Are you missing that RIVER LOVE?

Here's a little clip of it (linked below) to get you through the rest of the break.
:D

Love,
Chuck (aka Katie)

http://rivers.udayton.edu/Rivers%20Institute%20Full%20Mix%20.aif

Paddling the Mississippi River Corridor...

Check out this story and blog, about one man's journey down the Mississippi River, from Canada to New Orleans.

How about that for a little inspiration as we move into 2010!

Happy Holidays!

May 2010 bring a "flood" of peace, joy &
happiness to you and yours!

Best wishes for a safe and relaxing holiday season,
the Rivers Institute

p.s. feel free to check out our new video!

Analysis of Water Usage at UD

This semester a group of students in the ASI 343 Undergraduate Research in Environmental Sustainability class looked at the water usage at the University of Dayton. The students created a presentation to educate those on campus about where the water at the University of Dayton comes from, explaining what an aquifer is and why it is important to take care of the aquifer. The presentation touched on the history of the University of Dayton in regards to bodies of water on campus. Interesting findings included facts that there were once wetlands, ponds, and a creek on campus that were all integral parts of student life. The presentation then proceeded to analyze how we are effectively using our water on campus. The group found that there is so much room for improvement on campus. This could begin with Founders Hall which uses as much water as VWK. The group also analyzed the runoff situation on camps and found that the University has a ratio of 2:1 asphalt to grass surface area and this creates a large runoff problem. One potential solution is to start implementing porous pavers or more porous surfaces so that the runoff is reduced. The runoff from the University runs into a pipe that drains right into the Great Miami River. By making changes on campus we could positively affect the river. Additionally, the group made suggestions for improvement on campus including implementing raingardens in effective locations to reduce runoff, creating underground storage tanks to store water for irrigation, upgrading fixtures in Founders Hall to meet more modern standard flow rates, and raising awareness on campus. Right now the University is not effectively using its water as findings show that the RecPlex (which sits on top of a burried wetland) and UD Arena are constantly pumping water out from under the buildings wasting water and energy. The group welcomes any suggestions for possible solutions and input on this situation.

River Leadership Curriculum Development: "Beginning with the End"

Below is a timeline explaining how we have been developing the RLC Student Learning Outomes over the past couple months.....

1. Student Learning Outcomes – With input from students, these are determined as a basis for the course. They articulate the minimum of what is important for each student to know and be able to do after taking the course....

126 possible SLOs were developed from a meeting with 30 people at Art Street; including students, staff, community partners and faculty.

2. First Level of Student Learning Outcomes – the core RLC planning committee established these 4 Categories amongst the 126 SLO's:

-Scientific
-Social Sciences
-Aesthetic
-Personal Growth

3. Second Level of Student Learning Outcomes – brainstorm session w/ a small group of Stewards, who were involved w/ the Art Street session, decided to develop these:

Integrative (Interdisciplinary) & Synthetic SLO’s – the group decided to integrate the 4 categories so the interdisciplinary nature of the course would be embedded in the SLO’s

After completing the River Leadership Curriculum, the student should be able to…

(1) develop expertise in and articulate connections among scientific, sociological, aesthetic, and public policy perspectives of a river system;

(2) explain how synthesizing scientific, sociological, aesthetic, and public policy perspectives of a river system better enable them to understand its past, evaluate its present state, and envision its future;

(3) complete a course project that demonstrates their understanding of and ability to integrate scientific, sociological, aesthetic, and public policy perspectives of a river system; and

(4) develop a service proposal which calls on them to assume a leadership role in a project that demonstrates their ability to synthesize and act upon scientific, sociological, aesthetic, and public policy perspectives of a river system.

The Student Learning Outcomes seem to be following the University’s model of educating students to Learn, Lead, and Serve.

Next Steps: Meet with the extended Curriculum Committee in January to plan the next steps of development……

River Video

For a class project this semester, I decided to create a video about how
students relate to the river. I interviewed 3 River Stewards and one
photography major. As I was doing this I took many photos that applied
to the topics addressed. Finally I compiled all of the interviews with the
photos and some music. Enjoy!

The Spell of the Sensuous

Just a reminder, note to self, especially as we approach exam week.

excerpts from this book by David Abram

"Today we participate almost exclusively with other humans and with our own human-made technologies. It is a precarious situation, given our age-old reciprocity with the many-voiced landscape. We still need that which is other than ourselves and our own creations. The simple premise of this book is that we are human only in contact, and conviviality, with what is not human.

Does such a premise imply that we must renounce all our complex technologies? It does not. But it does imply that we must renew our acquaintance with the sensuous world in which our techniques and technologies are all rooted. Without the oxygenating breath of the forests, without the clutch of gravity and the tumbled magic of river rapids, we have no distance from our technologies, no way of assessing their limitations, no way to keep ourselves from turning into them. We need to know the textures, the rhythms and tastes of the bodily world, and to distinguish readily between such tastes and those of our own invention. Direct sensuous reality, in all its more-than-human mystery, remains the sole solid touchstone for an experiential world now inundated with electronically-generated vistas and engineered pleasures; only in regular contact with the tangible ground and sky can we learn how to orient and to navigate in the multiple dimensions that now claim us."

Duke University's Smart Home Project

Check out this exciting, interdisciplinary, student-driven project the Engineering students at Duke University initiated.....

http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2007/11/smarthome.html

http://www.smarthome.duke.edu/program/about.php






This would be a great riverfront dorm :)

The vision of the Rivers Institute...

Reuniting Dayton and its Rivers

It's All Natural...Wastewater treatment in Georgia

Some of you may already know about the concept of natural water treatment, but I heard about this at a conference a couple weeks ago and would love to hear others' thoughts on this - whether you think it would work in a city like Dayton, benefits/costs, etc. Check it out and let me know what you think!

http://www.richmondhill-ga.gov/PublicWorksDepartment/WaterWastewaterSystems/tabid/100/Default.aspx

Just Another Day in Curriculum Development!

