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ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES NEWSLETTER

September 26, 2005

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In this issue:

** Upcoming ES Events: Two ES Colloquia and a visit from Round River Conservation!      

** Campus Sustainability:  Sierra Student Coalition seeking help

** Beyond Colby: Environmental Effects of Hurricane Katrina   

** Jobs and Internships: Crew leaders in the pacific northwest, eco village in Ohio & volunteer opportunity in South Africa, India and Nepal

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** Upcoming ES Events:

1) “Saving The Maine Woods”
Jym St Pierre, Maine Director, RESTORE: The North Woods

Tuesday September 27
7:00 pm in Olin 1

* We are meeting Jym in the lobby of Dana for dinner at 5:30 – hope you can join us there too!

The Maine Woods represents the largest remaining wildland in the eastern United States without coherent permanent protection. As the Northern Forest Lands Study pointed out in 1990, it is of national significance. However, it is experiencing a revolution in ownership patterns, development pressures, logging intensity, road construction, and other changes. Forestlands are being fragmented, sprawl is spreading, woods-based employment is shrinking, no-trespassing signs are going up,

timberlands are being transformed into real estate, and public access for recreation is in jeopardy. Indeed, the largest residential development in Maine history is now being proposed for the Moosehead region by Plum Creek Timber Company. In response, a variety of conservation ideas--including ecoreserves, easements, and public and nonprofit acquisitions--are being tried or advocated. This slide talk will touch on

each, with a focus on the proposed Maine Woods National Park and Preserve.

 

Jym St. Pierre is Maine Director of RESTORE: The North Woods. After earning degrees from the University of Maine, he worked for the Maine Department of Conservation, The Wilderness Society, Northern Forest Alliance, and Sierra Club.

 

2) "Mellon Interns Return and Tell All"
Wednesday September 28, in the Foss private dining room
12 -  1 Join us at 11:30 for a tray lunch!

This season's Mellon Interns are back from a busy summer. They will share with us the highlights from their experiences. Sarah Kelly worked at an environmental education center – Shelbourne Farms, Rosalind Becker conducted environmental research at the New England Aquarium. Join us for lunch and hear all about it.

 

3) Doug Milek, of Round River Conservation Studies will be on campus Wednesday September 28th to visit with interested students about opportunities to study abroad and conduct conservation research in Namibia, Ecuador, and British Columbia.  He will be presenting from 4-5pm in Olin 234.  If you are interested but unable to attend at that time, Doug can be reached at dougmilek@roundriver.org or 801-694-3321.

 

Round River Conservation Studies, www.roundriver.org, is a non-profit conservation research and education organization.  They specialize in working with local, indigenous communities in developing and implementing holistic, landscape-scale conservation area designs using cutting edge conservation biology science while additionally providing opportunities to train local biologists and qualifying undergraduate students.  Round River’s education programs emphasize the importance of being out in the field and getting peoples’ hands dirty while contributing to actual conservation projects.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………** Campus Sustainability

Opportunity for Maine Climate Campaign Activists (from the Sierra Student Coalition)

“I'm an organizer with the Sierra Student Coalition, the student-run

arm of the Sierra Club, and I'm a student at Columbia University.  I'm

writing to you because your help is urgently needed in Maine over the

next several weeks to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The fight to protect the refuge is not yet over - but its fate will be

decided this fall, and Senators Snowe and Collins of Maine are two of

the most key votes in Congress.  We need to make sure they vote the

right way.  The Arctic Refuge is home to diverse wildlife and the

caribou that the Gwich'in people have depended on for thousands of

years for their way of life.  But whether we drill the Arctic Refuge

for oil is also a referendum on how far we will go for oil and whether

we will choose a clean energy future.

Arctic drilling has been snuck into the federal Budget that Congress

creates each year.  As you are students, it is also relevant to you

that this year the Budget ALSO includes $9 billion cuts to federal

student aid programs - the largest ever - which will increase a

typical student's debt load by about $6,000.

The SSC is working hard across the country to stop this budget, save

the Arctic, and protect student aid.  If you can help at your school,

please go to http://www.ssc.org/issues/arctic, sign up to join the

campaign, and download our Arctic Student Action Packet, with

background, flyers, sample letters, and ideas for tactics.  You can

also sign up to recieve a free copy of the DVD documentary Oil On Ice

or Being Caribou to show at your school.

Again, that's http://www.ssc.org/issues/arctic.

Your help at Maine colleges and high schools to put pressure on

Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe is incredibly important.  A

vote is expected during the last week of October, and you can join a

broad coalition across Maine that is fighting to make sure Snowe and

Collins vote NO to any budget with Arctic drilling and cuts to student

aid!

Anything you can do - writing letters and letters to the editor,

making phone calls, and more - would be an enormous help.  And every

student has a stake in the future of federal student aid programs.

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** In the News:

Flooded Region May Yield Biggest Garbage Haul Ever

The Los Angeles Times 09/22/05

Street by street here, and across the entire disaster zone, debris piles are growing in size and number, monuments to the destructiveness of Hurricane Katrina and the messiness of the rebuilding.

