Zanzibar airport was a scene, as we crowded into a small room to painstakingly fill out forms for our missing bags. The forms had to be filled out by hand with several carbon copies by a fellow at the airport as we attempted to communicate the changes in our itinerary. Missing our bags also led to a shopping adventure which we undertook once we checked into the hotel and had a shower.

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Along with Jane Hawkey and Kate Bentsen, we had an Interesting trip from Washington DC. Late leaving Dulles in route to London, slow trip across Atlantic due to head winds, and upon landing, we waited for a long time for buses to shuttle us to a far away terminal. We were met by a British Airlines agent who gave us a red card to display so that we could get to the front of the lines, but when we went to the security check in, they informed us that our flight had closed.

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I was asked by Stuart Clarke, Executive Director of Town Creek Foundation, to participate in an energy panel associated with the third annual Chesapeake Film Festival. The panel was held at the historic Avalon Theatre in downtown Easton, Maryland, immediately following the film "On Coal River". Previously during the festival, two additional films were screened, "A Sea Change" and "Gasland", which were also included in the panel discussion.

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Shari Wilson, the Maryland Secretary for Environment for the past four years announced that she is stepping down, and she recently attended her final BayStat meeting. At the end of the meeting, Governor O'Malley presented her with a proclamation declaring Shari Wilson "Admiral of The Chesapeake Bay". Shari Wilson and Governor O'Malley … At a gathering following the BayStat meeting, Secretary of Natural Resources John Griffin presented Shari with a beautiful print.

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We've all seen how video-sharing websites have the power to make everyday events such as frolicking kids and frisky kitchens go viral. Well then, we should be able to harness that power to deliver engaging content about items that impact our every day. Items such as climate change, water quality, and public health issues—topics so important, they warrant space on our screens. The challenge is that these topics don't have the warm and fuzzy factor of frolicking kids and frisky kittens.

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Chilling question when your middle school days are long behind you and you're reminded of just how not hip you are each time you put on the tv, the radio, or Google. Nonetheless, What would a 7th grader do? --has been the guiding question for the coral and climate change module IAN is developing for the Pacific Island Network Inventory and Monitoring Program at the National Park Service (NPS).

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Summary: Perhaps the best way to solve the problem of linking ecosystem science and management is to recognize the social dimensions of ecosystem science. There were enough pachyderms parading around the Florida Keys Science Conference, last October, to fill center ring at the Ringling Brothers Circus. They were all over the place.

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This blog post discusses the seminar given by Don Weller of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), at the IAN Seminar Series on October 28, 2010. The variable proportion of nitrate removed by riparian buffers in the different physiographic regions was noted in the discussion. Also noted was the relative constancy of the absolute amount of nitrate removed by riparian buffers (~10 mg/L) in all physiographic regions.

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Tim Carruthers and I have just completed two site visits to the War in the Pacific National Historical Park (WAPA) on Guam and the American Memorial Park (AMME) on Saipan. The IAN science communication workshops went really well and the parks' managers and staff were very excited and engaged in forging two new products, a park brochure for WAPA and a poster for AMME, both featuring the natural and cultural resources of the parks.

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This blog post discusses the seminar given by Margaret Palmer of the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, at the IAN Seminar Series on September 30, 2010. This seminar was presented by Dr. Margaret Palmer, but both Drs. Palmer and Wainger participated in the discussion following the seminar. The issue that measuring the effectiveness of restoration projects is fundamentally different than tracking ecosystem health through monitoring efforts was discussed.

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