Consortium Circular
Spring 2014
In This Issue
Consortium News
Member Programs & Opportunities
Regional News
Consortium Classified
Regional Events
Campus Greening Corner

 
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Our Mission


The mission of the Environmental Consortium of Colleges & Universities is to harness higher education's intellectual and physical resources to advance regional, ecosystem-based environmental research, teaching, and learning with a special emphasis on the greater Hudson-Mohawk River Watershed.

 

Pace University is the host institution of the Environmental Consortium of Colleges & Universities, with headquarters located at Pace Academy for Applied Environmental Studies.

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Consortium News


 

Save the Date: Nov. 14-15, 2014, Consortium Annual Conference

 

 

 



Call for Homepage Feature Stories






Member Programs & Opportunities

 

 

For Students

 

Sarah Lawrence College Center for the Urban River at Beczak: Summer Course 

 

Employment, Internships and Professional Development

  

Orange County Groundwater Testing Program Set to Expand: Call for Researchers and Coordinators 

  

Outreach and Communications Internships at Sustainable Hudson Valley's Solar Summer

Sarah Lawrence College Center for the Urban River at Beczak: Summer Teacher Workshop  

MetroPool Annual Board Meeting and Special Presentation
 

Regional News
Consortium Classifieds
Environmental Consortium of Hudson Valley Colleges & Universities

See list of events below.

Visit the Consortium's online regional event calendar for latest listings. 

Campus Greening Corner  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marist College Transitions from Composting to Food Waste Digestion
After seven years of running a successful kitchen and dining hall food waste composting program, Marist College Dining Services transitioned to an on-campus food waste digester solution in August 2013. Now, Marist is sharing what it learned to assist other institutions who may be considering a similar switch.

Westchester Community College Convenes First Campus Sustainability Committee Meeting
On Earth Day, April 22, 2014 interim college president, John Flynn, convened the first meeting of the Campus Sustainability Committee. Consisting of students, faculty, staff and administrators, the committee will identify and evaluate current campus operations, purchasing and curriculum development efforts. Recommendations for increasing sustainable practices at the college will be made directly to the college president and Board of Trustees. The committee will be chaired by Professor Scott Zaluda and Trecia Thomas, a student. For more information, contact Prof. Michael Priano at michael.priano@sunywcc.edu. Westchester Community College also has a new sustainability web page.

Visit www.ecgreencampus.org for campus greening resources and case studies. 


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Consortium News

 

Nominations for The Great Work Award in honor of Thomas Berry Due July 1, 2014

The Great Work Award, in honor of Thomas Berry recognizes individuals in higher education whose work exemplifies Berry's admonition that colleges and universities should "reorient the human community toward a greater awareness that the human exists, survives, and becomes whole only within the single great community of the planet Earth." Furthermore, the Award aims to encourage teaching, scholarship, service, leadership and other educational activities that embody Berry's vision for the university to educate students about "how to move out of this alienation of the human into a more viable mode of presence to the natural world."

 

The award is named for and honors Thomas Berry, whose vision for the role of the university in a New Cosmology that celebrates the inherent interconnectedness of humans and nature, inspired the formation of the Environmental Consortium in 2004.

 

Nominees must demonstrate a dedication to teaching, scholarship, service, leadership or other educational activities that have resulted in significant achievement or impact while reflecting the essence of Thomas Berry's vision and philosophy. The nominee does not necessarily need to have directly referenced Thomas Berry, so long as his ethic is expressed.   news2

 


Save the Date: Nov. 14-15, 2014, Consortium Annual Conference

Union College in Schenectady, New York will host the Environmental Consortium's 11th Annual Conference. Mark your calendar and save the date!news3

 

 

Vassar Leads Environmental Consortium Effort to Develop a Regional Research Inventory

Vassar College is compiling a database of research projects in the Hudson/Mohawk watershed with the goal of helping researchers and K-12 through professional, to improve their ability to undertake new or collaborative research. The database and associated interactive map will provide a streamlined interactive resource for research locations, authors and topics. 29 Institutions, 57 authors, and 103 projects have been compiled thus far. You can add your research to the inventory here: bit.ly/HudsonMohawkInventory news4 

 

 

Call for Homepage Feature Stories 
If you are a member institution and have a story you think would make a great feature to share on the Environmental Consortium's homepage, please submit your ideas to info@environmentalconsortium.org with "Feature Story" in the subject line. The Environmental Consortium aims to highlight its members, whether individuals, research, collaboratives, or innovative programs. Past feature stories are archived on the Consortium's website.