The development of the River Leadership Curriculum has been progressing each week with the help of everyone involved, including the Stewards! This past Friday we tested our second module during the mini - course (see post below!)

The Wednesday before, the core planning group for the McGregor grant met at their weekly meeting to discuss further plans. The group discussed Student Learning Outcomes as well as a potential timeline for the development as the semester wraps up. The group decided that having 3-4 SLOs that are integrative and synthetic, to serve the interdisciplinary purpose of the curriculum, would be a good goal to work towards. The group plans on enlisting the help of approximately six Stewards to work down the long list of SLOs, making sure they are all represented in the 3-4 being developed. Working in a small group will make it easier to go through the 126 SLO's and to think about the exact wording of the 3-4 needed.

The Friday before this meeting, the Stewards were a big help with the curriculum development! We brought the large post-its from the SLO brainstorming seminar to the mini-course. The Stewards broke up into small groups, each with a number of post-its, and working together they put each SLO into one large excel file. Each SLO was tagged with how many checks it received, as well as two different grouping categories. This allows us to have all of the SLOs in one place and it allows us to work with the SLOs in different ways.

Thanks to the Stews for their hard work!

River Science & River Leadership

The River Stewards discussed River Science, during the mini-course on Friday October 13th, and how it relates to the River Leadership Curriculum being developed by the Rivers Institute. Joined by a "teaching team", including Jeff Kavanaugh (Biology faculty), Mike Eckberg (Community Partner - MCD), and Liz Whalen (Biology student), the students evaluated the importance of understanding the science of rivers despite your academic major.

Below are a couple of the Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) that were brought up at our Saturday brainstorm session a couple weeks ago. We thought about these (and others) as we listened to the "teaching team" talk about River Science.


1. means to evaluate and participate in scientific conversations within the community (learn the Language)

2. demonstrate knowledge of ecology of river systems (surface and ground)

3. articulate the importance of water as a sustainable resource, water as a system, how to use water, implications of water use

4. demonstrate basic understanding of ecological principles as they relate to river systems

5. Understanding connections between community health and rivers (water quality and availabilty)

These are only a few examples. The entire list is on the website at: http://rivers.udayton.edu/notes.htm

Low Dam Removal

To follow up on Wednesday's conversation concerning low dam removal in the area... the following are two sets of pictures from Greg Brumtit with Five Rivers MetroParks.


These two shots (above) are on Clear Creek in Golden, CO…this stream is very similar (a bit smaller than the Mad) in flow and structure as the Mad River. Golden estimated several years ago a $2-2.5 million annual economic impact from this park.


These two are taken at the Salida, Co park on the Arkansas river…flow when these were taken was 3000 CFS…peak snowmelt flow….665 is a really good example of a classic “U” grade control. The Salida project was riverfront restoration and recreation project…

NY Times article: Removing a Barrier

Removing a Barrier By ELIZABETH ABBOTT
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — This city, which once moved rivers to create a new urban design, is now moving a major highway away from its downtown and opening up approximately 20 acres for development. This newly accessible area is within walking distance of Providence’s historic waterfront and commercial downtown.......

Mike Fugagli, 1986 UD Grad, and the Gila River in New Mexico

Click here to watch the video:

"Bottlenecks and Resilience" along the Gila River with Mike Fugagli

Help Conserve America's Watersheds for Future Generations

Nearly half of our population does not know what a watershed is; let alone which one they live in. This means there's also a good chance that many are unaware of how their actions contribute to water pollution and habitat destruction.

Right now, your U.S. representative has the opportunity to support a bill that will increase funding for environmental education programs to educate America's youth about their local watershed and provide opportunities for them to experience their watershed firsthand.

Click here to support the effort!

Kayaking at Trotwood Madison

On Wednesday the 28th, the River Stewards took the kayaks to Trotwood Madison to teach the high school's Swim and Dive class the basics of kayaking. We stressed the importance of safety first and the need to ALWAYS wear a PFD while in the water. We covered the correct way to hold the paddle and the basic forward, reverse and sweep strokes. Some of the students participated in this event last year and were excited to see us again, while others had never been in a kayak. The students had races, played bumper boats and practiced their strokes. Their overall excitement and enthusiasm made the experience very rewarding and it was great that one of the students actually recognized us from the Mayor's Float from this summer.

We look forward to working with Trotwood again next semester.

Special thanks to all the River Stews who participated in this event!

RLC Seminar: Student Learning Outcomes Brainstorm Session

Last Saturday, October 24th, students, faculty, and community partners, met at ArtStreet for the RLC Student Learning Outcomes Brainstorming Seminar. Approximately 30 students, faculty, and community partners came together for a half day session of brainstorming. Dr. Steve Wilhoit from the LTC facilitated the brainstorming. He introduced student learning outcomes (SLOs), how they can be beneficial, and how to formualte them. There were small group discussions as well. Many great ideas were generated by the groups. Within the larger group, individuals indicated which outcomes they found most important to the curriculum. Now, the SLOs will be condensed based on those that were indicated as important. Once the list of SLOs are complied and condensed (down to four or five), we will be able to make the next steps in the curriculum development.

Thanks to all who attended the seminar!

Please see the link below for minutes from the seminar as well as other RI meetings: http://rivers.udayton.edu/notes.htm

Pictures from SunWatch Indian Village

Here are a couple pics from the 2012 cohort's visit to SunWatch Indian Village to discuss Water, Civilization and the Common Good.

2011 Cohort: Senior Project Brainstorm Session!!

Hey all!
This week in our mini-course meeting the Juniors started brainstorming ideas for our Senior project. We threw out a lot of ideas for projects and for goals we wanted to accomplish. Remember, these are just quick notes and we will flesh out the ideas we like the best later. Comment on any ideas you particularly like and would like to see implemented!

