Heath Kelsey and I traveled to Townsville, Australia to facilitate a workshop to develop a climate change resilience index for the Great Barrier Reef. The workshop, sponsored by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, was at James Cook University on 10-11 Feb 2014. On the first day, we had a series of presentations by scientists developing various indicators and then on the second day we designed and drafted a trifold publication for internal use by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.

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'Scientists who made a difference' series … This blog accompanying the biographical sketch of Galileo Galilei looks at a selection of his writing as poetry and a selection of his scientific sketches as art. The ‘Poetry’ uses Galileo's exact words (translated into English) in prose form, using the title ‘The Greatest Astonishment' to focus on the cadence and word choice.

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'Scientists who made a difference' series … Galileo Galilei, like modern rock stars, is commonly known by only his first name. Galileo was friends with the Pope and many influential Europeans, taught at several universities, invented scientific equipment including the telescope and authored widely read books. He was born in 1564 in Pisa, Italy, a few hours before another Italian died, known by his first name only, Michelangelo and a few months before William Shakespeare was born in England.

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IAN Press has been producing richly illustrated, informative books, booklets, reports, newsletters and brochures for nearly a decade. With the emphasis on effective science communication, these printed materials produced by the talented Science Communicators and Science Integrators of the Integration and Application Network have been used by resource managers, policy makers and scientists to better understand and manage environmental resources.

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On 24 Jan 2014, I traveled to New York City to meet with the Long Island Sound funders network. This recently formed group is pooling their resources to develop Long Island Sound conservation and restoration initiatives. They are a stimulating and thoughtful group of people from different organizations with different backgrounds, united in this effort to make Long Island Sound a better place to live for the 8+ million people who call the Long Island Sound watershed home.

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This book was produced by the fledgling School of Marine Science, The University of Queensland at the outset of a rekindled scientific interest in Moreton Bay, its tributaries and its catchments, or watersheds. Previous conferences regarding the Brisbane River and Moreton Bay resulted in short conference proceedings books; Brisbane River: A Source Book for the Future, Future of Marine Science in Moreton Bay, and Moreton Bay in the Balance.

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Last week, I attended a meeting of the Changing Course design competition in New Orleans. The Changing Course competition will stimulate innovative thinking about the future shape of coastal Louisiana, including possibly relocating the main channel of the Mississippi River below New Orleans - hence its name. The purpose of this meeting was to bring together the eight teams invited to enter the competition to review the issues at stake and answer questions about the competition.

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'Environmental literacy' series … The seven environmental literacy principles for Long Island Sound are the following: • Long Island Sound is an estuary formed from a terminal glacial moraine (Long Island), flushed through tidal action from Block Island Sound, with minor exchange with NY Harbor. • Long Island Sound once supported abundant oysters, scallops, birds and lobsters with widespread salt marshes and seagrasses.

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I attended the launch of the ShorePower Project at the Tidewater Inn in Easton, Maryland on 17 Jan 2014. It was a nice event on the topic of green energy for the Delmarva peninsula. The project is funded by the Town Creek Foundation, based in Easton, Maryland. Four municipal governments - Cambridge, Easton, Salisbury, and Snow Hill - are receiving funding to help them transition to green energy sources.

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'Scientists Who Made a Difference' series … This blog accompanying the biographical sketch of Nicholas Copernicus looks at a selection of his writing as poetry and a selection of his scientific sketches as art. The 'Poetry' uses Copernicus' exact words (translated into English) in prose form, using the title 'The Earth Moves' to focus on the cadence and word choice.

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