Reprint: Alberta EE News

View this and previous newsletters at http://abcee.org/ee-in-alberta

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News for EE Teachers Resources for Teachers Here are some new, free, easy-to-use energy education resources for download: GreenLearning.ca - Science 5 - 'Electricity All Around Us:'

> http://www.greenlearning.ca/science5 GreenLearning.ca - Science 24 - 'Real World Energy:' > http://www.greenlearning.ca/science24

Inside Education - search curriculum-specific resources by division/grade: > http://www.insideeducation.ca/class/div2.htm/

One Simple Act EcoAction energy calculator: > http://www.onesimpleact.alberta.ca/ecoaction.html Here are some new, free, easy-to-use earth sciences resources for download: Curious George-themed earth science learning for young students:

> http://pbskids.org/curiousgeorge/parentsteachers/activities/ Earth Gauge Kids environment/weather learning for grades 5-8: > http://www.earthgauge.net/kids/index

EarthCaching for Teachers - Geocaching with earth sciences curriculum: > http://www.geosociety.org/Earthcache_Lessons/

Enduring Resources for Earth Science Education - earth sciences database: > http://earthref.org/ERESE/ Quagmire - an interactive role-playing game for grades 5-12, providing real-life situations regarding the proposed development of a saltwater marsh: > http://blog.green-street.ca/en/quagmire-an-educational-resource/

Contests and Awards

2009 Environmental Artworks School Contest - One Simple Act. Deadline: 31 March, 2009. Showcase your artistic talent and commitment to the environment and you may win $500. The Environmental Artworks Foundation of Alberta and One Simple Act invite students in grades 4 through 12 to demonstrate - through a poster, digital picture or video - one simple act to reduce waste, conserve water or reduce energy consumption. Over $7,000 in prizes are available. > http://www.artworksalberta.org/theme.htm

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News for EE Groups

Employment, Volunteer, Internship Resources Environmental Employment Opportunities in Alberta. Four opportunities are on the ACEE job centre: Alberta Environment: Alberta Conservation Team Outreach Representative - closing date 2 February, 2009 RiverWatch Calgary: Program Coordinator - closing date 30 January, 2009 Calgary Zoological Society: School Program Coordinator - closing date 31 January, 2009 Adopt-a-Plant Alberta: Program Coordinator - closing date 31 January, 2009

> http://abcee.org/pd/job-centre

Awards and Contests Award Nominations Requested - for Alberta's Next Environmental Idol. On 16 June, 2009, the Alberta Emerald Foundation will issue the Emerald Awards which recognize the best efforts by Albertans to preserve, protect, enhance and sustain our environment. Please help with nominations by contacting the Foundation's Executive Director, Emmy, Stuebing at 780-413-9629. > http://abcee.org/pd/awards

Conferences - Calls for Proposals and/or Posters: Call for Posters: 6 February, 2009 deadline: 4th National Stewardship and Conservation Conference "Strengthening Stewardship - Investing at Every Step" (8-11 July, 2009) at MacEwan Conference and Event Centre, University of Calgary, Alberta. > http://www.stewardship2009.ca/admin/contentx/default.cfm?PageId=9924 Call for Workshop Proposals: 1 February, 2009 deadline: NAAEE Conference (October, 2009) in Portland, Oregon. > http://www.naaee.org/conference/call-for-presentations