Senior Project Notes
Goal: You can do individual projects or use something river stewards related for thesis or a independent projects.
-build on the other seniors project

The River’s Institue:
1) Brining Dayton to the river
2) Undergraduate research- connect what you’re studying to the river
3) UD to the river

Ideas:
- Canoe/kayak, run, bike triatholon
- -Children’s education
- River-mobile
- Dayton Photo-saturation – do a photo contest
- Beyond brown but specifically for enviro stuff and outdoors things
o Website for events
- Make portage improvements- and boat launch improvements
- Mural- …. Judy Baca- contact her about that kind of stuff. Garden Station is looking for people to do murals as well.
- Kids in city school do an (art) project along the river. Work with inner city schools
- Nolan says we have a lot of Marble and materials from the McMurf Center.
- Terrace levees- Betsy Damon
- Ferrying students to the bball game……not practical

Insight: We need more service stuff not just outdoor stuff. Think bigger than the recreation stuff.
- Continuing education stuff, adopt a classroom
- Go to a community near a river and talk to them about how they can connect to the river
- Bioremediation- plan for dorm waste-water treatment.
- Monitoring storm water runoff as a research project – city of Dayton dept of water.
o You can turn this into an edu outreach thing and have kids do the work
- Campus west land- have river access nearer to here.
- Having a concert on the river- amphitheater in the river- do something with that
o In c-bus there was a fire and water show way cooler than lasers
- Floating gardens/wetlands
- NCR land – “boat the moat” –races or something\
- Boathouse- do something with that- fix it up

Insight: we could have multiple project teams and bring everything together at the end.
- River week- re-format that. People really liked going out on the river. We could do that more often and do a trip every other week (river club much?)
o You could do bio stuff with this- every time you go out do some water testing stuff.
o People have to get training for that
o There is training in May on the Fitz Center’s tab!!
- River club but with kids

What do we want to accomplish:
- Bring students (younger) down to the river
- UD students to get off of campus – you don’t hear much about the rivers unless you are in the river’s institute
- Raise money for stuff (maybe)
- Make the river more accessible for people in general
- Reasonably accomplishable – don’t make it so big that people drop out. Don’t leave it off for others to finish.
o but at the same time you also want a legacy or tradition. Not a one time event.
- Service-centered project
- Benefit city of Dayton

Water, Civilization & the Common Good.

This Friday we are testing the first module of the River Leadership Curriculum, at SunWatch Indian Village. The teaching team includes faculty member - Brother Don Geiger, Community Partner - Nancy Nerny, River Steward - Sarah Peterson, and of course the staff of SunWatch. Below is a description of the module we will be testing:

Water, Civilization, and the Common Good: Water, as a common good, needs to be available, and equitably distributed. This involves the rights of nations, religious groups, cities, and individuals. Fresh, clean, surface water is needed for drinking, and irrigation. We are now finding ourselves with a limited quantity of water. This module talks about access to water, water rights and use (for irrigation and drinking), ethical uses of scarce water, and the relationship that civilizations have with water in the past, present, and future. Specific topics include legal aspects such as: riparian rights, prior appropriation, wetland mitigation, the clean water act, consumption, water as a commodity, control of availability, control of distribution, and the impact of the Great Miami on Sunwatch.

Most of you have already watched the documentary FLOW; For the Love of Water this semester, which also addressed the issue of water as a common good. As you continue to think about this subject, in preparation for this week's mini-course, check out this recent event in California: Gov. Schwarzenegger Calls Special Session to Address California's Water Crisis

Interesting.....where does Dayton or your hometown fit into this picture? Please take time before Friday to look further into this subject, find some of your own resources, and jot a couple thoughts down in your journal!

A Busy Week for the Rivers Institute!

On Tuesday October 13th, a group of representatives of the Rivers Institute gathered at Cox Arboretum for a reception, where we accepted a grant from the Great Dayton Conservation Fund (GDCF) to expand our river education and recreation outreach programs in the Dayton area. A big thanks to Emily Klein for writing the grant proposal and to all those who contribute to the GDCF. We look forward to bringing more people to the river and the river to more people, over the next two years!

It's also Environmental Science Week at UD and you'll be able to find the River Stewards on Thursday Oct. 15th in Humanities Plaza, where they will have a River Awareness Table set-up from noon to 4pm. UD students will have the chance to sign up for a Friday river clean-up with the Stews and then participate in a kayak fun day on Saturday at Eastwood MetroPark. Hope to see ya there!

Swedish Delegation visits Dayton and the Rivers Institute

Check out this Dayton Daily News Video about the Swedish Delegation that visited Dayton last week to learn about what we are doing to protect and conserve out water resources in the region.

We enjoyed the opportunity to interact with them throughout the week, including a paddling trip down the Mad River.

FLOW

Hey guys! I was in the second group of new stews for paddling and got to see Flow last Friday (Sept. 26th). I loved it!! This was right up my ally, being an Int'l Studies/Human Rights double major. The effects of water control and water pollution are just astounding. I knew, in some countries, it was bad - but I didn't realize it was this bad. Flow was a great informational movie about those effects and definitely makes me think about the privatization of water and companies who use water (Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Nestle, etc.), especially on the communities which need the water and economic benefits. I was so excited to hear how Dayton could get some great business with the aquafer, but now that I've seen Flow, I see how progress, without the check of morals and human rights, can be devastating. I think it's really important to keep in mind how much water we consume. Also, the movie reminded me of an AWESOME organization called Charity: Water (www.charitywater.org) which helps give clean water, by means of a town well or plumbing to schools etc., to third world countries. They are not in the U.S., but this is a great organization if anyone wants to check it out.

Smile! You're on River camera!

Just a few photos from paddling on Friday.

more of the Rivers Institute in the news!

Below are links to two more news articles that came across my desk this week about the Rivers Institute and the University of Dayton. Great work everyone - enjoy!

