Watershed Stewards Academy

     The Anne Arundel Department of Public Works and Arlington Echo have joined forces to create the Watershed Stewards Academy.  This program is intended to "train community leaders...to reduce the negative impacts of stormwater runoff in Anne Arundel County."  Participants go through 12 training courses over the course of 5 months that culminates in a community Capstone Project.  Most classes take place locally at Arlington Echo.  Once completed the certification, participants will be qualified as Master Watershed Stewards and will serve as a resource to the community at large as to how to keep our waterways clean and protected.  If this interests you, there are only two more informational sessions left (one is tommorow) which you must attend one of in order to register for this program.
     Even if you are not interested in becoming a Master Watershed Steward, you can certainly use the resources of those who already have completed the certification.  Use the website below to find and contact local stewards.  They can talk to you on subjects such as Reducing Pollution, Capturing Stormwater, Cleaning up invasive species, and Land Preservation.
What can you do to protect our waterways today?

Anne Arundel Watershed Stewards Academy

Solar Desalination

     In the deserts north of the Dead Sea, (and in many other parts of the world), growing crops is challenging.  These locations get little to no rainwater, so every drop of water counts for survival of people and their food.
     New research by engineers in Isreal have come up with a way to use the salty water that is abundant in aquifers far below the surface of the desert.  Previously, one obvious problem has been desalinating the water so it can be used on crops.  These researchers have developed a filter that uses much less energy than current standard technology, making it able to be run from small solar arrays.  At the same time, they are experimenting with crops that actually like the saline wastewater which is a by-product of the desalination.  In this way they are hoping to be able to provide low cost, off the grid solutions to countries in the Middle East and Africa that "are losing ground to desertification."   Thanks to these engineers, what was previously a difficult venture could soon become a new mode of sustainable agriculture.

Check out the full article below

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Back to School

Just in time for your last minute back to school shopping..... this article from Earthtechling shows some great green products and gadgets that will help to reduce waste and encourage recycling.


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