Groundhog Day in North Carolina: The Results Are In!

Mortimer Groundhog from White Deer Park, Garner. Mortimer is one of many groundhogs

 that practiced their prognostication skills this week.

Update: Groundhog Day events were a hit across the state this year! The final North Carolina groundhog tally had three predicting early Spring and only two predicting six more weeks of winter! Of course, we use modern technology now to predict weather and climate trends, but Groundhog Day serves as a great teachable moment to learn more about folklore, animal behavior, weather and climate.

Here are the results by city:

Nibbles (Asheville): Spring
Mortimer (Garner): Spring
Woody (Greensboro): Spring
Sir Walter Wally (Raleigh): Winter
Queen Charlotte: Winter

If we've missed any other NC prognosticating woodchucks, land beavers or wistlepigs, let us know.

(See the EE Calendar for some of the major events that were offered during the week)

EE Certification in the News

The Chatham News and the Chatham County Schools website recently featured Sally Scholle, a North Carolina Certified Environmental Educator. Sally is a school social worker and also coordinates the school garden at Siler City Elementary.
Read the press release

Sally is one of hundreds of North Carolina Certified Environmental Educators. Learn more about his popular program on our website. If you know of any media coverage of Certified Environmental Educators, please forward to Marty.Wiggins@ncdenr.gov.

Johnston Community College Grows Orchard with help of Grant Resources from the Office of Environmental Education and Public Affairs

This is a note we received from Leslie VanHoy, Grants Director at Johnston Community College.*

A simple Google search led me to your grants page, and thanks to the resources there Johnston Community College (JCC) planted 43 fruit trees to help feed the hungry in our area.

On Feb. 1 [2011], we read about the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation’s grant competition. We followed the links that you provided to the application guidelines and grant form. We applied and in less than a month we were accepted for the online voting campaign that began April 15. Every day until the end of August, the College competed in an online competition with more than 130 other organizations across the nation.

You can read the description of our project on our ballot by clicking on the “2011 Winners” tab on http://www.communitiestakeroot.com/Plant/Index  and then scrolling down to “The Arboretum at Johnston Community College.”

Read the official JCC Press Release

We are so happy JCC found this grant on our page, and especially glad they won the grant! The EE Grants page on our site is updated at least weekly (sometimes even daily) and lists grants chronologically by deadline. This means no sifting through grants that have expired. We also strive to make sure all the grants apply to projects in North Carolina. Our EE Contests page also has opportunities that often award cash or in-kind donations for projects. If you have applied for and/or benefited from a grant or contest listed on our site, please let us know. Email Marty.Wiggins@ncdenr.gov

Also note that the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation still has this grant, as well as the "Fruit Tree 101" program for schools, still open for 2012. Both are listed on the EE Grants page!

*Printed with her permission.

Center for Environment at Catawba Accepting Applications for National Environmental Summit

The Center for the Environment at Catawba College is now accepting applications for its 2012 National Environmental Summit for High School Students.

The event, “Redesigning Our Future,” is an intensive experience which is open to high school students who will be juniors and seniors in the 2012-2013 academic year.

Sustainability designers, scientists and engineers from the prestigious Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) of Colorado will collaborate with the Center and Catawba professors to provide the leadership and instruction for the summit.

Scheduled for July 9-14 with follow-up activities through May 2013, the summit will emphasize whole systems thinking, helping students become collaborative leaders and effective communicators. Summit leaders will provide knowledge and help the students hone analytical skills that will help them return to their schools and communities empowered to have a tangible impact.

A hallmark of the summit is its involvement of multiple disciplines. Students will explore the concept of environmental leadership through the perspective of their own skills and interest in the arts, humanities, education, history, business, science and technology. They will learn how essential elements of these varied disciplines – creativity, expression, innovation, observation, experimentation and teamwork – are critical to their effectiveness as leaders.

The summit will take place on the Catawba College campus. Many sessions will be held in the Center for the Environment facility –one of the first green facilities on a college campus in the nation – and on its 189-acre ecological preserve. Participants will stay in gender specific, LEED-certified residence halls.

The cost is $300, which includes all meals, lodging and interactive instruction. A limited number of full and partial cholarships are avalaible.

The Center for the Environment has been conducting community outreach on multiple environmental topics since 1996. RMI is an international leader in research on sustainable designs, practices and policies.

For more information, contact Cathy Holladay  704.637.4791 chollada@catawba.edu                              

The Center for the Environment at Catawba College was founded in 1996 to provide education and outreach centered on prevalent environmental challenges and to foster community-oriented sustainable solutions that can serve as a model for programs throughout the country. For more information, visit www.centerfortheenvironment.org or www.campaignforcleanair.org.

Evolving EE Practices in Urban Communities Webinar: Learn More About the Urban EE Collective Professional Learning Community

Webinar title: Evolving EE Practices in Urban Communities
THURSDAY, JANUARY 19TH, 2012
4:00 PM TO 5:30 PM EASTERN, 1:00 PM TO 2:30 PM PACIFIC

This webinar has passed and was extremely popular. Many people were not able to get in. But do not dismay! It's available online at  http://breeze.cce.cornell.edu/p3rrft4mu2f/

 You can also join the Urban EE Collective Facebook group and ask to be added as a member of the Urban EE Collective's Professional Learning Group (See below).

Join the EE Capacity Project for the launch of the Urban EE Collective’s Professional Learning Community (PLC), a space for the sharing of ideas and experiences and the building of knowledge through a collaborative and democratic process that promotes equity and respect. This PLC is presented by the EECapacity Project, which supports environmental education and youth and community development in the US, Canada, and Mexico. (Click here for more information on how to connect with the PLC).


The Urban EE Collective Facebook Group was created by the EECapacity project four months ago and now boasts more than 230 active members, who are sharing ideas, resources, and contacts. Seeing an immediate need for more collaboration among the community, the Urban EE Collective sees that online Professional Learning Community as a natural step forward to continue advancing the field of urban environmental education. Through chast, wikis, blogs and webinars, they plan to grow as practitioners and members of thier own urban communities, while helping increase the capacity of their network. For more information, send an email to Jose "Pepe" Marcos-Iga
pepe@eeexchange.org

EE Centers Featured on "Get Going NC"

 Author and outdoor recreation enthusiast Joe Miller recently did a nice feature on North Carolina Environmental Education Centers as part of a series on outdoor activities during the holidays. The holidays are over, but it's still an enjoyable and educational read. Thanks Joe!

Holiday Escapes: An Educated Walk

Green Schools Webinar Series

Update: These webinars have passed, but are archived on the ClassroomEarth website.

Don't let this opportunity pass you by! The National Environmental Education Foundation  in partnership with the National Education Association Foundation  and Green Schools National Conference is hosting its third webinar to help educators around the country learn from experts and peers how to green their schools and curriculum.

This final webinar is Wednesday January, 18, 2012 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. EST. It will feature well-known academic and author David Sobel from Antioch University New England; Gerald Lieberman, the director of the State Education and Environment Roundtable (SEER); and Jennifer Seydel, School Designer at Expeditionary Learning.

The webinar is free, but you must register. Registered participants will receive webinar login information via email prior to the webinar. Registered participants who complete the webinar are eligible for a special discounted registration rate for the National Green Schools Conference on February 27-29, 2012 in Denver, CO.

Register at http://www.classroomearth.org/gswebinars