At the Annual Gathering of the Wellness Coalition-Avalon East on January 28th, we will be seeking nominations for the position of co-chair of the steering committee for the coalition. This position is currently held by Greg Noel of The Lung Association NL. As per our terms of reference, this position is for a two year term and Greg has completed this. Please consider nominating a member of the coalition or putting yourself forward for this role. Further details are below. Please contact Heather Powell (contact details below) by January 26^th if interested in making a nomination or if you have questions.

Steering Committee:

Leadership will be shared via a co-chair model. One co-chair position shall be permanently held by a Health Promotion staff from Eastern Health. The second shall be a coalition member, not employed by Eastern Health. This co-chair shall be elected by the membership for a two year term at the Annual Gathering and will have a minimum of one year participation in the coalition.

Commitment includes

• Attending/chairing steering committee meetings which are a minimum of every two months
• participating in provincial coalition meetings which includes a conference call 2 – 3 times a year and two face-to-face meetings twice yearly (usually 1.5 day duration)
• assisting to develop the annual coalition report and work plan
• potentially taking a lead role in any number of broad coalition initiatives such as the community grants program, website maintenance, communication to members, or general coalition promotion,
• serving as a coalition representative

Heather Powell

Health Promotion Wellness Consultant

Health Promotion Division, Eastern Health

3rd Floor Viking Building, Crosbie Road

(709) 752-4912 (T); (709) 752-4833 (F)

heather.powell@easternhealth.ca

NLEE Connections Event – Screening of the educational film “Play Again”.

What are the consequences of a childhood removed from nature? One generation from now most people in the U.S. will have spent more time in the virtual world than in nature. New media technologies have improved our lives in countless ways; information now appears with a click, overseas friends are part of our daily lives, and even grandma loves Wii. But what are we missing when we are behind screens? And how will this impact our children, our society, and eventually, our planet?

Newfoundland and Labrador Environmental Educators (NLEE), in partnership with the Newfoundland and Labrador Environment Network, and the Suncor Energy Fluvarium will be holding a FREE Connections Event to screen “Play Again” to the public.

Date: Thursday, February 3^rd
Time: 7:00 – 9:00 pm
Location: The Suncor Energy Fluvarium, St. John’s.

Parents, teachers, youth, educators, community members – all are welcome to attend! There will be networking after the film; coffee, tea and snacks will be provided.

To learn more about this film, please watch the below trailers or visit: www.playagainfilm.com

TRAILER 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ3J0szCGqk

TRAILER 2 (with David Suzuki): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erVmBIx2lUY&feature=related

For more information about the event, please contact Stephanie Simms at info@nlee.ca, or call 709-753-7848.

Please see Play Again Information for EXTRA INFORMATION on the film’s background, synopsis and directors.

This event is made possible thanks to funding from the Wellness Coalition-Avalon East and the Suncor Energy Fluvarium.

** We hope to screen “Play Again” in more communities across the province! Please contact the NLEN if you’d like the film screened in your community. **

“SPRING CAMP – 2011”

AT THE SUNCOR ENERGY FLUVARIUM!

April 25 – 29, 2011

Registration begins now for The Suncor Energy Fluvarium spring day camp program.

The Suncor Energy Fluvarium Announces:

Riparian Mysteries – Spring Day Camp 2011

for ages 9-12.

This is an ideal camp for young people who want to better understand the natural world around them.  With The Fluvarium and all of Long Pond for us to explore … Imagine yourself as a creature in the natural world … Explore the lives of the creatures in the riparian zone … Discover how we are all connected.

With access to the beautiful ecosystems of Pippy Park, and the spectacular underwater view of Nagle’s Hill Brook, The Suncor Energy Fluvarium offers a spring day camp like no other!

Who:  Children ages 9 – 12

When:  April 25 – 29, 2011

Cost: $135 per one-week session.

Registration is limited to 10 participants.

First come first served, space fills quickly.

For More Information Contact:

Denise Hennebury – Environmental Interpreter and Camp Coordinator

754-3474 or dhennebury@fluvarium.ca

For members and friends of the Humber Natural History Society:

WINTER BIRDS IN AND AROUND THE HARBOUR

Did you know there are five or six species of gull that can be seen around Corner Brook? Do you know there are four or more species of duck that spend the winter in the harbour? Join members of the Humber Natural History on a field trip to see these winged neighbours and learn how to tell them apart. Learn where the best vantage points are to see the harbour birds.

Saturday, Jan 22, 2011 at 10 AM

Meet in the Corner Brook Plaza Parking lot towards the Zeller’s end, overlooking Confederation Drive – look for people with binoculars. Depending on the number of people we may divide into small groups.

Bring binoculars (and telescope) and your bird book if you have them.

For further information contact Lois Bateman

lbateman@swgc.mun.ca 634-7206 (h) 637-6247(w)

Blue Box Seminar

Geography Department

Friday, January 21^st, 3 pm, SN-2025

A decade of recent research on the northwest Laurentide Ice Sheet:

Shifting paradigms and changing perspectives

The presentation is a reflection on both the personal and philosophical side of “doing science”. To set the stage, I will start off by reflecting on my own (and others) acceptance of the Innuitian Ice Sheet (IIS) during the late 1990s, a model that we had opposed for genuine scientific reasons for many decades across the Canadian High Arctic before we found the very data that validated the opposing hypothesis (supporting the IIS). There were many elaborate threads to this transition as science is not all unblemished objectivity, making easy adaption to change (individually but especially in a group of common advocates). Although we must, we do not always, “turn over every stone” in order to challenge our own favoured perspectives. It is easy to espouse that always, data trumps personal perspectives – however ‘honestly’ those viewpoints may have been held prior to a new and initially uncomfortable (challenging) insight.  That experience is familiar territory for me and I remain enormously grateful for the experience (growth) it offered. I am convinced that you don’t learn that from textbooks but proper mentoring.

