CFAES’s Wooster campuses, which are OARDC (the college’s research arm) and ATI (its two-year degree-granting branch), have won Tree Campus USA honors for the second year in a row. (Year 1.) The Arbor Day Foundation says the award program “helps colleges and universities around the country establish and sustain healthy community forests.” Shown here is OARDC’s sunny, tree-filled, but mostly temporarily defoliated Secrest Arboretum in a recent shot by Ken Chamberlain of CFAES Communications.
Month: February 2014
Feb. 11: ‘Water for the Americas’ tour stops at Ohio State
CFAES’s Elena Irwin presents “What’s the Bottom Line? Incentives for Getting Businesses to Work for Water Sustainability” at 1:45 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, as part of a daylong stop at Ohio State by the humanitarian Water for the Americas tour. The six-month van tour is traveling 15,000 miles from Boston to Rio de Janeiro to raise awareness of the global water crisis. Irwin’s talk is one of six free TEDx-style presentations on water sustainability scheduled from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Great Hall Meeting Room #1 in Ohio State’s Ohio Union, 1739 N. High St., Columbus. Related post.
Don’t forget towhees and tree frogs
You can manage a woods for both trees and turkeys — and for timber, titmice and timberdoodles, too. Learn how Feb. 11 in Bucyrus. (Photo: Wild turkey by Dimus via Wikimedia Commons.)
‘He is exactly the right leader at the right moment’
Ohio State University last week named Michael V. Drake, M.D., chancellor of the University of California at Irvine, as its 15th president. Sustainability-wise, his bio notes an intriguing bit: that under his leadership, UC-Irvine’s “built environment has received nationwide acclaim for its environmental sustainability and is among the nation’s leaders with 11 buildings that have earned LEED Platinum status, the highest possible ranking.” (LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.) He takes the helm June 30. Welcome! (Photo: University Communications.)
Liquid breakfast, sustainable water
The Feb. 11 breakfast program of the Environmental Professionals Network dives into water sustainability issues — specifically, the new Blueprint Columbus: Clean Streams, Strong Neighborhoods initiative and a stop by the ongoing Boston to Rio de Janeiro Water for the Americas tour. Sign up by Feb. 9.
Feb. 6: Brown U. prof to speak on inequality and climate change
Brown University’s J. Timmons Roberts presents “Inequality and Climate Change: Vulnerability, Responsibility, Action” from 4-5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6, on Ohio State’s Columbus campus with a video link to the Wooster campus of CFAES’s research arm, OARDC. Roberts is Ittleson Professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology in Brown’s Department of Sociology. His talk is part of the spring seminar series of CFAES’s School of Environment and Natural Resources. (Photo: Brown University.)
Snowed out about it, Feb. 5 Farmland Preservation Summit has been cancelled
Due to the threat of snow and bad roads, Wednesday’s (Feb. 5) Ohio Farmland Preservation Summit has been cancelled. Organizers say they plan to reschedule the event but haven’t yet set a new date. Update: Participants will be getting a refund of their registration fee; whether the event will be rescheduled or not is up in the air.
‘Green’ bioplastics: Breaking down badly?
CFAES scientist Fred Michel, left, and recent Ohio State Ph.D. graduate Eddie Gómez, who worked under Michel in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, report surprising results on the ability of “green” bioplastics to biodegrade. Are they as green as they’re cracked up to be? Read the story. (Photo: K.D. Chamberlain.)