Simon Costanzo, Brianne Walsh and Bill Dennison in front of the National Weather Center.

A tour of the National Weather Center in Norman, Oklahoma during an extreme weather day

Bill Dennison ·
4 April 2016
Learning Science | 

Brianne Walsh organized a tour of the National Weather Center in Norman, Oklahoma following our workshop with the South Central Climate Science Center in March 2016. The National Weather Service is part of NOAA, which operates the facility in a partnership with the University of Oklahoma. We were immediately impressed with the spacious interior atrium with a wall of large glass windows facing southwest.

Read more

View of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge from the Chesapeake Bay Beach Club where the conference was held.

Conference on New Ideas to Accelerate Chesapeake Bay Restoration

Bill Dennison ·
1 April 2016
Science Communication | Applying Science | Learning Science | 

A one-day conference sponsored by the Harry Hughes Agro-Ecology Center and Town Creek Foundation was held at the Chesapeake Bay Beach Club on 18 March 2016. This conference was originally scheduled earlier in the year, but it was snowed out. The venue on Kent Island was beautiful, with views of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. View of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge from the Chesapeake Bay Beach Club where the conference was held.

Read more

The Six Amigos – Jane Thomas is Missing in Action

EcoHealth Matrix Songbook

Bill Dennison ·
28 March 2016
Science Communication | Applying Science | 

As a participant of the EcoHealth Matrix workshop held at the Harte Research Institute in Corpus Christi, Texas on 9-11 March 2016, I found myself in the unusual position of not being one of the organizers or facilitators. With all this extra time on my hands, I wrote a series of songs throughout the workshop.

Read more

Texas coastal ecosystems. Credit: tpwd.texas.gov

Environmental literacy of the Texas coastline

Bill Dennison ·
21 March 2016
Environmental Literacy | 

As part of a workshop sponsored by the Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi, we learned about the key values and major threats to the Texas coastal ecosystems. We did not include the offshore continental shelf in this assessment, so some iconic features like the flower garden coral reefs were not included. The environmental literacy principles for the Texas coast are the following:

Read more

The five reporting regions for the Long Island Sound Report Card

How environmental report cards can democratize science

Bill Dennison ·
16 March 2016
Environmental Report Cards | Science Communication | 

This blog is part of the Basin Report Card Initiative: a partnership between the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) The word democracy has its origins in a Greek word from the 5th century B.C. Democracy is formed by combining "demos" meaning "the people" with "kratia" meaning "power". Literally translated as power by the people, democracy is the foundation of the modern western political systems.

Read more

Andrew Elmore's illustration on how to measure altitude.

Using report cards to get the synoptic big picture: An astronaut's view

Bill Dennison ·
10 March 2016
Environmental Report Cards | Science Communication | Applying Science | 

This blog is part of the Basin Report Card Initiative: a partnership between theWorld Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) One of the attributes of report cards that is particularly useful is the ability to view a whole system synoptically. We often refer to this synoptic view as analogous to flying over at a high altitude.

Read more