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.

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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.

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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:

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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.

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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.

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Bill Dennison, Peter Tuddenham, Tina Bishop and Jamie Testa at the initial evaluation strategy session. Credit: Bill Dennison

Developing a report card for the Integration and Application Network

Bill Dennison ·
26 February 2016
Science Communication | 

We have embarked on a journey to create a monitoring and evaluation approach for the Tina Bishop and Peter Tuddenham from the College of Exploration are serving as our external evaluators and Jamie Testa is tasked with the job of being an internal evaluator to support this effort. We have long considered developing an evaluation program for IAN to accompany our efforts, but it has not eventuated until now.

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