Some resources

Resources for Educators 4. Antarctic Summer Two young scientists spending six months in Antarctica will share their experiences and different perspectives with students and teachers. The website includes an initial set of teacher resources, including an introductory presentation you can use in your classrooms and a real-time data activity. They are also looking for volunteer educators to help develop new activities and lesson plans in whatever subjects or grades that interest you. http://coseenow.net/forum/?wpforumaction=viewforum&f=4.0 http://rucool.marine.rutgers.edu/antarctica/ ************************************************************************************************************************************** 5. Build a Squid Build your own squid, set it free, and then check out what yours and all the other squids have been up to. http://squid.tepapa.govt.nz/build-a-squid/interactive ************************************************************************************************************************************** 6. Coral Reef Videos The Hawaii Coral Reef Initiative is committed to educating all types of audiences about the value of coral reefs through a wide range of media. In order to reach a broader audience, HCRI has expanded its use of the video-sharing websites YouTube and TeacherTube, and includes instructional videos for children on coral genetics and coral community connections, animations, and more. http://www.teachertube.com/uvideos.php?UID=174264 http://www.youtube.com/hcrirp ************************************************************************************************************************************** 7. EXPLO.TV This website is the video component of the Exploratorium: Museum of Science, Art and Human Perception in San Francisco. This site offers webcasts, podcasts, and video clips, with many in the Ice Stories series - dispatches from polar scientists. You can browse by subject, category, and much more. http://www.exploratorium.edu/webcasts/index.php ************************************************************************************************************************************** 8. Wetlands & Wonder Video: Reconnecting Children with Nearby Nature This 14-minute video was produced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency discusses the loss of wetlands and the effect that the loss of natural areas closest to us has on our connection to the natural world. The video includes streaming text for the hearing impaired. http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/education/wetlandsvideo/ **************************************************************************************************************************************

Porter Creek Green Team--something to celebrate

CBC Radio 1 AM 570 morning news January 5, 2009 A cleaner environment is the new year’s resolution for a group of high school students in Whitehorse. Porter Creek Secondary School has its own green team. 17 students volunteer their time to make a difference. (Cheryl Kowaja) “We were seeing a lot of pop cans getting thrown out.” But that’s changing. In the cafeteria of PCSS Danny Bohmer(sp) glances over the recycling and compost bins. He wears a T-shirt with the slogan ‘lean, mean, waste reduction team.’ “We check them once a day and if they’re too full or getting too smelly then we go and take them and throw them in the bigger boxes.” As a member of the green team, Bohmer volunteers to rummage through the rubbish. He says it only takes a few minutes a day and so far this year they’re diverting an extra 30 bags of compost a week from the dump. Cathy Andrew helped start the group in 2008. She says after a successful fall semester she hopes the green team can take it even further in the new year. (Andrew) “I would like to see us start a few more projects. We’re looking into getting compost in our bathrooms because there’s so much paper towels that go straight into the landfill.” Andrew says she’d like to see other schools in the Yukon take up the challenge this year. and The Yukon government is greening its fleet of vehicles. It spends almost $2 million dollars a year keeping its cars and trucks running. Its newest vehicles promise to be the most cost efficient on the market. (Vic Istchenko) Purchasing director Carl Rumscheidt shows off one of the newest cars in the government fleet. (Rumscheidt) “We’ve got maybe 15 of these. This is a Toyota Yaris.” There are about 450 vehicles in the government fleet and with a green procurement policy in the works, new purchases are based not on price but the cost of ownership. That’s the sticker price, plus the cost of fuel and maintenance over the life of the vehicle. (Rumscheidt) “Add it all up. The low cost wins the bid. They might be a little bit more on the capital cost but fuel’s a big factor and so they win.” The fleet includes 2 hybrids and one smart car but Rumscheidt says there are fewer American models meeting the new efficiency criteria. (Rumscheidt) “If the big three, the North Americans, start putting out smaller more efficient vehicles they say they’re going to, then maybe they’ll start winning more of the competitions. Right now this model seems to win this class right David?” David Knight is the senior vehicle purchaser. (Knight) “Compared to the bigger vehicles, this is certainly more economic to operate.” Knight and Rumscheidt predict electric cars that plug in over night will soon be part of the government fleet. (Rumscheidt) “We’ll always be trying something new and if it works, we’ll get more. We tried out the Yaris and it took off.”

ARKive images of species

ARKive is looking to compile audio-visual records for the 16,300-plus animal, plants and fungi currently threatened with extinction, according to the IUCN Red List. Preserved and maintained for future generations, ARKive is making this key resource accessible to all, from scientists and conservationists to the general public and school children, via its award-winning website - ARKive: www.arkive.org

ARKive has achieved significant success in the five years since its launch, with numerous awards and accolades, fantastic visitor rates from all round the world and an impressive line-up of international partners and strategic alliances. ARKive's short to mid-term priority is now the completion of audio-visual profiles for the 16,300-plus species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, before moving on to profiling all species that have ever been filmed or photographed.