  

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opportunity1Member Programs & Opportunities  

  

For Students  

  

Sarah Lawrence College Center for the Urban River at Beczak: Summer Course

Urban Ecology: Environmental Challenges and Solutions July 7-August 1, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays; 9:00 to 11:30 a.m. This 3 credit summer pre-college course is open to rising high school seniors, qualified juniors, and recent high school graduates as well as current college students. This course will cover the natural history of this influential region, environmental threats to its health and prosperity, and solutions to meet these challenges - including the emerging fields of environmental justice, habitat restoration, urban gardening, and green stormwater management. This course will meet at the Center for the Urban River at Beczak on the waterfront in downtown Yonkers. At least a portion of each day will involve outside fieldwork. The class also includes a NYC trip to see firsthand how some of these solutions can help maintain a sustainable, vibrant city.  opportunity2  


Employment, Internships and Professional Development

 

Orange County Groundwater Testing Program Set to Expand: Call for Researchers and Coordinators

The purpose of the Orange County Water Authority's GET WET water testing program is to gather groundwater quality data that is otherwise unavailable: 85% of Orange County's land area is served only by private wells. That means that for more than four-fifths of the county, no data on groundwater quality is available. Dr. Teresa Thornton of the University of Maine founded the GET WET program to solve that problem: recruit high school students to take samples of their home well water, and bring them to class to test. Water quality data began to accumulate. The program came to NY in 2010, coordinated by Ed Helbig. By April 2014, 1,125 samples were tested. 

 

The GET WET program is now recruiting.

We are recruiting researchers in water quality and other groundwater-focused disciplines to work with our data. The database contains results of 1125 tests of six parameters: chloride, nitrate, pH, hardness, iron and conductivity. The data was collected from November 2010 through April 2014, and includes location data (lat,long) for each sample. We are intensely interested in engaging researchers in the analysis of the GET WET groundwater data. We believe that that data, alone or in combination with other data, would yield significant insights into many aspects of groundwater quality, resource protection, as well as public policy. OCWA may be able to provide support for research involving the GET WET groundwater dataset.


We are looking for regional GET WET coordinators to expand our reach in New York State. This is a citizen-science program that regional agencies can readily put in place which educates students about water conservation and develops groundwater quality data.  

For further information, contact:
Ed Helbig, Conservation Education Coordinator at 845-615-3869 or
ehelbig@orangecountygov.com 

Eenika Cruz, OCWA Administrator at 845-615-3868 or ecruz@orangecountygov.com
Visit the website at
 waterauthority.orangecountygov.com  opportunity3

 

 

Outreach and Communications Internships at Sustainable Hudson Valley's Solar Summer

Solar Summer, Sustainable Hudson Valley's initiative to scale up solar in mid-Hudson communities, has opportunities for 2 - 3 Outreach and Communications Interns. Ideal candidate is at least a junior, high-performing and high-energy, with skills in writing, media relations, graphic design, public speaking, and project coordination. 18 hours per week (+-) June through mid-August. Must have transportation and be able to work in Ulster or Dutchess Counties. This is an unpaid position that will generate significant accomplishments for the student's portfolio and contacts throughout the sustainability space in the Mid-Hudson Valley. Interns will receive an initial career consultation to focus learning and performance objectives, and regular feedback/ mentoring from SHV staff. Interested students should send a resume and short cover note to Melissa Everett, Ph.D., Executive Director, Everett@sustainhv.org by May 18, 2014. opportunity4

 

 

Sarah Lawrence College Center for the Urban River at Beczak: Summer Teacher Workshop

Teaching the Environment: Discovering Urban Landscapes, offered August 4-8, 2014, is an intensive environmental studies program for educators working with children in early childhood, elementary, and middle school settings. Set on the banks of the Hudson River in downtown Yonkers at the Center for the Urban River at Beczak and at the Sarah Lawrence College campus, this collaborative program will have an interdisciplinary curriculum including hands-on workshops and field trips to Hudson River community-based organizations. This year's theme will be Discovering Urban Landscapes and will feature experiential workshops ranging from the arts to physical and social sciences. Click here for more information. opportunity5 

  


MetroPool Annual Board Meeting and Special Presentation

The Environmental Consortium is specially invited to MetroPool's Annual Board meeting on Wednesday, June 11, 2014 at UBS, 677 Washington Blvd., Stamford, CT 06901, and a special presentation: "A Vision for Sustainable Development in the New York-Connecticut Region."

