Follow Dr. Meg Lowman as she travels to Ethiopia to help save the Church Forests of Ethiopia. Updates will be posted under the Ethiopia category of the CanopyMeg blog as well as on:

Ethiopia Trip Sponsers: National Geographic, TREE Foundation, and NC Museum of Natural Sciences.

Ciegler, J. C. 2010. Weevils of South Carolina (Coleoptera: Nemonychidae, Attelabidae, Brentidae, Ithyceridae, and Curculionidae). Biota of South Carolina. Vol. 6. Clemson University, Clemson, S. C. 276 pp.

This book contains keys, descriptions, drawings, and photographs of 522 species of weevils found or likely to occur in South Carolina, USA (exclusive of Scolytinae and Apioninae). Appendices include host plants, new state records, aquatic and semiaquatic forms. The book may be purchased for $40.00 (shipping & handling included) from: Public Service Room, 96 Poole Agricultural Center, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634-0129, or online from http://clemson.edu/psapublishing.

From the Times of India:

Directorate of tourism, Andaman and Nicobar administration invites proposals for development of canopy walkways project in Andaman & Nicobar Islands under item rate base offer.

Details:

Click for larger image

Please welcome our first TREE student leadership fellow. Taylor is our first student officer for TREE, as part of our new outreach to educate young people about non-profit management. Welcome, Taylor.

Taylor Jamrok graduated from New College of Florida in 2009 after studying environmental issues, sustainable development, economics and business. His final thesis combined many of these interests as he organized a team of developers to produce energy conservation software that would increase the efficiency of computer networks by eliminating corporate costs and carbon footprints. His interests in computer technologies also includes web design, programming, and graphic design. After founding the Jamrok Consulting Group during his senior year of high school, Taylor has worked with numerous clients in Sarasota and his hometown of Florence, South Carolina. Here he was directly involved with the technical development of the Pee Dee Land Trust, helped establish an Internet-based tracking system for threatened raptor species, and has worked closely with various nonprofit organizations.Taylor enjoys hiking and kayaking at local state parks, exploring speleological sites in the southeast and cooking fresh foods grown in his backyard organic garden. He is currently a supervisor at a local branch of the Department of Commerce and the new Vice President of Development for TREE.

Dr. Meg Lowman was a visiting James Martin Fellow at the Center for Tropical Forestry in the Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University during spring 2010. During this time, she conducted workshops for Earthwatch Institute at their European headquarters, directed by Nigel Winser (www.earthwatch.org) . She also lectured for the Environmental Change Institute on Plant-Insect Interactions in Forest Canopies, and on Women in Science — Challenges in Field Biology. She also worked with Global Canopy Programme staff (www.gcp.org) headed up by Andrew Mitchell, whose group has created the Little REDD Book to create metrics for reducing deforestation as part of global climate change strategies.
With colleagues, she visited research projects at Whytham Woods outside Oxford, including their canopy walkway (see photos).
During her Fellowship, Lowman was hosted by world-acclaimed artist Angela Palmer, whose exhibit called Ghost Forest has been viewed by millions of people and called attention to climate change and tropical deforestation. Palmer and Lowman hope to collaborate in future on programs to integrate art and science. For more on Ghost Forests, see www.ghostforest.com

TREE Foundation is celebrating its 10th birthday in 2010, as well as the 10th anniversary of our flagship project, the Myakka River State Park canopy walkway. Over the past 10 years, thousands of visitors have learned about forest canopies by walking through the treetops, and hundreds of thousands of additional visitors to our websites have learned about forest conservation. In honor of our decadal birthday, TREE is launching a tree-planting project for southwest Florida. Beginning on April 22 (Earth Day), TREE is partnering with Turner Tree and Landscape of Bradenton, Florida to plant out four-foot high native live oak trees (Quercus virginiana) at sites that need greening. For every $100 donated to the canopy walkway or to TREE’s environmental education programs, two trees will be planted in your honor. This project will not only add much-needed canopy shade to southwest Florida, but it will also boost our environmental programs with your generous contributions. Thank you, Turner Tree and Landscape, for this partnership!
Thank you for your support of Tree Research, Education and Exploration!

Donation information

Would You Know What To Do With A Python?
Would You Know What Not To Do?

To date, several large Pythons have been reported in Sarasota County. We need your eyes to spot them so we can catch them before they spread further.

Python Patrol Workshop

Monday, April 26, 2010
Session 1: 9 am - 12 pm
Session 2: 1 pm - 4 pm

Sainer Pavilion
New College of Florida

Space is limited. To register for this FREE workshop, go to the following website:
http://pythonpatrol.eventbrite.com/

PDF Flyer

Reposted from ncf.edu:

Join New Topics New College for a visual tour of the places in the world most affected by climate change, from the poles to mountains and our cities, and some of the actions being taken to combat the warming, presented by Gary Braasch, an explorer and photojournalist from Portland, Oregon. Braasch is an environmental photojournalist who creates remarkable images and important documentation about nature, environment, biodiversity and global warming. Included will be images from Florida and the Atlantic Coast, underscoring the local effects and dangers of rapid climate change. Braasch recently reported and photographed from the Copenhagen international climate negotiations last December, and will offer his perspective on the direction being taken by the world’s nations in reacting to and reducing global warming. The talk will take place at the Mildred Sainer Pavilion (5313 Bay Shore Road) on March 9, 2010 at 4:00 pm. Tickets are $15. For more information or to make a reservation, please call the New College Events Hotline at (941) 497-4888 or email events@ncf.edu.