ARKive Species lists http://www.arkive.org/about/species-lists.html

It is ARKive's short-term aim to compile audio-visual records, where such media exists, for the 16,300-plus animals, plants and fungi currently threatened with extinction, according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

We are always delighted to hear from new media donors. If you have media for a threatened species that we have not yet covered, or can add to the collections already in ARKive, then please do let us know.

You can contact the ARKive media team on: arkive@wildscreen.org.uk Mission

With species extinction now occurring at a faster rate than at any time in Earth's history, effective awareness raising and education programmes are ever more vital. Powerful wildlife imagery is an emotive and effective means of building environmental awareness and engagement, and quick and easy access to this imagery is essential in the digital mass communications society we live in today.

However, until now, this valuable imagery has been scattered throughout the world, in a wide variety of private, commercial and specialist collections, with no centralised collection, restricted public access, limited educational use, and no co-ordinated strategy for its long term preservation.

ARKive is now putting that right, gathering together the very best films and photographs of the world's species into one centralised digital library, to create a unique audio-visual record of life on Earth. Preserved and maintained for future generations, ARKive is making this key resource accessible to all, from scientists and conservationists to the general public and school children, via its award-winning website - www.arkive.org .

The ARKive project has unique access to the very best of the world's wildlife films and photographs, with more than 1,500 of the world's leading filmmakers and photographers actively contributing to the project, and giving ARKive unprecedented access to their materials. Contributors include the most famous names in natural history broadcasting, commercial film and picture agencies, leading academic institutions and international conservation organisations, as well as myriad individual filmmakers, photographers, scientists and conservationists.

Please see the Media donors section for more information. ARKive also has the backing of the world's leading conservation organisations, including BirdLife International, Conservation International, IUCN, UNEP-WCMC, and WWF, as well as leading academic and research institutions, such as the Natural History Museum, London; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; and the Smithsonian Institution. ARKive's web-based materials reciprocally link with and highlight the work of these organisations and others, helping promote their activities to ARKive's wide civil-society user base.

ARKive has achieved significant success in the five years since its launch, with numerous awards and accolades, fantastic visitor rates from all round the world and an impressive line-up of international partners and strategic alliances. ARKive's short to mid-term priority is now the completion of audio-visual profiles for the 16,300-plus species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, before moving on to profiling all species that have ever been filmed or photographed.

ARKive is a Wildscreen initiative: a not-for-profit charity organisation, with a long standing reputation for being at the heart of the international wildlife media industry. Wildscreen's mission is to promote the public understanding and appreciation of the world's biodiversity and the need for its conservation, through the power of wildlife imagery.

The ARKive project is also supported by Wildscreen USA, Inc., a non-profit organisation based in Washington, DC.

Please see the Wildscreen section for more information.

Evergreen foundation grants available

Evergreen Common Grounds is now accepting applications for two grant programs supporting community environmental restoration projects. Mark your calendar! The 2009 deadline for both The Home Depot–Evergreen Rebuilding Nature Grant and the Unilever–Evergreen Aquatic Stewardship and Conservation Grant is:

February 6, 2009

The Home Depot–Evergreen Rebuilding Nature Grant 2009 provides grants of $1,000, $3,000 or $8,000 — plus $2,000 in Home Depot gift cards — to cover the costs of expenses for tools and building, planting native plants and trees and more as part of urban environmental stewardship projects in Canada.

The Unilever–Evergreen Aquatic Stewardship and Conservation Grant Program 2009 provides funding of between 3,500 and $10,000 to support small-scale, community-driven, education and restoration projects that increase public awareness of sustainable water use and the importance of aquatic features, while providing meaningful opportunities for community involvement.

For more information and to download an application package, please visit the Common Grounds Funding page on our Website. Check this site often for upcoming announcements of further funding opportunities! If you have questions, or need help downloading the forms, please don't hesitate to contact Zanita Lukezich, Common Grounds Grant Co-ordinator, at:

416-596-1495 x450 1-888-426-3138 (toll-free) zlukezich@evergreen.ca

Help us spread the word! Please share this announcement with your network of colleagues, partners and contacts. We apologize for any cross-postings. Sincerely, Zanita Lukezich, Common Grounds Grant Coordinator Evergreen 355 Adelaide St W, 5th Floor Toronto, ON M5V 1S2