September issue of Ohio Magazine: "College Greens"

September 20, 2009 edition of Catholic Times in Columbus, Ohio

River Clean-Up w/ Phi Kappa Psi & the Ocean Conservancy

On Saturday September 26th, the Rivers Institute organized a river clean-up with the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity at RiverScape in downtown Dayton. The fraternity contacted us about potential service work revolved around the Dayton community and its rivers in August and we were happy to facilitate such an event. We were even happier when we realized it was the group's first-ever visit to RiverScape and we hope it is just the beginning to connecting them to the river and the larger Dayton community.
This clean-up was also exciting because it was the first time the Rivers Institute partnered with the Ocean Conservancy in their annual world-wide Inter-Coastal Clean-Up (ICC), to eliminate marine debris. The Rivers Institute met with the Ocean Conservancy two weeks ago, during their visit to Dayton, and realized we had a clean-up scheduled one week after their 24th annual ICC event, which takes place every third Saturday of September. The Ocean Conservancy was happy to include our clean-up and sent us data cards to fill out and submit for their annual report; the only statistical data distributed world-wide on marine debris and litter.
Our group of 20 volunteers collected over 12 bags of trash and became part of over 400,000 people, who all cleaned up litter on rivers and beaches around the world. Please take a minute to check out the Ocean Conservancy's website to learn more about the ICC and to watch the short youtube video on this year's clean up.
We are looking forward to being part of the ICC in the future and helping the Ocean Conservancy celebrate 25 years of cleaning up the world's waterways! A special thanks to Stewards, AJ Ferguson, Alex Galluzo, Dom Miller and Drew Morrison, for their time and effort spent on the clean-up....not to mention the two shopping carts Dom pulled out of the river!!!

Girls of Science at St. Albert Catholic School

Last Monday, some of our very own girls of science (Tracey Horan and Leslie King) were invited to share their enthusiasm for local geology with the Girls of Science Club at St. Albert the Great Catholic School. The club invites a different "girl of science" to share expertise and collaborate with the girls each month, and this particular month, the Rivers Institute was selected. About 15 middle school girls gathered after school to talk about water resources in the area, build a model aquifer together, learn about hypoxia, and then make posters to remind the rest of the school about the importance of water conservation. The girls were fascinated by the aspects of Dayton's water resources they had never heard of, asked great questions, and seemed excited to stump their science teachers with what they had learned! Another successful collaboration!

A little motivation

One man organized the planting of a billion trees in a single day.

And has provided for the future care of the trees.

And managed to employ 300k people living below the poverty line.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8257563.stm

Stews in the News

Theres going to be a Flyer News article about the recreational opportunities available through the metro parks. I'm pretty sure we are going to be mentioned.

Pictures from River Days

Great Miami River Days Festival!

This weekend the Rivers Stewards sponsored a booth at the Great Miami River Days Festival in Hamilton. River Days is one of the largest water education events in the country and shares many of the same initiative as the Rivers Institute. Visitors from around the region come to enjoy educational opportunities, historical re-enactments, water shows, hay rides, music and more.

The River Stewards created educational opportunities for children with several river game stations. Children could direct water through a maze to a treatment plan, fish for a fact, follow water molecules through the hydrological cycle or play with toys on the “water table.” The event was a huge success. The Stewards were able to interact with and teach little kids about the importance of the river. We look forward to participating again next year.

Special thanks to Tracey Horan for organizing the activities and to Leslie King, Gretchen Berkemeier, AJ Ferguson, Bethany Renner and McClean Johnson for their help making this event a success.

"Water is the foundation of life..." -Betsy Damon

Eco-artist Betsy Damon is on campus this week. She will be coming to the River Stewards mini-course on Friday to talk to the Stews about her work. Betsy seems to share a similar mindset that the Rivers Institute posesses. Betsy has said, "I believe that a group of committed people can address any challenge concerning water, and solve the difficulties in ways that respect the dynamic Universe and every individual. The key to our success is relationships!"

Here is a short bio about Betsy from her collaboration's website keepersofthewaters.org:

"At a crisis in her life thirty-five years ago, Betsy Damon turned to her dreams and visions as a source of imagery and action. Abandoning her traditional training, she initiated performance art projects creating temporary spaces for herself in public ‘unclaimed’ spots. Then, after a seven week cross country camping trip with her two children, Betsy found herself reconnected to primal elements in the natural world – the sound of wind, the flow of water, the forest, the rain.Rooted in the women’s movement of the 70’s, she founded a national network of support groups for women artists. Through the performance work and building of a network, she evolved numerous skills that began to understand the value of relationships as a foundation for initiating new forms. After casting 250’ of a dry river bed and committing herself to water as a central metaphor and theme for her life and work, she moved increasingly away from the artist as individual to the artist as central to community.Since the forming of Keepers of the Waters with the Humphrey Institute of the University of Minnesota in 1991, she moved increasingly towards creating community based models of her own unique vision. These works communicate the essence of water and inspire hope. She sculpts, she mentors, and she leads workshops and lectures. Her work in China includes the first public art event for the environment. The now world known Living Water Garden, numerous award winning master plans, city planning are all a part of her ongoing repertoire. In the U.S., she is no less productive with active green groups modeled from Keepers and public/private art commissions.Her inspiration comes from extensive research of sacred water sites and ever probing knowledge of biologic and earth sciences involved in living systems. Always seeking new ways to articulate the complexity of water and to engage everyone in caring for this precious resource, Betsy continues her passion" (keepersofthewaters.org).

Read more about Betsy:

http://www.bushfoundation.org/Publications/fellows_news_pdf/bushnewsautumn2000.pdf


LaChute River Walk "celebrates the extraordinary variety of industries that clustered around the waterfalls and rapids that punctuate the river's course through town" (prideofticonderoga.org)

What is Dayton did something like this? Would people appreciate our rivers more? Let's ask Betsy what she thinks!

Check out more information on the LaChute River Walk:
http://prideofticonderoga.org/pdfs/RiverwalkBro-Final-Inhouse2.pdf

Eco Art

Art can be used for many purposes besides rendering and beauty; one example of this is activism in the arts. Artists often use their work to draw attention to environmental issues and places. Some artists transform nature to draw attention to the beauty of the area; one example of this is James Turrell.

