Audience at Within Our Reach conference in Corvallis, Oregon.

Within Our Reach conference

Bill Dennison ·
18 December 2012
Environmental Literacy | Applying Science |     1 comments

The 'Within Our Reach' conference held in Corvallis, Oregon and focused on the Willamette River, did several things extremely well. One thing was the 'book ending' of the science and technical aspects with more socially relevant aspects; the film night at the beginning and the poetic reflections of Kathleen Dean Moore at the end. Kathleen provided one of the most compelling verbal nature essays I have ever heard.

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Peter at his home in Maleny, QLD, working on the

Peter Oliver reflections

Bill Dennison ·
26 November 2012
   1 comments

The sad news that Dr. Peter Oliver passed away on 20 November 2012 arrived during our week of Thanksgiving. There was some solace in learning that after many months of medical insults (e.g., chemotherapy, radiation therapy, etc.), Peter’s last moments were not painful. We also can give thanks for having had the wonderful opportunity of working with Peter over the past 15 years.

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Figure 2. Potential representation of results from goal and value assessment.

Mississippi River Report Card Vision and Framework

Heath Kelsey ·
6 November 2012
Environmental Report Cards | 

In September, America’s Great Watershed Initiative (AGWI) held a summit in St. Louis, Missouri to develop more coordinated management of the Mississippi River Basin. AGWI is an initiative primarily led by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), although the management of the initiative itself is up for discussion. The summit brought together stakeholders with many perspectives to work on common management, communications, and assessment frameworks for the Mississippi River Basin.

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Peter Oliver's retirement lecture.

Peter Oliver's retirement lecture

Bill Dennison ·
24 August 2012

Dr. Peter Oliver gave his "Retirement Lecture" at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre in Queensland, Australia on 23 August 2012. I provided the introduction to Peter's lecture and the text of that introduction is what comprises this blog post. Peter provided a thought provoking, funny and well delivered talk, with audience participation and interaction. He also sang songs, culminating in 'Dugong Rock'.

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(left to right) Scott Nixon, Ivan Valiela and Carlos Duarte preparing for the press conference associated with the symposium.

Scott Nixon nourished our ecological souls

Bill Dennison ·
23 May 2012
Science Communication | 

Today I learned of the untimely death of my colleague Scott Nixon from the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography. There will be eloquent eulogies in the ensuing weeks and months, as Scott had a profound impact on many students and colleagues. While I will leave the eulogies to those former students and colleagues who knew Scott well, I did have a wonderful experience with Scott in October 2007 in Madrid, Spain that I am reflecting on.

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Regional assessment framework, based on habitats expected in each island type. Each applicable habitat would be assessed independently and the results integrated to arrive at an overall environmental condition assessment.

Samoa State of the Environment 2012

Heath Kelsey ·
9 May 2012
Environmental Report Cards |     1 comments

Developing an environmental assessment framework in the Pacific … In collaboration with the Secretariat for Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP), Heath Kelsey, Tracey Saxby, and Adrian Jones traveled to Samoa (Tracey and Adrian will be there until the end of this month) to help develop an environmental assessment framework for Pacific island countries. This current work follows on from a workshop in Nadi, Viti Levu, Fiji, in March this year.

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Kayakers starting to rope of the half acre area.

Connect the Dots climate action day at Blackwater

Jane Hawkey ·
8 May 2012
Environmental Literacy | Science Communication | 

Organized by 350.org, the global climate action day Connect the Dots event at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge on Sat May 5 was a great success. In advance of the event on May 4, we had a little local press coverage - Maryland Daily Record and Baltimore Sun - via a telephone conference call arranged by Mike Tidwell of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. This was my statement:

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The loss of wetlands to open water is dramatic.

Global Day of Climate Change - Blackwater event on May 5

Jane Hawkey ·
30 April 2012
Environmental Literacy | Science Communication | 

350.org, as part of their movement to solve the climate crisis, has declared May 5 to be Climate Impacts Day. They have a network of people in 188 countries who are concerned about the effects of climate change and the lack of action, globally and locally. May 5 is the day they are rallying this network to create a global day of action by holding "Connect the Dots" events all over the world.

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