 

A bi-state collaboration of cities, counties and regional planning organizations came together three years ago to launch the New York-Connecticut Sustainable Communities Initiative. Funded with a $3.5 million U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant to integrate housing, economic development, transportation and environmental planning, the Consortium's goal is to reposition the New York-Connecticut region to fully harness its innovation capabilities in a competitive global environment, build on its strong foundation of energy efficiency, and become as equitable as it is efficient. Guest speakers, Dr. Floyd Lapp, Executive Director, South Western Regional Planning Agency (SWRPA) and Elizabeth Cheteny, Commissioner of Planning, City of White Plains, will offer reflections on the program - promoting Transit Oriented Development and retrofitting Westchester County's Platinum Mile. Networking and refreshments will follow. Click here to register. 

 


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region1Regional News

 

Village of Ossining, NY Passes Microgrid Resolution Drafted by Students in Pace University's Environmental Policy Clinic

In April, the Board of Trustees of the Village of Ossining, NY unanimously adopted an energy resiliency resolution authored by students in Pace University's Environmental Policy Clinic - created and taught by John Cronin, Michelle Land and Andrew Revkin of the Pace Academy for Applied Environmental Studies. The policy lays the groundwork for creating a community microgrid, and competing for some of the $40 million that will be available under the NYPrize program Governor Andrew Cuomo announced in his 2014 State of the State Address. More on this and other successful campaigns led by these undergraduates can be found on their epolicypace.org blog. region2

 

 

Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies Appoints Wildlife Conservation Society Leader as President

Dr. Joshua R. Ginsberg has been named the next President of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies; he will assume the position in September of 2014. Dr. Ginsberg received his PhD from Princeton University and his B.S. from Yale University. His career in conservation science spans 35 years and several continents. "We are thrilled at Dr. Joshua Ginsberg's appointment. He has been an inspiring leader at one of the world's most respected conservation organizations," commented Irene Banning, Chair of the Cary Institute's Board of Trustees. "His passion for science - and its essential role in improving the sustainability of our society - will help the Cary Institute continue its important work providing the science behind environmental solutions."   

 

   
classified1Consortium Classified

 

Library of Grey Literature Specific to the Hudson River Available for Distribution

The Hudson River Foundation is closing its library and divesting the majority of its holdings. The material is mainly grey literature specific to the Hudson River and years of selected journals. The ideal candidate will be able to accept all or the majority of the holdings. You may view the entire list of available material online. For additional information, please contact Melissa at the Hudson River Foundation at 212-483-7667.classified2

 

Data Sought for NYSERDA Wind Energy Survey

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is requesting your assistance to identify data gaps and research needs relating to wildlife and marine wind energy projects in New York. Responses will be used as the basis for a New York State Marine Wind/Wildlife Environmental Research Plan, and will guide future research efforts in New York.

We would very much appreciate your input during this effortInstructions and additional information. Please share this survey with others and send in responses by June 3, 2014.

 

 

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event1Regional Events   



May 15th (9:30am-4:30pm)

Phragmites Ecology and Management Workshop
Lamont Doherty Geophysical Observatory, 61 Rt 9W, Palisades, NY 10964
This workshop, taught by Erik Kiviat, examines the natural and cultural history of a giant grass that is often considered a weed in North America. We will use extensive observational and quantitative data about ecosystem services associated with Phragmites to derive an environmentally sound approach to its management - an approach that can be extrapolated to other abundant environmental weeds. Topics as wide-ranging as birds, vines, herbicides, and carbon will be addressed.


May 15th (7:00pm)
Who Owns the Waterfront?
Pace University, 1 Pace Plaza, NY, NY 10038
Join us at Pace University's Downtown NYC campus for a panel discussion about the past, present and future of one of the city's most precious assets. Topics will include the history of the NYC waterfront, historic preservation, waterfront development, and the public trust doctrine. Sponsored by Pace Law School and Pace Academy for Applied Environmental Studies.


May 15th (7:00pm-8:30pm)
CEIE Walk n Talk Series: John Cronin on the Hudson Riverman
Beacon Institute, CEIE at Denning's Point, 199 Denning's Avenue, Beacon, NY 12508
Once celebrated by famous authors and media as diverse as Harper's Weekly and National Geographic, today the Hudson River fisherman is nearly extinct. Environmentalist and Beacon Institute Fellow John Cronin explores the disappearing culture of the Hudson's commercial fishermen, assisted by Pace University student researcher Conor Strong.


May 23rd (7:00pm)
Ginkgo: The Tree that Time Forgot
Cary Institute Auditorium, 2801 Sharon Turnpike (Rte. 44), Millbrook, NY
Renowned botanist Sir Peter Crane will recount the colorful history of the ginkgo tree, a treasured species that was saved from extinction by human intervention.