Other artists use not only their work, but also the process of approving and creating their pieces to engage the community. Christo and Jean Claude created a piece called running fence; they went to many town meetings to get the project approved. During these meetings people argued about the meaning of art, property ownership, and their landscape. Eventually they were able to erect a fence that followed the hills and valleys of the earth and was made of slightly transparent white sheets of fabric. The end result only remained for a few days but beautifully caught the light and drew people’s attention to the splendor of their countryside.

Andy Goldsworthy’s art is not as political as the work of Christo and Jean Claude, but beautiful nonetheless. He immerses himself in a natural setting for a period of time and creates art using only what he finds. Some artists care more about the physical effect of their art then how visually pleasing it is. Jackie Brookner’s art actually helps to filter the air and water while being aesthetically pleasing.

Next week we will all be able to personally meet the “eco-artist” Betsy Damon who works specifically with water issues. In her piece living water garden, "Polluted river water moves through a natural, and artistic treatment system of ponds, filters and flowforms, making the process of cleaning water visible." Later on the Beehive Collective, a political and environmental art making organization, will also visit UD.

 

Take some time to look through some of the artist’s work and artist’s statements.

James Turrell: http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/turrell/clip1.html#

Christo and Jean Claude: http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/rf.shtml

Andy Goldsworthy: http://www.rwc.uc.edu/artcomm/web/w2005_2006/maria_Goldsworthy/philosophy.html

Jackie Brookner: http://www.jackiebrookner.net/

Betsy Damon: http://keepersofthewaters.org/WhoAndWhat.cfm

Beehive Collective: http://www.beehivecollective.org/

For more artists: http://greenmuseum.org/archive_index.php

A great op-ed by Dusty Hall

Guest column: UD certainly isn’t missing the boat(s)

By the Dayton Daily News | Monday, September 7, 2009, 08:00 AM

This column was written by Douglas “Dusty” Hall, manager of program development at the Miami Conservancy District and a former assistant city manager in Dayton.

It’s no secret to the University of Dayton that young adults are full of talent — the kind of talent that businesses lust for.

Young talent is an increasingly sought-after commodity, and tens of thousands of young people are products of the Dayton area’s universities and colleges. So, where is our flood of new businesses? Or, more important, where are all the new young grads?

A recent report from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute suggests that about six out of every 10 of Ohio’s college students will leave, or are leaning toward leaving. This “brain drain” is not good news for a state with an aging work force and stagnant population.

The Fitz Center for Leadership in Community at the University of Dayton understands that a young, talented work force is essential to businesses, and it doesn’t believe Ohio’s and the region’s losses are inevitable. It’s working hard and smart for change that is altering the course of dozens of UD graduates.

Although some graduating students may still leave Ohio, for many that decision will be tougher. And, while a few dozen students staying here won’t trigger an economic windfall, the philosophy that underlies the early success of these efforts can be copied. What is the Fitz Center’s secret? It’s the students themselves — with a little water and a few canoes and kayaks mixed in.

Today, the Fitz Center and the College of Arts and Sciences are basking in the admiration of the McGregor Fund, a private foundation that has committed $180,000 to UD. That money will help develop a multidisciplinary curriculum geared to developing new civic leaders who are committed to the Greater Dayton community and who are good stewards of rivers and our other natural assets.

They can — and should — be new members of our work force.

The cornerstone of this effort is that students are not only leading the process, but teaching and learning in collaboration with Dayton public- and private-sector partners. Connect these dots: talented, civic-minded students; supportive host and collaborating institutions; leaders and leadership; the river; and a growing work force contributing to the economy.

Sound fishy? Maybe not.

Founded more than 60 years before the great flood of 1913, UD is home to a relatively young Rivers Institute. What sets it apart from similarly named institutes around the world is that students have been largely responsible for its birth and evolution. Just like the curriculum development project, the Rivers Institute is a product of student leadership.

Today, the Rivers Institute promotes the mutual interest of more than three dozen river stewards earning degrees in 15 different academic areas. The stewards are enormously talented, and they share an interest in our river.

They are inspired to their cause by the river. In addition to their annual 17-mile two-day river trip, this year’s senior stewards paddled 50 miles from near Indian Lake (the headwaters of the Great Miami River) to just north of Dayton. Elected officials and other dignitaries greeted and welcomed them during their passage.

River trips bring these talented young adults one step closer to the compelling grip of our river cities. In the words of Nolan Nicaise, a 20-year-old biology major: “We’ve formed connections with our place, our city, our Dayton.”

Because the stewards are connected to the community, because they’ve learned to love the river, they will be more likely to stay here after they graduate.

They will be more likely to be an economic force and new civic leaders. Already they are leaders within the university, and some are contributing to policy discussions in city government.

The Fitz Center has discovered a recipe worth copying. Take talented students from a supportive institutional framework, put them in kayaks and canoes, add water, mix in some community partners, and let the creativity flow.

For those of us in local and regional government, the message is clear.

There is a reservoir of local university and college students, many of whom have a desire and the capacity to add value to our communities.

Our challenge is to actively and creatively engage them; to share our experiences, listen to their ideas, provide constructive input, and then to break down barriers so they can do their work.

Although it will take time to quantitatively assess the impact of the Rivers Institute, one thing is for sure, UD and its Fitz Center have not missed the boat(s).