The heaps are rising in parking lots and on front lawns and ball fields. The effect is trashing the landscape and creating landscapes of trash.

Carting off all the snapped trees, sodden carpets, moldy drywall and warped furniture will require what experts describe as the biggest garbage haul ever, enough to fill 6 million dump trucks.

And that doesn't include the tens of thousands of autos and boats headed for scrap yards.

The job won't be fast, or cheap. State and federal officials say it could take a year to collect, burn, bury and recycle the refuse in Louisiana and Mississippi. The federal government has awarded four companies contracts valued at $2 billion to remove the rubbish, with options to double that amount.

In the meantime, folks must live alongside the festering mounds that seem to frame every roadside view. Some piles reach almost as high as the houses that coughed them up.

[Excerpt]

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**Jobs, Internships and Volunteer Opportunities:

NOTE: I may include jobs or internships here that have start dates that clash with the Colby schedule. But, if you keep a list of organizations that interest you, they may be flexible and willing to work with you when you are thinking about Jan Plan or summer plans!

Student Partnership Worldwide

Places are filling fast on the international health and rural development programs run by Students Partnership Worldwide (SPW), and we invite your students, and peers who may be interested in spending a year volunteering overseas, to join our next Information Session on Wednesday October 5th at 9 pm EST.  I would appreciate it if you would forward this information to your students.

 

The session will be held as a FREE conference call, and provides an opportunity for them to find out more about SPW's volunteer programs in Africa and Asia, and to talk with returned volunteers. Anyone interested will need to email <mailto:info@spw-usa.org>info@spw-usa.org or call 202.662.0714 so we can provide them with the toll-free number to call.

 

As you may know, SPW offers a unique opportunity for Americans aged 18-28 to work in partnership with our African and Asian volunteers on 6-9 month programs in South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Nepal and India. All programs include 4-6 weeks comprehensive training in language, development theory and practice, program-specific information and monitoring & evaluation techniques. SPW provides full pre-departure and in-country support.

SPW is an international NGO and registered not-for-profit organization, established in London in 1985. It has developed an international reputation for its youth-led health education programs, with endorsements from the World Bank, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNAIDS and the governments of each country it works with.

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Conservation Corps Crewleaders

Organization: Northwest Youth Corps

Contact: Ethan Nelson

Email: work@nwyouthcorps.org

Description: Crews live and work outdoors, often in remote and wild settings, spending 4-6 weeks completing conservation projects. Crewleaders teach an experiential-based environmental and life skills education curriculum. Crewleaders also organize and lead recreation trips when work project duties have been met.

Location: Pacific Northwest

Duration: Minimum 3 month commitment

Start Date: June 7

Compensation: $84/day Paid staff training, $2/day bonus for WFR/EMT/WEMT; food and transportation during session plus end of session bonus up to $300 for performance in education, safety, and corps member completion.

Application Procedure: Complete application (available at www.nwyouthcorps.org), attach cover letter, rιsumι, and four references, send to work@nwyouthcorps.org  

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Position: Urban Eco-village community organizer
Organization: Imago, Inc.
Contact: Jim Schenk jschenk@imagoearth.org
Description:   
Community organizer to help develop an urban Eco-village. A
VISTA position. (Volunteers In Service To America) Pays stipend, health insurance & education stipend. Send cover letter and resume to Jim Schenk at jschenk@imagoearth.org.
ENRIGHT RIDGE ECO-VILLAGE
Working to develop a model of sustainable urban living for all residents.
JOB DESCRIPTION

  • Staff the committees of the Enright Ridge Eco-Village Block Club.
  • Assist in involving neighborhood people in the block club.
  • Promote neighborhood pride
  • Help edit the block club newsletter.
  • Make links with and work with other Price Hill organizations that affect the neighborhood.
  • Analyze current housing patterns in the neighborhood; renters, owners, late tax payments, etc.
  • Provide information to people in danger of having homes reposed, of ways to refinance or ways of selling home to prevent foreclose.
  • Assist residents in dealing with lease option to buy, flipping or other housing scams.
  • Provide materials to residents about ways of making their homes more economical and pleasant to live in through energy conservation, energy efficient appliances, etc.
  • Promote planting and care of street and yard trees, natural landscaping and preservation of green space.

This is a VISTA position (Volunteer In Service To America) Compensation: Around $10,000 per year, health insurance, and $4500 education stipend upon completion of one year service. Send cover letter and resume to: Jim Schenk at jschenk@imagoearth.org. organization website: www.imagoearth.org.
Organization website: www.imagoearth.org.
Location:
Cincinnati, OH
Duration: One year, optional second year
Start Date: November, 2005
Hours:
9 to 5 with some evenings & weekends
Compensation: This is an Americorps VISTA position (Volunteer In Service To America) Compensation: $10,000+ per year, health insurance, and $4500 education stipend upon completion of one year service.
Application Procedure: Send cover letter and resume to: Jim Schenk at jschenk@imagoearth.org.
Let me know how you learned of this opportunity with Imago when you apply. Thanks.
Deadline:
October 1, 2005