Are you ready for this year's Secchi Dip-In from June 25 to July 17? During the three-week event in June and July, volunteers demonstrate that they can provide valuable continent-wide, and even world-wide, water quality data. Thanks to participation by volunteers, the Dip-In has gathered over 41,000 records since 1994, allowing us to determine transparency trends in more than 2,000 waterbodies. The Dip-In recruits volunteers only through existing monitoring programs, insuring that the data are reliable. The data are important and are yielding new and exciting information on trends in transparency across North America. The data are available to researchers and state and federal agencies because there is assurance of quality data. Visit Secchi Dip-In to find a volunteer monitoring group and additional information. If you want to keep up with their latest monitoring news and photos, check them out on their Secchi Dip-In Facebook Page!
May 2011May is American Wetlands Month: Learn! Explore! Take Action! This May will mark the 21st anniversary of American Wetlands Month, a time when EPA and its partners in federal, state, tribal, local, non-profit, and private sector organizations celebrate the vital importance of wetlands to the Nation's ecological, economic, and social health. It is also a great opportunity to discover and teach others about the important role that wetlands play in our environment and the significant benefits they provide - improved water quality, increased water storage and supply, reduced flood and storm surge risk, and critical habitat for plants, fish, and wildlife.
Spring is a busy time for groundwater education. It’s a perfect time of year to get people outdoors, immerse them in nature, and teach them about the importance of groundwater. There are many water-related celebrations in the spring as well, providing the perfect occasions for water education and protection. Take advantage of these upcoming events:
(extracted from The Groundwater Foundation: http://www.facebook.com/groundwaterfoundation and http://www.groundwater.org)
Did you miss "The State of the Gulf - America's Sea" on PBS? If you did, you can watch it here. The Gulf of Mexico is much more than the simple sum of the parts along the shoreline of five states. It is a grand, interconnected water body that spans five states and portions of three countries. In the one-hour documentary, The State of the Gulf – America's Sea, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department dives right in to explore this vast body of water. You can now view all seven segments of this documentary via the State of the Gulf web site www.texasthestateofwater.org. The segments average about nine minutes each and include:
40 years old! The U.S. EPA was founded on December 2nd, 1970. From that time, America's environmental history has stood witness to both dramatic events and remarkable progress. In 1969, just before the agency was established, the Cuyahoga River in Ohio became so polluted that it caught fire – a situation that provided impetus for Congress to pass the federal Clean Water Act. By 2009, concern about climate change and sea-level rise led EPA to make the first official finding that greenhouse gases threaten human health and our environment. View their interactive timeline and explore more than 40 years of environmental milestones.
Geography Awareness Week (November 14-20, 2010) - FRESH WATER! Discover the fascinating geography of Earth's most precious natural resource through activities, multimedia, quizzes, and more this Geography Awareness Week—and learn what you can to do help, both globally and locally. There are pages for parents, educators, kids and teens.
Teachers! Earth Day has given us many websites to collect information and activities from. Have you found something to use?
The Earth Day Network has created a curriculum unit on the History of the Environmental Movement with several lesson plans and a guide to "Greening Your School". If you haven't checked them out yet, nows the time to take advantage of the many activities Earth Day sites are promoting. For example, the EPA Earth Day page of green tips. On this 40th anniversary, take a look back at the first Earth Day, its evolution and its legacy as captured in an essay written in 1990 by Jack Lewis, then an Assistant Editor at the EPA Journal, to commemorate the 20th anniversary.
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