'Scientists who made a difference' series … Johannes Kepler was a German Lutheran astronomer who created laws for planetary motion, developed an important improvements for telescopes, and laid the foundations for Newtonian physics. Kepler was born near Stuttgart, Germany in 1571. Johannes and his two older brothers and sister were raised by their mother, as their father left home to fight as a mercenary. Johannes was born prematurely and was sickly as a child.

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'Environmental literacy' series … The seven environmental literacy principles for the Lower Mississippi River are the following: • The Lower Mississippi River is undammed from St. Louis to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico. • The considerable commerce through the Lower Mississippi River includes oceanic transport up to Baton Rouge and barge transport throughout the remainder. • Flooding and drought affect the river and adjacent floodplain.

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Since Memphis, Tennessee is the blues music capital of the world, just upriver from the jazz music capital in New Orleans and a short distance from Nashville, TN, the country music capital, it seemed appropriate to capture our lower Mississippi River workshop in the form of a blues song. Memphis is where Sam Phillips at Sun Records recorded such music luminaries as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.

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Part 3. Restoration projects, organizations and impressions … This is Part 3 of a three part blog series on the Los Angeles River, based on a reconnaissance of the Los Angeles River conducted by Bill Dennison and Simon Costanzo from IAN, organized by the Council for Watershed Health on 1-2 April 2014. This blog focuses on various restoration projects and organizations. Restoration project - Los Angeles State Historic Park ('The Cornfield'):

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Part 2. Viewing river features from different vantage points … This is Part 2 of a three part blog series on the Los Angeles River, based on a reconnaissance of the Los Angeles River conducted by Bill Dennison and Simon Costanzo from IAN, organized by the Council for Watershed Health on 1-2 April 2014. This blog focuses on the river features that could be viewed from different vantage points alongside the river or from elevated vistas. Mouth of the Los Angeles River (left to right):

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Part 1. Geography, hydrology (and floods), and water cycle … This is Part 1 of a three part blog series on the Los Angeles River, based on a reconnaissance of the Los Angeles River conducted by Bill Dennison and Simon Costanzo from IAN, organized by the Council for Watershed Health on 1-2 April 2014. This blog focuses on the geography, hydrology (including floods), and water cycle for the Los Angeles River.

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Once again, a contingent from IAN (Heath Kelsey, Bill Nuttle, Caroline Wicks, Brianne Walsh and me) gathered along the banks of the mighty Mississippi River to meet with a diverse stakeholder group to discuss the issues associated with the Mississippi River. In this case, we learned about the issues associated with the lower Mississippi River, which were surprisingly different from the issues in the Upper Mississippi River and the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers from our previous workshops.

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On March 28-29, 150 scientists gathered in Ocean City for a day and a half of talks, posters, eating and drinking, ice skating and swimming (indoors). The Atlantic Estuarine Research Society (AERS) is the original group of estuarine scientists, formed in 1949, which has been replicated first nationally and increasingly globally which has evolved into the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation.

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Report card goals relate to benefits provided by coexisting natural ecosystems and human-built infrastructure. The problem is that the Ohio River is a working river. That thought occurred to me as I watched the barges glide past the window during the Ohio River report card workshop last December. A team of IAN science communicators spent two days on the banks of the Ohio River, across from Cincinnati, gathering information from experts on the Ohio and Tennessee River basins.

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Following our Connecticut stops, we took the Cross Sound Ferry from New London, CT over to the tip of the north fork of Long Island at Orient Point. From the ferry we could see some important features of Long Island Sound. First, as we sailed out of the Thames River, we could see the rocky headlands, industrial development (particularly the submarine manufacturing base) and busy harbor traffic.

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