We Are Not Alone

Every once in a while, it's good to hear that what we are doing/working towards isn't just some crazy isolated idea. While skimming the book Greenways for America by Charles E. Little, I came across a chapter entitled 'Rivers Through the City' and thought everyone could benefit from this small excerpt:

From Casper to Yakima to Asheville, greenways or greenway-like projects have been extraordinarily successful in restoring rivers to their former economic and cultural significance. New jobs, new tax ratables, new recreational opportnities, the conservation of wildlife, and the maintenance and improvement of water quality are the tangible benefits of urban greenway-making.
But there is another benefit that should not be forgotten. For a hundred years or more, urban rivers have been relegated to the ugliest of urban functions - sewage disposal, sites for heavy industry, a place to dump the refuse of the city. Inevitably, the river corridors became a kind of no-man's-land, dividing cities, economically and socially, rather than uniting them - the poor on ones side, the rich on the other.
Today, many or the ugly functions have been replaced or have simply disappeared. Much of the heavy industry has relocated, and the dumps and sewer outfalls have (or can be) eliminated. When cities discover this, the impluse is strong to establish a greenway project along the riverfront. And then a kind of miracle happens. The river begins to join the people of the city together rather than separating them; what was once an open wound begins to heal itself and the city along with it. I cannot imagine a more persuasive justification than this for greenway action.


So there it is. I hope all of you are having good summers so far and don't forget if you're in Dayton we have to get out on our river soon!
Love,
Katie

Some big rivers show a big shrinkage

MSNBC.com

Some big rivers show a big shrinkage

A third of 925 measured have changed; most of those show drop in flows

msnbc.com staff and news service reports

updated 2:31 p.m. ET, Tues., April 21, 2009

The flow of water in some of the world's largest rivers has declined over a half century, according to a new, comprehensive study whose authors tied the discovery to global warming.

An analysis of 925 major rivers from 1948 to 2004, found significant changes in about a third, according to the study appearing in the May 15 edition of the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate. Of those, rivers with decreased flow outnumbered those with increased flow by a ratio of about 2.5 to 1.

The reduction in river flow to the Pacific Ocean alone was about equal to shutting off the Mississippi River, according to the researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.

The only area showing a significant increase in flow was the Arctic, where warming conditions are increasing the snow and ice melt, said lead researchers Aiguo Dai.

While Dai cited climate change as a major factor in the changes, the paper noted that other factors are also involved, including dams and the diversion of water for agriculture and industry.

Nonetheless, he said, "long-term changes in streamflow should be a major concern under global warming," which in many areas is altering precipitation patterns and increasing the rate of evaporation.

Indeed, the researchers wrote that "for many of the world's large rivers" the effects of dams, farming and development "are likely small compared with that of climate variations during 1948-2004."

"Freshwater resources will likely decline in the coming decades over many densely populated areas at mid- to low latitudes, largely due to climate changes," Dai said. "Rapid disappearing mountain glaciers in the Tibetan plateau and other places will make matters worse."

Added co-author Kevin Trenberth: "As climate change inevitably continues in coming decades, we are likely to see greater impacts on many rivers and water resources that society has come to rely on."

Research praised for showing 'water needs'
Margaret Palmer, director of the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, called it "an important paper with new findings that are relevant to the health of river ecosystems and the people who live near or rely upon rivers to meet water needs."

"What is important from this study is these authors show that these decreases are due to a changing climate, not human activities like extractions or dam building, yet these changes will have impacts on humans and ecosystems because many of these regions have large populations and drought-stressed ecosystems," said Palmer, who was not part of the research team.

Dai, for his part, noted that "reduced runoff is increasing the pressure on freshwater resources in much of the world, especially with more demand for water as population increases. Freshwater being a vital resource, the downward trends are a great concern."

Among the rivers showing declines in flow, several serve large populations. These include the Yellow River in northern China, the Ganges in India, the Niger in West Africa and the Colorado in the southwestern United States.

On the other hand, areas with rising streamflow near the Arctic Ocean tend to have small populations.

There was considerable year-to-year variation in the flow of many rivers, but the overall trend over the period showed annual freshwater discharge into the Pacific Ocean fell by about 6 percent, or 526 cubic kilometers of water. That's close to the 552-cubic kilometer average annual flow of the Mississippi, the researchers reported.

The annual flow into the Indian Ocean dropped by about 3 percent, or 140 cubic kilometers. In contrast, annual river discharge into the Arctic Ocean rose about 10 percent, or 460 cubic kilometers. There was little change in inflow to the Atlantic Ocean, where increases in the Mississippi and Parana rivers were balanced out by decreases in the Amazon River.

A cubic kilometer is a cube one kilometer on each side. A kilometer is about six-tenths of a mile.

Discharge of river water into the oceans deposits sediment near the river mouth and also affects worldwide ocean circulation patterns, which are driven by variations in water temperature and salinity.

The changes in the freshwater discharge so far are relatively small, but Dai urged monitoring that for any long-term changes.

Mississippi rose, Columbia fell
In the United States, the flow of the Mississippi River increased by 22 percent over the period because of increased precipitation across the Midwest. On the other hand, the Columbia River's flow declined by about 14 percent, mainly because of reduced precipitation and higher water usage.

Major rivers showing declines in flow included the Amazon, Congo, Yangtze, Mekong, Ganges, Irrawaddy, Amur, Mackenzie, Xijiang, Columbia and Niger.

Declines in the Niger River in the 1970s and 1980s in particular reflected the Sahel Drought, the paper said. In addition, the periodic El Nino cooling of sea surface waters in the tropical Pacific led to lower flows in the Amazon and higher ones in the Mississippi when the phenomenon was in effect.

The rivers studied drain water from every major landmass except Antarctica and Greenland, NCAR said in a statement, and account for 73 percent of the world's total stream flow.

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30326211/

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© 2009 MSNBC.com

Rivers shrinking: Flow of many rivers in decline

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer Randolph E. Schmid, Ap Science Writer Tue Apr 21, 5:21 pm ET

WASHINGTON – The flow of water in the world's largest rivers has declined over the past half-century, with significant changes found in about a third of the big rivers. An analysis of 925 major rivers from 1948 to 2004 showed an overall decline in total discharge.

The reduction in inflow to the Pacific Ocean alone was about equal to shutting off the Mississippi River, according to the new study appearing in the May 15 edition of the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate.