May 30th - Jun. 1st
Left Forum
John Jay (CUNY) College in New York City
The theme for the 2014 Left Forum Conference is "Reform and/or Revolution: Imagining a World with Transformative Justice." A unique phenomenon in the U.S. and the world, Left Forum convenes the largest annual conference of a broad spectrum of left and progressive intellectuals, activists, academics, organizations and the interested public.


May 31st (10:00am)
CEIE Walk n Talk Series: Healing Environments from a Social Perspective
Beacon Institute, CEIE at Denning's Point, 199 Denning's Avenue, Beacon, NY 12508
Join environmental psychologist Dr. Claudia Mausner for Restorative Environments, a fascinating tour of the restorative aspects of the natural surroundings at Denning's Point. "Where did you feel most calm and peaceful? What areas along the trail were most compelling? How did the soundscape impact your experience? Were there sounds that distracted or heightened your experience of nature? At what point(s) did you feel transported from your day-to-day life?"


Jun. 11th - June 14th
Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences (AESS) 2014 Annual Conference
Pace University, 1 Pace Plaza, New York, NY
The theme for the conference is "Welcome to the Anthropocene: From Global Challenge to Planetary Stewardship." Several of the panels, as well as keynote speakers, will focus on the argument advanced by many environmental experts that Earth has entered a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, or "the recent age of humans." Proponents of this theory contend that humans have become a global geophysical force capable of disrupting the grand cycles of biology, chemistry and geology by which elements like carbon and nitrogen circulate between land, sea and atmosphere. This is resulting in profound alteration of the planet's climate, serious threats to a large array of species and critical ecosystems and conversion of fertile lands to desert.


Jun. 13th (9:00am-4:00pm)
Reptiles and Amphibians of the Hudson River
Norrie Point, Staatsburg, NY
The herpetofauna is gaining attention as an important component of biodiversity to be surveyed, assessed, and conserved. This workshop, taught by Erik Kiviat and Jason Tesauro, draws on many years of study on and near the estuary to outline those habitats and species in need of monitoring and management. We will also discuss species identification and field study techniques adaptible to estuarine and riparian environments. Exciting developments, including a newly discovered species of leopard frog, will be included. Fee for the workshop is $25. More information and registration are available at hudsonia.org/events.


Jun. 14th (10:00am)
CEIE Walk n Talk Series: Exploring the Beauty of the Hudson Valley Through Photography
Beacon Institute, CEIE at Denning's Point 199 Denning's Avenue, Beacon, NY 12508
Join professional photographer Joseph Squillante, Saturday, June 14th at 10 a.m., for a photography Walkshop on Denning's Point and the Hudson Valley! Bring: Camera with manual override control, one lens, backup battery, extra memory card or film of choice. Questions? Call or email Joseph at hudsonr@bestweb.net, 914.737.2314. Pre-register online at www.bire.org/events.


Jun. 14th (2:00pm-4:00pm)
Cary Institute Hudson Data Jam Competition
Marist College, Poughkeepsie, NY
The Cary Institute is pleased to announce the 2014 Hudson Data Jam Competition, an opportunity for students to use their creativity and skills to find interesting ways to tell stories for a general audience using data from the Hudson River and its tributaries. The competition is open to all middle and high school students. Cash incentives will be provided for teachers participating in the Data Jam and for the student winners.


Jun. 19th (7:00pm)
Third Thursday Dialogue: Sensors & the Sacred Sturgeon of the Mohawks of Akwesasne
Beacon Institute, CEIE at Denning's Point, 199 Denning's Avenue, Beacon, NY 12508
James S. Bonner, Ph.D., Beacon Institute Research Director, and Henry Lickers, Environmental Science Officer at Mohawk Council of Akwesasne, discuss the endangered lake sturgeon's cultural, spiritual and historical significance for the Mohawks of Akwesasne, and the technology at work to save this sacred fish. Moderated by Pastor Frank Geer of St. Philip's Church in Garrison. Pre-register at www.bire.org/events.


Jun. 28th (10:00am)
CEIE Walk n Talk Series: History Walk with Karen Gell
Beacon Institute, CEIE at Denning's Point, 199 Denning's Avenue, Beacon, NY 12508
Based on historian Jim Heron's popular book, Denning's Point, A Hudson River History, this educational and enlightening walk will reveal a brilliant history which includes Alexander Hamilton and George Washington, on the very grounds where founding principals were created, Denning's Point. Pre-register at www.bire.org/events.

 


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