Over four hundred thousand people from around the country, young and old, took action yesterday to make a statement about climate change. This event was one of many taking place around the world (http://peoplesclimate.org/), and drew national news attention. My stepfather Trip Barnett attended the march, and he told me that it was a life […]
Summer’s Last Gasp…
Walks through the woods have certainly changed since early summer. Leaves are changing color and even falling. Squirrels are busily making nests and gathering nuts. But before you turn to picking apples and making pumpkin pie, there are a few summer pleasures still to enjoy. The sites and smells are so different now than they […]
Geocaching: A High Tech Game of Hide and Seek
CLEAR’s Geospatial Training Program recently held a workshop for the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History on the art (and fun) of geocaching. Have you heard of geocaching? No? Then you fall solidly into the “muggle” category – aka a human who is not in the know about the greatest real-world treasure hunt that’s happening […]
CLEARscapes – Fall 2014 Edition
In This Issue Climate Adaptation Academy Carbon Accounting Mapping: Lidar Education: Natural Resources Conservation Academy New Faces at CLEAR Green Infrastructure (View Newsletter as pdf)
Maplets: Turn Paper Maps into Interactive Mobile Maps
I am getting ready to head out on my annual backpacking trip to the Adirondacks. I love these trips, but one thing I don’t like is having to constantly pull out, unfold, and then re-fold the huge paper map for the park whenever I begin to worry I might be getting lost (which is way […]
Time to Reassess Connecticut’s Landscape
“Now is the time for Connecticut to move swiftly to save our dwindling open spaces and our great heritage of natural resources for the use and enjoyment of future generations.” Thus began a letter from the Governor of Connecticut ordering the preparation of a plan of action for statewide conservation. The Governor was John Dempsey, […]
Bringing Some Green to Our Big Cities
When people think of Hartford and New Haven, “green” may not be the first thing that jumps to mind. However, recent efforts of the UConn Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials (NEMO) program are helping to make these cities a little bit greener, both figuratively and literally. This past June, NEMO partnered with Neighborhood Housing Services […]
Stormwise: Increasing the Storm Resilience of Trees
July 23, 2014 Presented by Mark Rudnicki, UConn Associate Professor, Forest Ecology, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment Connecticut is a state with magnificent and plentiful forest cover, but we have a continuing problem with trees causing power outages. The STORMWISE initiative, developed at the University of Connecticut, seeks to integrate outreach, education, research […]
It is sunny!
And there are 24 solar panels on my house soaking it all up! Yesterday the panels collected 37 kWh and the day before was 37.9 kWh. To give you some perspective, the average household in Connecticut uses 731 kWh a month or about 24.4 kWh a day. Of course this varies by season and so does […]
Climate Change—Public vs. Private Goods
– Article by Linda Powers Tomasso, Project Associate, Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard University School of Public Health Climate change is in the news almost daily, and while many of us didn’t grow up with the phrase, our attentiveness to the causes of a warming planet gives us no cause for comfort. Our own […]
Green Infrastructure on the UConn Campus
May 13, 2014 Presented by Michael Dietz & Chet Arnold, UConn CLEAR The main campus of the University of Connecticut is rapidly becoming a showcase for the innovative stormwater practices known as green infrastructure (GI), or low impact development (LID). Green roofs, rain gardens, pervious parking lots and walkways, bioretention cells, and other GI features […]
The Power of Water
I have been known to occasionally get a bit sappy about water…and with good reason. I feel that I owe my passion for the environment, and for water specifically, to experiences and people that were part of my life as a young boy. My father, uncles and grandfather all took the time to take me […]
Hurricane Season is Almost Here
The official start of hurricane season is just a few weeks away. In March, The Weather Channel predicted a below-average hurricane season for the Atlantic, including 11 named storms, including five hurricanes, two of which are predicted to be Category 3 or stronger. It is important to note, however that there is no correlation between […]
Sewage Overflows Help Make Case for Greener Infrastructure
The historic rainfall that hit the east coast this week had some pretty nasty impacts. From flooding in Florida to a stunning street collapse in Baltimore, the images were remarkable. Here in CT we experienced a month’s worth of rain in 24 hours leading to sewage overflows into Connecticut’s rivers and Long Island Sound. In addition […]
Great Gull Island Airlift
If you are anywhere near the Groton shoreline on Friday April 25, 2014, you may see an unusual site. The Connecticut Army National Guard will airlift 28,000 pounds of lumber and equipment out to Great Gull Island (GGI) in Long Island Sound. Great Gull Island, owned by the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), provides […]
A Congressman Supports Infiltration: of Stormwater, that is…
On Tuesday April 14th, Representative Joe Courtney of Connecticut’s Second District stopped by UConn for a brief tour of low impact development (LID), or green infrastructure (GI), stormwater practices on campus. The Congressman and his aide Cutter Oliver were doing some fact finding related to a bill introduced to the House last year, the […]
CLEARscapes – Spring 2014 Edition
In This Issue Rain Garden National App Climate Change and CIRCA LID on UConn Storrs Campus CT ECO Lidar Maps Tree Warden School Geospatial Training (View Newsletter as pdf)
Shoreline Change in CT – 100 Years of Erosion & Accretion
April 1, 2014 Presented by Joel Stocker, UConn CLEAR & Sea Grant and Kevin O’Brien, CT DEEP Recent storms have focused interest on the dynamics of the shoreline. Receiving attention is the question, “What has it done in the past?” In 2010 the USGS released a report on historical shoreline change along the New England and Mid-Atlantic […]
TAX ON THE RICH TO PAY FOR CLEAN ENERGY RESEARCH
April 1, 2014 WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a stunning display of bipartisanship, an overwhelming majority of House Republicans voted with their Democratic counterparts to pass a bill taxing the wealthiest Americans to fund clean energy research. Speaker of the House John Boehner explained this seismic shift in policy saying, “So we take a little money […]
Connecticut Tree Wardens’ Association
– Article by Bob Ricard Approximately 85 tree wardens, deputy tree wardens, urban forestry volunteers, and others gathered in Glastonbury, March 20th, for the Tree Wardens’ Association of Connecticut, Inc., 22nd Annual Dinner Meeting. The primary purpose of the meeting was to conduct the business of the state-wide organization, founded in 1992 by UConn Extension […]