The only area showing a significant increase in flow was the Arctic, where warming conditions are increasing the snow and ice melt, said researchers led by Aiguo Dai of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.

"Freshwater resources will likely decline in the coming decades over many densely populated areas at mid- to low latitudes, largely due to climate changes, Dai said. "Rapid disappearing mountain glaciers in the Tibetan plateau and other places will make matters worse."

Added co-author Kevin Trenberth, "As climate change inevitably continues in coming decades, we are likely to see greater impacts on many rivers and water resources that society has come to rely on."

While Dai cited climate change as a major factor in the changes, the paper noted that other factors are also involved, including dams and the diversion of water for agriculture and industry.

Nonetheless, he said, "long-term changes in streamflow should be a major concern under global warming."

Indeed, the researchers wrote that "for many of the world's large rivers the effects of human activities on yearly streamflow are likely small compared with that of climate variations during 1948-2004."

"This is an important paper with new findings that are relevant to the health of river ecosystems and the people who live near or rely upon rivers to meet water needs," said Margaret A. Palmer, director of the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.

"What is important from this study is these authors show that these decreases are due to a changing climate, not human activities like extractions or dam building, yet these changes will have impacts on humans and ecosystems because many of these regions have large populations and drought-stressed ecosystems," said Palmer, who was not part of the research team.

Among the rivers showing declines in flow, several serve large populations. These include the Yellow River in northern China, the Ganges in India, the Niger in West Africa and the Colorado in the southwestern United States.

On the other hand, areas with rising streamflow near the Arctic Ocean tend to have small populations.

There was considerable year-to-year variation in the flow of many rivers, but the overall trend over the period showed annual freshwater discharge into the Pacific Ocean fell by about 6 percent, or 526 cubic kilometers of water. That's close to the 552-cubic kilometer average annual flow of the Mississippi, the researchers reported.

The annual flow into the Indian Ocean dropped by about 3 percent, or 140 cubic kilometers. In contrast, annual river discharge into the Arctic Ocean rose about 10 percent, or 460 cubic kilometers. There was little change in inflow to the Atlantic Ocean, where increases in the Mississippi and Parana rivers were balanced out by decreases in the Amazon River.

A cubic kilometer is a cube one kilometer on each side. A kilometer is about six-tenths of a mile.

Discharge of river water into the oceans deposits sediment near the river mouth and also affects worldwide ocean circulation patterns, which are driven by variations in water temperature and salinity.

In the United States, the flow of the Mississippi River increased by 22 percent over the period because of increased precipitation across the Midwest. On the other hand, the Columbia River's flow declined by about 14 percent, mainly because of reduced precipitation and higher water usage.

Major rivers showing declines in flow included the Amazon, Congo, Changjiang (Yangtze), Mekong, Ganges, Irrawaddy, Amur, Mackenzie, Xijiang, Columbia and Niger.

Declines in the Niger River in the 1970s and 1980s in particular reflected the Sahel Drought, the paper said. In addition, the periodic El Nino cooling of sea surface waters in the tropical Pacific led to lower flows in the Amazon and higher ones in the Mississippi when the phenomenon was in effect.

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation.

Other Dayton blogs to look into

dayton.mostmetro.com 

fortheloveofdayton.wordpress.com

Hypoxia

I originally wrote this for water words, but it works with the article Emily provided. So in 200ish words heres what I have to say about the hypoxia issue...

Dayton to Louisiana!

                Flowing from your drain, storm sewers, and farm fields, to the Great Miami River, south to the Ohio River, meandering southwest towards a rendezvous with the Mississippi, flowing down the estuaries through the depleted Louisiana wetlands, water with excessive nutrient levels meets the poorly mixed water of the Gulf to form the second largest human-caused hypoxic zone in the world. Such hypoxic zones result in massive fish kills and the devastation of shellfish beds. The death toll results from low dissolved oxygen content of hypoxic zones, where dissolved oxygen levels below 2 mg/L are insufficient for the survival of many species. The input of unnaturally high levels nitrogen from sources, such as fertilizers, leads to algal blooms. These photosynthetic algae and phytoplankton form the base of the aquatic food chain and fuel greater respiration in the ecosystem resulting in greater rates of oxygen depletion, espcially as the algal blooms decompose.

Ninety percent of the nutrient input to the Gulf comes from the Mississippi River which drains a huge portion of the North American continent, including water from Dayton. The huge area of the watershed is matched by the huge diversity of the constituent land, which ranges from rural and agricultural to highly urbanized. Thus a wide array of opportunities for improving the situation is presented to us, primarily reducing the use of artificial fertilizers.

Climate Change: One Light Bulb at a Time?

Climate Change, One Light Bulb at a Time?
NY Times
By Bryan Walsh Thursday, Nov. 08, 2007

If today's youth are supposed to be politically apathetic, more engaged in Facebook than the fate of the world, no one told Jessy Tolkan. The 26-year-old activist spent Nov. 2 to 5 in Washington at the Power Shift summit, where over 6,000 college students from every state in the country gathered to agitate for federal action on climate change. For Tolkan, the executive director for the Energy Action Coalition, an umbrella group of youth-oriented environmental groups that helped organize the conference, Power Shift was "by far the most incredible thing that I have ever experienced in my life. I'm going to be running off that energy for a long time."
Energy — and results — is something that the campaign to create political action on climate change in the U.S. has often lacked. Over the past few years there has been a grassroots groundswell on global warming, but the focus has been on personal action, small behavioral changes individuals can make — or more often, buy — to reduce their impact on the Earth. It's the light bulb theory — switch your wasteful incandescent lights for more energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs, and you're doing your bit to save the planet.

But while individual action is important — and the increasing ubiquity of green consumerism is a sign that the business world is getting the environmental message — the sheer scale of the climate challenge is so overwhelming that only a worldwide revolution in the way we use energy will be enough to stave off the worst consequences. That requires far-sighted political action from the top, starting in the capital of the world's biggest carbon emitter: Washington. Unfortunately, while scattered cities and states across America have begun to move on climate change — Gov. Schwarzenegger, take a bow — the federal government has been more roadblock than revolutionary.

