Join GOMMEA on a Whale Watch, one of the field trips for the 2021 NMEA Conference.
We’ll depart from the harbor in Rye, NH at 2:00 (Granite State Whale Watch).
Registration is through the NMEA website:
https://www.marine-ed.org/conference/2021/fieldtrips
The first Gulf of Maine EcoArts project is a multi-year art/science/educational initiative that focuses on the changes in biodiversity in the Gulf due to climate change and other human impact.
Making art, and out of the activity of making art, awakening a sense of connection–to the teeming life in the Gulf of Maine, to the science and the scientists who are busy seeking ways to sustain that life, to the students, teachers, climate activists, and fellow artists who are collectively inviting us to take up our destiny as stewards—this is what the project is all about.
Goals: To promote stewardship and awareness by reconnecting people with the natural world – to our neighbors in the Gulf of Maine. We are all related to and connected with each other. We are the Wild.
The central piece – a fictional Ecosystem: A 12’x24’x30’ sculpture, film installation featuring a 24 foot North Atlantic Right whale, and a selection of other endangered and threatened marine denizens, will be designed and built by six professional Maine sculptors and filmmakers and about two hundred students ranging from middle-school through college level.
The sculpture will be made with 95% beach debris and recycled, re-purposed materials.
First venue: Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, East Boothbay, Maine – Summer/Fall 2021.
http://www.gulfofmaineecoarts.org/the-project/
A Remote Professional Development Institute for Grades 6-12 Educators
2021 Summer Professional Development Institutes: My Soda Bottle Ended Up Where?
Virtual Sessions July 19-23 (8:30 AM – 1:30 PM EST)
Course includes 5 virtual sessions plus 15 hours of online learning.
Follow the journey of plastics in our environment through themes of chemistry, sustainability, and engineering. Learn why ocean plastics have become an environmental and human health concern in both coastal and inland areas. Investigate how new technologies are being used to reduce plastic waste by turning plastic waste into useful products and providing sustainable options for alternative materials.
A Remote Professional Development Institute for Grades 6-12 Educators
2021 Summer Professional Development Institutes: How Does Your Dinner Grow?
Virtual Sessions July 7, 9, 12, 14, 16 (8:30 AM – 1:30 PM EST)
Course includes 5 virtual sessions plus 15 hours of online learning.
Get a behind-the-scenes look at the science, technology, and engineering involved in agriculture and other aspects of food production. Understand the food production systems at local, national, and global levels and evaluate the interdependent relationships these systems create between human health, ecosystems, and the global environment. Explore common and innovative practices for sustainable food production and follow the path of food from farm to table to waste stream.
A Remote Professional Development Institute for Grades 3-8 Educators
2021 Summer Professional Development Institutes: Landscapes on the Move
Virtual Sessions July 7, 8, 13, 14, 15 (8:30 AM – 1:30 PM EST)
Course includes 5 virtual sessions plus 15 hours of online learning.
Dig into the geology of New England and learn how our landscape is continually forming and eroding. Discover the role of glaciers in shaping the New England landscape, including kettle ponds and glacial potholes on the Cape and drumlins around Massachusetts Bay. Investigate and analyze other changes in our physical environment from landslides to shifting shorelines. Throughout the course, apply scientific and engineering principles to monitor these changes to the geological landscape around us.
A Remote Professional Development Institute for Grades 3-8 Educators
2021 Summer Professional Development Institutes: Seasons and Cycles
Overview
This workshop features presentations by staff from the Maine Division of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s Beginning with Habitat program, and an interactive online map viewing session.
WHO should attend: Conservation commissioners, planning board members, other municipal board members, municipal staff, community volunteers
Program Details
Presenters: Amanda Cross, Program Coordinator, and Michelle Warner, Cartographer, Beginning with Habitat, Maine Division of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife
Beginning with Habitat helps Maine municipalities make scientifically informed choices about where to encourage development and where to focus their conservation efforts. The program houses the most comprehensive information on the location and quality of waters, wetlands, plant and animal habitats, and large unfragmented landscapes statewide. Much of this information is available online through their maps database, and they also provide every Maine town with three primary maps and three supplemental maps with a range of information specific to their location.
Ms. Cross and Ms. Warner will discuss their Beginning with Habitat Toolbox, outlining conservation strategies such as comprehensive and open space planning, land use ordinance tools, wetland and shoreland zoning tools, and financing. During the second half of the program, participants will work in small groups to dive into the online map viewer and learn about natural resources in their communities.
This is a free event.
Casco Bay Coastal Academy announces May 6 workshop, It All Begins with Habitat
Join us (virtually) on May 1, 2021 for the Annual Meeting! This year’s theme is “Climate Change on Our Ocean Planet.”
Arctic Meltdown: Why it matters to all of us
Dr. Jennifer Francis, Senior Scientist Woodwell Climate Research Center
The Changing Ocean South of New England: Technology and community
Dr. Glen Gawarkiewicz, Senior Scientist Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
For more information and to register, visit: https://www.massachusettsmarineeducators.org/annual-meeting-and-conference-at-woods-hole
April 20 at 1:00 PM: Student and Early Career Webinar: Jennie Rheuban of Woods Hole Sea Grant and Parker Gassett of Maine Sea Grant.
Upcoming webinars: May 13 and June 3.
https://www.marine-ed.org/conference/2021
Our conference theme is “Your Connection to Water,” focusing on our personal connection to water, as well as the virtual connection we have all become so familiar. Please consider submitting your presentation that can support the conference theme and/or the mission of NMEA.
Presentations will be virtual, using Zoom videoconferencing and the Whova App. NMEA will set up your presentation Zoom link. Session lengths are set at 30 or 12 minutes long, and a poster session option may be available. Please ensure that presentations submitted for consideration are modified for the virtual learning environment.Conference Dates: July 14-17, 2021
Time: 2:00-6:00 pm Eastern
July 14-16
Plenary Speakers, Concurrent Sessions, and Networking
July 15
Student Conference
July 17
GOMMEA Regional Field Trip: Details coming soon!
