January’s Environmental Professionals Network breakfast program has a big title for a big topic — in fact, for four very closely related topics. It’s called “Global Warming. You and Me. Energy Audits. Money in Your Pocket. Cleaner Air. More Comfortable Home. Help Is Available. Don’t Procrastinate.” It’s from 7:15 to 9:30 a.m. Jan. 11 in The Ohio State University’s Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center, 2201 Fred Taylor Drive in Columbus. And it features talks by four Ohio experts — led by renowned climatologist Lonnie Thompson, Distinguished University Professor in Ohio State’s School of Earth Sciences and senior research scientist with the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center — on a theme of climate and energy.
The safety of Ohio’s drinking water will be in the spotlight during the December breakfast program by the Environmental Professionals Network. Mike Baker, chief of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s Division of Drinking and Ground Waters, will present “Lead in Drinking Water: Ohio Leads the Way. What More Is Needed?” as part of the program, which goes from 7:15 to 9:30 a.m. on Dec. 2 at The Ohio State University in Columbus. The network is a service of Ohio State’s School of Environment and Natural Resources, part of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.
An upcoming event at The Ohio State University will feature the ambitious new National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), whose contractor, the Battelle Memorial Institute, is based in Columbus. Gene Kelly, visiting head scientist at NEON’s Boulder, Colorado, headquarters, will present “The National Ecological Observatory Network: Using Ecological Science to Better Understand Our World” to headline the Nov. 10 breakfast program by the Ohio State-based Environmental Professionals Network (EPN). The NEON project, when complete, will gather vast amounts of data, or “big data,” on how America’s biodiversity and natural resources are changing because of climate change, land-use change and invasive species. It’s funded by $469 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Officials expect completion by late 2017.
Susan Weber of Columbus-based Integrity Sustainable Planning and Design will headline the next breakfast of the Environmental Professionals Network on Aug. 9 at The Ohio State University. Weber, an expert on sustainable landscape design, will present “Transforming Our Yards: Doing More for Family and Community” as part of the 7:15 to 10:20 a.m. event in Ohio State’s Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center at 2201 Fred Taylor Drive in Columbus. She’ll look at alternatives to growing just lawns, including using the space for trees, wildlife habitat, bee and butterfly gardens, and fruit and vegetable plantings. Benefits can include fresh food for the home, “discovery” spaces for children, less time spent mowing and lower carbon emissions.
This month’s breakfast presentation by the Environmental Professionals Network, which includes an optional joint meeting with the Water Management Association of Ohio, will feature three major initiatives aimed at protecting and improving water quality.
“The importance of water is increasingly on the public’s mind, which is good, but the challenges are significant,” said David Hanselmann, the network’s coordinator and a lecturer in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences at The Ohio State University.
A Nov. 17 event at The Ohio State University will look at making the Columbus area more livable and walkable down the road. Hosted by the Ohio State-based Environmental Professionals Network, the program will feature a new central Ohio planning effort called insight2050. Insight2050 aims to help communities plan for development and population growth over the next 30-plus years “that is expected to be dramatically different from the past,” according to its website.
Four religious leaders with roots in Ohio will speak in a panel discussion called “Faiths Worldwide Tackle Environmental Challenges” on Oct. 13 at The Ohio State University. The event is part of a monthly breakfast program series hosted by the Ohio State-based Environmental Professionals Network, a statewide professional networking group. “We’ll hear from outstanding religious leaders at local and national levels about their faiths’ approaches and rationales for environmental stewardship,” said David Hanselmann, the network’s coordinator and a lecturer in Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.
Joe Gies, who turned a 500-year flood into a better future for his hometown in north-central Ohio, will speak Aug. 11 at The Ohio State University as part of the Environmental Professionals Network Breakfast Club series. The network is a service of the School of Environment and Natural Resources in Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. Gies is project coordinator for Shelby, Ohio, which in 2007 saw historic flooding from the Black Fork River. Afterward, Gies helped the city get funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program to reduce future flooding damage. Redevelopment efforts included buying and tearing down more than 50 flood-damaged homes and several downtown buildings, then developing a master plan for the newly created green space. Projects include a downtown park called Black Fork Commons, riverside walking trails and an amphitheater.
Water quality is the focus of next week's Environmental Professionals Network breakfast program. CFAES Dean Bruce McPheron will moderate a panel discussion featuring the directors of the Ohio Department of Agriculture, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, and Ohio Department of Natural Resources — David Daniels, Scott Nally, and Jim Zehringer, respectively — who will speak on Ohio’s programs and policies to control nutrient runoff and protect and improve water quality.