That will change only if politicians hear loud and clear that global warming matters to Americans, not just in the brand of light bulbs they buy, but where they cast their vote. The focus on individual solutions "rings hollow to a lot of people," says Jesse Jenkins, a member of the Cascade Climate Network and an environmental blogger. "The solution is to organize and organize and organize." And the agents of that change will be young people like Jenkins and Tolkan, the college-age members of the Millennial generation, born after 1980. These post Cold War kids have grown up with the threat of global warming — just as their parents grew up with the fear of nuclear war — and they know that they'll be left to cope with a warmer world tomorrow if nothing is done to slow carbon emissions today.

So can Millennials shake off their reputation for apathy and create environmental change on a national level? Last weekend suggests they might be on their way. At the Power Shift conference, student activists gave testimony to members of Congress and demanded a slew of aggressive measures on climate change, including a 30% cut in carbon emissions by 2020 and 80% cuts by 2050. While students marched on Washington, activists from around the country launched Step It Up 2 on Nov. 3, a nationwide, single-day campaign to kickstart political movement on climate change. (The first Step It Up day of action happened in April.) The brainchild of environmentalist and author Bill McKibben and a group of students from Middlebury College, Step It Up aims to shove global warming to the center of the national political agenda, and it's exactly the sort of sustained campaign needed to make climate change matter at the ballot box. (Listen to McKibben talk about Step It Up on this Greencast.)

For the Millennials, climate change is emerging as the defining issue of their time, just as civil rights or Vietnam might have been for the generation before. "This is a new generation that sees itself at the forefront of a great movement, just like the greatest movements of the past," says Tolkan. With health care, Iraq and the economy all jostling for voters' attention, it remains to be seen whether climate change — still an amorphous threat to most Americans — can seize center stage, but Washington should know that there is a growing core of young activists out there who care about nothing more. "This past weekend, we gave politicians a bit of a heads up that we're watching and we're demanding change," says Katelyn McCormick, a 20-year-old junior at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. "We've said what we want and now it's time for them to do something about it." With the Millennials set to be the largest demographic bloc in America history, it might be time for Washington to listen.

_________________________________________________________________

So, I found this article and thought it was relevant because Powershift 2009 is coming up, and it seemed related to the conversations we had last time. There are several aspects of this article that I find thought-provoking.

It is interesting to me that this writer claims climate change is the "civil rights" or "Vietnam" of our time because, at first glance, climate change seems less profound in its relation to Americans. I don't think any of us would charge climate change with the death or oppression of many, and maybe that is part of the problem. We see climate change as something far off, something that doesn't directly affect us, but that could someday affect us, so we should start worrying about it sometime in the near future. We don't see climate or energy issues as issues of social justice, but they often are. Often the poorest communities are the ones who bear the brunt of pollution and would benefit the most from a cost-effective and earth-friendly energy solution. I think this is part of the problem. We might ask, then, what other aspects that we don't think about are perpetuating a cultural numbness to climate change?

Another thing to consider is the fact that this article is a little out-of-date. It was written pre-election, so the focus is on pushing votes as a catalyst for action. Now the way we might look at this issue is a little different. If we can't use votes to make change happen, what can we do? What does it say about our nation that it takes leverage to force stewardship of our resources? Do the small changes we put into action actually make a difference?

I'm excited to hear your thoughts! :)
-Tracey

Senior Project Ideas (2010 Cohort)

Hi all--

In class on Friday we discussed ideas for our River Steward Senior Project. None of this is set in stone, but I volunteered to write a summary of our collective thoughts so Franz and Katie could see them and contribute, (as well as others if you would like)! Here it goes:

The first topic which came up is whether or not this would be an individual endeavor or not... and after we sort of decided, well, not...then this came up: The heavily awaited, much anticipated Great Miami River Corridor Canoe/Kayak/Camp Trip! We thought we could turn this trip which we have always talked about into our project by bringing out particular skill sets together to record, experience, plan, etc. to create some sort of presentation to show our community (perhaps at the River Summit? Our River Stewards Graduation?). This would be somewhat of a glorified documentary of all of the aspects of the GMR corridor we could get our hand on and minds around. For example, maybe we could do some biological testing along the way, photography, video taping, local school kid experiences, business planning, engineering ideas, networking, FUN, etc. Some aspects we have to initially worry about are feasibility and safety. Some of us will need to become Kayak certified instructors/have some sort of water safety certification. We were thinking that perhaps this summer some of us could work on doing this. Karen will be contacting Amy Dingle from FRO and Tracey will be contacting Dusty from MVCD to gather their thoughts and advice. Maggie will be talking to her roommate who is on SGA; she previously mentioned to her the possibility of $1,000 grant which we could apply for if we had a project. Maggie will be inviting her to our class next Friday to speak to us. Drew will be looking at maps, possible start and stop points, camping locations, and come up with a rough estimate of how long this might take us. Sam will go to the LTC to see if they would lend us video equipment to take along (we won't mention the water at first...). Jessie will be at the Rec working on her kayaking muscles so we can all hook up to her boat when we are dog tired and she will paddle us home!

As a side note, Drew's thesis involves using the GMR for geothermal energy and working closely with Dusty (correct me if that's wrong Drew!) So he will probably be using this as his Senior project (two birds, one stone deal) but he, of course, wants to River Trip with us anyway!

Another thing we hope to create from the trip is a Green Map of our Corridor. This can have a lot of things on it, like good places to eat, site to see, good places to fish, etc. Katie, Emily, Tim and I were first introduced to this idea this summer on our adventure to Columbus. Click here to see their map. To see the Green Map Home Page, Click there.

Okay, that's all for now, post new ideas/suggestions/comments/concerns!

River love to all! I'm so excited for this!

Liz