Juvenile Spadefish

Juvenile Spadefish
I took this picture this summer

Friday, March 28, 2014

Water Quality and the Chesapeake Bay

Chesapeake Bay Water Quality reading

Please read this article carefully and take notes on the topics included.

When you have finished the first, go onto the next page to learn about the other important estuaries in the U.S. and the threats to water quality that exist pretty much everywhere in America.

Chesapeake Sisters
Please read this article carefully and take notes on the topics included.

What is Dioxin?

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

CRAB Instructions

Dear Seniors, I need you to submit your abstract to me for publication in the CRAB.  Follow the instructions below and submit asap electronically to my email.  Thanks!

***Each student should have a 1 pg (maximum) double spaced abstract.  Margins should be 1 inch on all sides.  Title should be centered and bold, underneath that the student's name with a superscript containing a BG, W, or G to signify campus.  Under that, the word "Abstract" in bold.  In the past I have either assigned abstracts to categories, or if you have a specific category the abstract should be listed under that is fine too.  Formatting gets difficult for getting these in, so it's probably just best to list the category next to the word "abstract" and I will move and abbreviate as necessary.  Also, I need an asterisk next to the student's name to signify they were a ribbon winner.  I will change that into the correct symbol when I format.

Each abstract should be saved individually with the following naming convention: LastName FirstInitial Campus, so mine would be Smith B Warsaw.  If you can drop these all into a single folder for your campus, that makes things easier for me in terms of organizing and alphabetizing the final product.  I've attached a sample of both a ribbon winner, and a non-ribbon winner for you to see formatting.  

Monday, March 10, 2014

21st Century Thinking

D.C. Cleaning Up Stormwater

One think I hope that students learn here is that there are many modern solutions to old problems, and that we do have the technology to solve many, if not most, of our really pressing environmental problems.  The issue we face more often now days is not "can we" but "will we".  If you could have better water quality, resulting in healthier fisheries, revitalized coastal communities, healthier families, and beautiful ecosystems- would you invest your tax dollars in those efforts?  My bet is that many would, if it were proposed to them in that way.  Sadly, much of what we do now is just repair and band-aid failing 1950's solutions which costs much more in the long run, when a large up front re-engineering is really the best course of action.  In the article attached, our Nation's Capitol is leading just such and effort to re-engineer the ante-bellum sewerage system into a state of the art storm water ready system, that will change the ecological course of the Potomac River, a major tributary of the Chesapeake Bay.  These efforts will have a real and meaningful impact on our water quality.  It will cost a lot of money, but the return on investment is a clean river, vital with life, invigorating the community and making it a better place to live.  Now who doesn't want that?