It takes 500 years for a Styrofoam tray to break down. It took 3 years for a team of students at William Penn Elementary School in Bethlehem to replace their cafeteria’s Styrofoam trays with biodegradable ones. “Tray Trouble” is a dedicated group of 5th grade students who have been working to convince their school of... Read More
What caused the April 5th earthquake? Friday, April 5th, 10:23 in the morning. I’m a late riser, so I’m just waking up, but still in bed and half asleep. Suddenly I hear a rattling. My dog jumps to his feet and starts pacing nervously, and I am wide awake. The bed sways under me, and... Read More
There will be a solar eclipse Monday April 8th, 2024 that will be visible across the United States as well as Mexico, the Caribbean, and Canada. For most of the people reading this, it will be your best opportunity to see a partial eclipse until 2045 and if you’re willing to travel it will be... Read More
Libraries, businesses, social media, schools, Community Bike Works, the Boys and Girls Club, community centers, local Environmental Advisory Councils – these are just some of the locations for NNC’s CREATE Connections project. The project casts a broad net in order to link people with different strengths and resources across Easton and Bethlehem. Sharing those strengths... Read More
Youth voices in climate action We often hear that we should take care of the Earth for future generations. This is true, and we should absolutely do everything we can to make the world a cleaner, healthier, and more equitable place. Simultaneously, we should also recognize all the contributions that young people can and are... Read More
The Buckeye state was the bull’s eye for a small earthquake recently. On August 27th at 10:43 pm, a magnitude 3.6 earthquake shook the region near Lake Erie in Ohio. This incident marked the third and most substantial earthquake in just a week, a frequency unusual for this area. While Ohio generally ranks low in... Read More
Learning from experts in the resiliency space I’m going to take a quick break from our Resiliency in action series to reflect on the recent National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Environmental Literacy Program (ELP) Grantee workshop that I attended in June in Boulder, CO, along with NNC Science Director, Kate Semmens. Many leaders from... Read More
Now that we have an understanding of the three types of resiliency, it’s time to start understanding how to build climate resiliency in our own communities. Our ultimate goal is to make our community stronger and better able to mitigate and adapt to climate change and weather hazards. That is an important but vague goal.... Read More
As spring begins to overtake winter, the first little green leaves are often Tartarian honeysuckle followed by autumn olive, two invasives. Then splashes of yellow can be seen along forest edges. This is not forsythia but spice bush flowers, a native shrub. Those flowers are very small, but in aggregate they make the woods very... Read More
For better or worse the term “resiliency” is used a lot these days to describe communities facing the impacts of natural hazards and climate change. With more and more billion dollar disasters and already a slew of severe weather events in 2023, a growing number of communities are left picking up the pieces. It would... Read More