This first part of the talk sets the stage for the second part that addresses my most recent research together with that of my graduate students and postdocs in the western Canadian Arctic Archipelago under the auspices of the NSERC Northern Research Chair. This addresses a decade of data collection that warrants a fundamental revision of the J-S Vincent model.  It purportedly identified an exceptionally well-preserved record of four glaciations across the surface of Banks Island. So I want to place our regional revision in the light of the willingness and responsibility to overturn someone else’s long-held and established viewpoint. In doing so, one has to appreciate the enormity of the current mismatch between what was previously proposed and what we are reporting. One ultimately must ask the question why this disparity is so huge and fundamental.

So, I am trying to look not only at the evolution of my own work, but also to look at it more reflectively through the lens of four decades of Arctic research, including the contributions of others. This reflection for me uncovers many nuances beneath the flotsam and jetsam of our more conventional accomplishments that we stuff into out CVs. This learning curve might ultimately be far more important than the humble science we set out to do!

Public Lecture

Johnson Geo Centre, Signal Hill

Tuesday, January 18^th, 7:30-8:30 pm

Exploring Northern Canada

Geographical Perspectives on Arctic Environmental Change

The public lecture will focus on the scientific, historic, and personal experiences of John England’s four decades of research across the Canadian Arctic Archipelago concerning the nature of high latitude environmental change. John will focus on the mountainous, northernmost coast of Ellesmere Island and the story of its spectacular “Ellesmere Ice Shelf” – the oldest sea ice in the Northern Hemisphere. This ice shelf forms an enormous floating apron of sea ice attached to the Ellesmere Island coast across more than 250 kilometres. It was used by the late 19th century sledging expeditions that described it as a rolling prairie landscape. It is now in rapid demise and despite its exceptional age, few in Canada know about this unique and disappearing landscape. In the course of his research across northern Ellesmere Island, historic notes were found from Sir George Nares (1875/76) and Adolphus Greely (1881/84), of the First Polar Year.

January 18, 2011

Main Lecture Theater

College of the North Atlantic

Corner Brook, NL

12:30 to 2:00 pm

The Newfoundland & Labrador Section of CIF in conjunction with the Model Forest of Newfoundland & Labrador are proud to announce a special Mini-Forum (Brown Bag Lunch) to be held in association with the College of the North Atlantic’s Forest Resources Technician Program. It will be held at the main Lecture Theater at CNA and is open to all Forest Practioners, general public and any one with an interest in learning more about heating homes and commercial buildings with wood pellet technology.

“Residential Heating with Wood Pellet Technology… a real life experience”

Introduction by: Eric Young, CIF-NL

Presentation by

Bill Alexander, Manager NL Forestry

Training Association

Background:

Given the recent increase in world oil prices and focus on renewable forms of energy many people are beginning to embrace the technology associated with heating homes with wood pellets. Bill has been a constant advocate of sustainable forest management and recognizes the opportunities associated with moving from a reliance on fossil fuels to a greener, renewable form of energy. In 2009, Bill made the commitment to purchase and install a hot water boiler system feed with locally produced wood pellets. He shall relate his experiences in terms of system logistics and economics as well as lead a discussion on the possibility of industrial conversions.

“Please bring along your lunch (coffee & sweets will be provided) and join the forest community in an interesting discussion on the use of wood pellet technology for residential heating”

See you there!

The Food Security Network NL invites you to this exciting teleconference to learn about Farmers’ Markets in Newfoundland and Labrador and discuss:

• How to run and sustain a market in Newfoundland and Labrador
• Vendor recruitment techniques – including farmers, craftspeople, and artisans
• Table fee structures and other operational topics

When: Thursday, January 20
Time: 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. Island time (5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Labrador time)

With presentations from:

• Colin Greene, St. John’s Farmers’ Market
• Carolyn Wheeler, West Coast Farmers’ Market
• Stephenville Community Market

In recent years Newfoundland & Labrador has experienced an incredible growth in Farmers’ Markets across the province. This past season saw 10 full- and part-time Farmers’ Markets operate in communities spanning St. John’s to Fogo to Stephenville. This teleconference is a great opportunity for existing markets to share best practices and for those thinking of starting up a new Farmers’ Market to learn and get connected. If you are involved with a Farmers’ Market, interested in starting one up, or just interested in learning more, Register Now by contacting Rick Kelly at richardkelly@foodsecuritynews.com or by calling 709.237.4026.

Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC) FEBRUARY 2011 EVENT SPEAKER LUNCHEON:

Impact of the British Petroleum Well Blow-Out: Challenges for Offshore Petroleum Regulators in a Post-Macondo World

Mr. Max Ruelokke

Chairman and CEO

Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board

In the wake of the British Petroleum Macondo well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, offshore oil regulators and industry players have engaged in an open and frank dialogue about the regulation and safety of the offshore oil industry including a complete review of performance indicators; accentuation of change management and the need for the adoption of industry wide standardized regulatory practices that will ensure a vibrant safety culture on offshore installations.  To learn more, please join Mr. Max Ruelokke, Chairman and CEO, Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board and the Institute of Public Administration of Canada in a discussion of the challenges for offshore petroleum regulators in a post-Macondo world.

DATE: Thursday, February 10th, 2011 (Last day to register: Tuesday February 8th, 2011)

LOCATION: Comfort Inn Airport, Salon A

TIME: 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM

TO REGISTER: Please contact Cory Giles, Ph.D. at corygiles@gov.nl.ca