ecological restoration. The creator(s) of the winning video will be notified by September 12.

Prize!

The person(s) who created the winning video will receive a total of $500 to apply towards travel expenses associated with attending the SER 2013 World Conference in Madison, Wisconsin, October 6-11, where the winner will be announced. If none of the winners choose to attend the conference, the scholarship may be applied to support their work. In conjunction with the conference, Island Press will issue a press release highlighting the winning video and the four other popular vote winners. Island Press will also offer the winner(s) the opportunity to work with its publishing team to author a short electronic book on restoration for inclusion in the Island Press E-ssentials series.

For more information see the Island Press website.

NYC Watershed Agricultural Council Internships

The Watershed Agricultural Council is seeking Nutrient Management Interns/Temporary employees to perform the duties of soil sampling and data collection as part of the Watershed Agricultural Program serving farms within the NYC Watershed.

This is a 10 week summer position that pays $10.00 per hour. Applicants must have a dependable vehicle, insurance and a valid N.Y.S. driver’s license. Mileage incurred on the job will also be reimbursed.

Send resumes by email to Amy Hawk, or mail to: WAC, 33195 State Highway 10, Walton, NY 13856 or fax (607) 865-4932. Application deadline March 27, 2013.

Undergrad Environmental Studies Mixer

Curious to learn more about Environmental Studies?

Want to meet and mingle with your professors?

Then come to the annual Spring Mixer!

Thursday, March 28, 2012

5-7pm

110 Moon

Hosted by the Environmental Studies Student Organization.

All students and faculty are welcome!

We will be discussing the major and any other issues people want to discuss. Food will be served! Hope to see you there!

GSA Elevator Pitch Competition

Graduate Students:

Ever wish you could share your research with the broader campus community and network with faculty and students who have similar research interests? Or maybe you want a chance to develop a better response to the question: What are you studying?  Then you can’t afford to miss the upcoming:

Second Annual GSA "Elevator Pitch" Competition and Research Mixer

MARCH 29^th 3:00 p.m.

Gateway Building

Imagine you have found yourself in an elevator with someone important: a potential employer, luminary in your field, or grant administrator and you have very little time to communicate effectively what you are working on. Can you do it in 60 seconds?

Visit the GSA WEB SITE to see our viral videos and RSVP for the event. Prizes include $300, $200, and $100 for the 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place winners, respectively. We are also partnering with the ESF Office of Communications to produce a web feature on the winner's research.  Details on last year's competition can be found HERE.

A research mixer with faculty, administration and graduate students will follow the contest.  Refreshments will be served.

This event is currently supported by the Office of Instruction and Graduate Studies and the Department of Environmental Studies and is organized by the Professional Development Committee of the Graduate Student Association.

Questions? Contact Abigail Larkin (amlarkin@syr.edu)

ES Department Presents: Sharon Brooks

“CERCLA Natural Resource Damage Assessment in NYS: a 20 year perspective and the changing role of Resource Economics”

Sharon Brooks

Associate Economist with the Office of General Counsel for NYS Department of Environmental Conservation 

April 3, 2013

 12:45pm 

Moon Library Conference Room.  

Sharon currently holds a position as an Associate Economist for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.  She is responsible for providing economic expertise, analyses and consultations on a wide variety of topics faced by the Department’s more than 90 attorneys and executive staff.  She has played a key role in the development of the Natural Resource Damages (NRD) program for the Department since 1993 and is a nationally recognized expert in NRD. She has a BA cum laude in Economics and Spanish from the University of Rochester, Rochester NY; an MS in Natural Resource Economics from SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry,  Syracuse, NY; and is ABD in the doctoral program in ecological economics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.  She has also served as an adjunct professor in the Business Department of The Sage Colleges in Albany, NY.

Youth Garden Project Internships

The Youth Garden Project (YGP) is a non-profit organization in Moab, Utah with a mission of cultivating children, families and community through educational programs and the profound act of connecting people with food from seed to table.  Our 2 acres of land includes 64 garden beds, a CSA plot, an orchard, a greenhouse and grow dome, chickens and rabbits, a commercial kitchen, indoor classroom space and several unique outdoor classroom areas.

YGP offers both school-based and out-of-school programs for youth using the garden as a teaching tool and incorporates interdisciplinary lessons into programs for all ages. Produce is grown using organic methods and then sold at the Moab Farmers’ Market, to local restaurants, to the natural food store and used in our programs.  Learning opportunities are available to everyone including youth of all ages, interns, volunteers and adult community members.

They are offering three internship programs: garden interns, garden classroom educator interns, and summer camp instructor interns.  These internships cover spring, summer, and fall sessions. For more instructions about dates and how to apply click here.

Youth Garden Project website: http://www.youthgardenproject.org

EPA Hydraulic Fracturing Study

On November 14-16, 2012, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted a series of five technical roundtables focused on each stage of the water cycle, as defined in the study plan for EPA's Study of the Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing on Drinking Water Resources. In this study, each stage of the cycle is associated with a primary research question:

• Water acquisition: What are the possible impacts of large volume water withdrawals from ground and surface waters on drinking water resources?
• Chemical mixing: What are the possible impacts of hydraulic fracturing fluid surface spills on or near well pads on drinking water resources?
• Well injection: What are the possible impacts of the injection and fracturing process on drinking water resources?
• Flowback and produced water: What are the possible impacts of flowback and produced water (collectively referred to as "hydraulic fracturing wastewater") surface spills on or near well pads on drinking water resources?
• Wastewater treatment and waste disposal: What are the possible impacts of inadequate treatment of hydraulic fracturing wastewater on drinking water resources?

Based on feedback from the November 2012 roundtables, EPA will host in-depth technical workshops to address specific topics in greater detail. EPA believes a transparent, research-driven approach with significant stakeholder involvement can address questions about hydraulic fracturing.

A link to the report and its findings can be found at:
http://www.epa.gov/hfstudy/pdfs/summary-of-technical-roundtables.pdf