Tuesday, March 9 at 4:00 pm

“Climate Change – a Visual World View of Global Warming”
Gary Braasch, explorer and environmental photojournalist
Faculty host: Meg Lowman, professor of biology and environmental studies, New College of Florida
Underwritten by the TREE Foundation

New Topics New College is a collaboration of the New College Foundation and New College of Florida. This dynamic community series pairs prominent national speakers with New College faculty for stimulating discussions on relevant topics of our time. A reception follows each program and provides an opportunity to meet the speakers, students and faculty.

New Flier

From Dr. Margaret Lowman (aka CanopyMeg):

In less than a week, the United Nations Framework on Climate Change Convention opens in Copenhagen, Denmark. Abbreviated as UNFCCC or COP15 (which stands for Council of Parties, now in its 15th year), these meetings are highly anticipated by governments, industry, scientists, and citizens worldwide. I am humbled and honored to have a Press Pass from the New York Times to attend these meetings, and report back to their regional Florida paper, the Sarasota Herald Tribune. With Twitter, Facebook, and blogging, I hope to share the announcements, findings, side events, and diverse groups represented in Copenhagen. From the Girl Scouts to Environmental Defense, from Harvard University to the government of Papua New Guinea, voices around the world will speak out about climate change, in hopes of influencing future policies. I will also be reporting scientific information directly to our Florida cabinet, in my role as climate change adviser to our state CFO, Alex Sink.

My first assignment for COP15 was attendance at a Press Briefing in Bonn, Germany on November 25 …. via internet! At this introductory session, it was made clear that there is no Plan B for failure at Copenhagen, only Plan A (and A stands for Action). It is also clear from the scientific record that unseasonable climatic conditions are already stressing many developing countries and resulting in tragic loss of human life. Droughts in Africa, storm surges flooding Pacific Islands, and monsoons accompanied by flood damage along the coasts of Asia are threatening millions of citizens. Is climate change a consequence of human activities? The scientific consensus is a strong YES. But regardless of anyone’s opinion about the answer to that question, all global leaders agree on three issues:

1. More people are currently at risk (as compared to the past) from climatic extremes;
2. Our already- declining, finite supplies of some natural resources (e.g. forests, coral reefs, mangroves, etc.) are in danger of disappearing, if international agreements are not reached; and
3. The meetings in Copenhagen require strong initiatives, goals, and cooperation.

The outcome of these meetings needs to prioritize safe, low-emissions growth for all developing countries; and new, clean-energy technologies for developed countries. Poor nations are currently at risk due a history of high levels of consumption and carbon dioxide emissions from developed countries. For most international leaders, this poses an ethical dilemma that requires immediate attention. In fact, most leaders agree that it is overdue for urgent action to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions and moderate extreme climatic events.

What will define success for COP15? Industrialized countries need to declare strict targets by pledging immediate emissions cuts by 2020, thereby averting more serious climatic extremes. (Russia recently pledged to reduce its emissions by 22-25% over 1990 levels which is an exciting, recent announcement.) Second, developing countries need to define their goals more clearly. For example, Brazil has pledged to reduce emissions by 36-39% from current levels, and South Korea by 30%. These announcements are truly exemplary. Third, clarity on the finance to support developing countries is critical to the UNFCCC agenda; wealthy countries need to fund the reduction of carbon emissions and/or pay credits for their history of excessive emissions. And fourth, international agreement on how such funds will be deployed and how emissions will be monitored is a final priority for the agenda. All of these actions require international cooperation. Scientists and policy-makers agree that the destruction of forests, the melting of glaciers, and the expansion of infectious diseases are suicidal for humankind. So, all countries anticipate a spirit of cooperation and creativity to succeed in Copenhagen.

If there is no success at COP15, then the future is certainly jeopardized for our children. The stakes are high. Creating international standards to insure clean air, water, and sustainable use of resources for the next generation is critical, with our global population predicted to reach 8 billion over the next two decades.

So, watch for developments about the Copenhagen meetings on the Herald-Tribune Blog, CanopyMeg Blog, Twitter (canopymeg), Facebook (Meg Lowman). I will be doing my utmost to keep our community informed about COP15.

The Rolex Awards for Enterprise: Young Laureates Programme Press Release:

GENEVA, September 30, 2009 – Ten leading international figures in science, the environment and exploration will select the first five winners of the recently launched Rolex Awards for Enterprise: Young Laureates Programme, Rolex announced today.

A geographically and professionally diverse group, the inaugural jury for the Young Laureates Programme will meet at Rolex headquarters in Geneva in early March 2010 to select the five budding pioneers between the ages of 18 and 30 who will be the first Young Laureates. The winners will be announced in April 2010.

Full Press Release