Day: August 25, 2014

10 Marine Debris Prevention Partnerships Launched

Read the full post at the Marine Debris Blog.

For the past year, our education and outreach partners across the country have inspired thousands of people of all ages to be better ocean stewards. They have carried the message that prevention is key to solving the marine debris problem, through projects such as museum exhibits, curriculum development, outreach to teens, teacher workshops, dockside education, hands-on cleanups and science for children.

This year, 10 additional groups across the country received funding through the NOAA Marine Debris Program’s Prevention through Education and Outreach opportunity to partner with us on new initiatives. The MDP has provided $500,000 to launch partnership projects ranging from education for fishers to social marketing and awareness campaigns.

Climate Change Education: Preparing Future and Current Business Leaders: A Workshop Summary

Download the document.

Climate change poses challenges as well as opportunities for businesses and, broadly speaking for the entire economy. Businesses will be challenged to provide services or products with less harmful influence on the climate; respond to a changing policy, regulatory, and market environment; and provide new services and products to help address the challenges of a changing climate. Many businesses are beginning to see climate change as another context within which they need to consider their core functions of strategy, finance, operations, marketing, and their regulatory environments, a context that poses both risks and opportunities.

Climate Change Education: Preparing Current and Future Business Leaders is the summary of a workshop hosted by the National Research Council’s Board on Science Education in March 2013 to explore issues associated with teaching climate change-related topics in business schools. The workshop focused on major gaps in understanding of climate and sustainability education in postsecondary professional schools of business. The workshop also connected the topic of climate education for current and future business leaders with a broader discussion on climate change education and how they influence and can benefit each other. This report discusses the role that business schools could play in preparing future corporate leaders for the challenges and opportunities that climate change poses.

The global warming “pause,” explained by way of a cheeseburger

Read the full post at Grist.

Climate change and the planet work a lot like the ill-fated McD.L.T. cheeseburger, according to a study published in this week’s issue of Nature Climate Change.

What? You missed that sordid chapter in fast-food history? Let me explain. McDonald’s, in its infinite hubris, decided to construct a more perfect cheeseburger, so in 1985, using way too many periods and a technology known as “Excessive Styrofoam Packaging,” the company set out to “keep the hot side hot, and the cool side cool.”

It turns out the much ballyhooed pause in global warming may be working on the same principle: A new study by scientists with Australia’s University of New South Wales and the University of Hawaii suggests rapid surface warming in the Atlantic has kept Pacific surface temperatures cool by increasing the trade winds — thus slowing warming on land and generally throwing the whole climate out of whack.

World Toilet Organization founder on turning poop culture into pop culture

Read the full story in The Guardian.

As the BoP World Convention & Expo convenes next week, Jack Sim shares some thoughts on the importance of sanitation in BoP markets

Water Utilities Are Starting to Take Their Own Conservation Advice

Read the full story in Governing.

Wastewater treatment plants are often the biggest consumers of electricity in their areas. Gresham, Ore., and Washington, D.C., are making moves to change that.

Upcoming report tracks P2 results at U.S. public agencies

In this article for GreenBiz, Jeffrey Burke from National Pollution Prevention Roundtable (NPPR) announces the upcoming P2 results report for 2010-2012 findings.

The archives for the P2 Impact column are at http://www.greenbiz.com/business/engage/enterprise-blogs/p2-pathways

Understanding the origin of products is key to ending supply chain scandals

Read the full story in The Guardian.

Knowing the ingredients in, and origin of, a product is not just ethically right, it makes business sense too

Job announcement: Grant Writer, Center for Energy Research, Education, and Service, Ball State Univ.

Professional contract position available immediately.

Major responsibility  research, write, and facilitate comprehensive external grant proposal development and submission to sustainability-related funding opportunities with federal, state, local, international, corporate, and on-profit funding agencies.

Minimum qualifications:  bachelor’s degree; at least two years of experience in having written and submitted at least one proposal to funding agencies that were granted/issued in excess of $100,000; have knowledge and/or experience with organizations that solicit sustainability-related research, education, and service projects; excellent managerial, technical, and organizational skills; knowledge of various funding agency requirements and proposed submission procedures; excellent writing and research skills; working knowledge of Microsoft Office applications, Adobe Professional suite of products, and an understanding of Grants.gov submission process; ability to work effectively under the pressure of deadlines; excellent attention to detail.

Preferred qualifications:  Research Administrator’s Certificate (CRA); have an understanding of the needs of developing sustainability-related research, education, and service projects; familiarity with other data base search tools such as COS Pivot, Grant Select, Grants Resource Center, and the Foundation Center.

Candidates for searches must have current authorization to be employed in the U.S. without employer sponsorship.

Send letter of application, resume, transcripts, and the names and contact information for three references to:

Professor Robert Koester, Director
Center for Energy Research, Education, and Service
Ball State University
Muncie, IN  47306

Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled. www.bsu.edu/ceres,  www.bsu.edu/sustainability

The university offers an excellent benefits package, including health care and retirement plans, tuition assistance for employees and dependents, and generous time off with pay.

Ball State University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer and is strongly and actively committed to diversity within its community.

Complete position description: 104086 Position Description

Waukegan reaches milestone in harbor cleanup

Read the full story in the Chicago Tribune.

Waukegan Harbor has reached a pivotal moment in its history — one that city leaders hope will revive its sagging economy — with the culmination of a 30-year, $150 million cleanup to rid the shoreline of contamination left by the city’s former industrial giants along Lake Michigan.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that the harbor has met requirements to be removed from a list of 43 polluted sites dubbed the “Great Lakes Areas of Concern.” The federal agency will continue to monitor the site for an unspecified amount of time, possibly a few years, before it is officially “de-listed,” officials said.

Illinois DCEO Solar and Wind Rebate Program is now open

Guidelines and application are available here. All applications must be submitted, without exception, on the new forms for Fiscal Year 2015 and must be filled out completely and signed and dated by both the applicant and the installer/project manager. Any applications received under previous application forms will be rejected.

DCEO will accept applications for the random selection until October 10th, 2014. Applications will be assigned a number as they are received, and there will a pre-selected list of random numbers that will be used as the order we will consider applications. DCEO will keep moving down the list of applications based on the random numbers list until all rebate funds have been allocated. The remaining applications will be on a waiting list and will be considered (again, based on the random number list) as projects are cancelled or if additional funds become available.

DCEO is continuing to require that the application be submitted by the applicant. While the installer/developer may assist in filling out application and organizing the required documents, the application cannot be sent to us by the installer.

All solar PV and wind energy systems, except those that are self-installed, must be installed by a certified distributed generation installer. (Illinois Commerce Commission’s certified list is available at http://www.icc.illinois.gov/utility/Certified.aspx?type=24). DCEO will not approve an application until it can be confirmed that the installer has been certified by the ICC.

The Final Documentation Checklist (Section 4.2 and Appendix C of new guidelines) has also been updated to require that applicants provide the approved interconnection application or the Certificate of Completion from the utility (if applicable).

DCEO prefers that applications be submitted via email (ceo.rerp@illinois.gov), though applications may be sent through regular mail. However, please do not submit both ways – just need one copy of the application. If you send applications by email, you will receive a response that your application has been received.

Approximately $2.5 million has been allocated to the rebate program this fiscal year.