Posted By: Career Enrichment Network
Graduating students – Do you want to fight to make a difference for the environment? Apply to work with Environment America!
Right now, we’re looking for fellows for our different campaign teams to take on important issues like global warming, clean water, and conservation. If you know students who would find this kind of work motivating and rewarding, please forward the job description to them.
The fall application deadline is October 9.
SCRiM Summer Scholars is a competitive summer research experience sponsored by the National Science Foundation through the Network for Sustainable Climate Risk Management (SCRiM). Hosted on the University Park campus of Penn State University, the program offers students the chance to participate in cutting-edge, transdisciplinary research at the intersection of climate science, economics, risk analysis, ethics, and decisionmaking.
The Network for Sustainable Climate Risk Management (SCRiM) links a transdisciplinary team of climate scientists, economists, philosophers, statisticians, engineers, and policy analysts to answer the question, “What are sustainable, scientifically sound, technologically feasible, economically efficient, and ethically defensible strategies for managing the risks associated with climate change?”
SCRiM Summer Scholars runs for 9 weeks, starting 1 June 2015. Students interested in climate change, sustainability, risk management, and/or decisionmaking under uncertainty propose research projects centered on SCRiM themes. Although projects will be largely self-directed, participants will be mentored by SCRiM researchers.
Housing, travel support, and a stipend of $4500 is provided for all participants in the 9-week program. Please visit http://scrimhub.org/undergrad-research/ for additional information and application instructions.
Applications due by March 1, 2015
The Urban Adamah Fellowship, based in Berkeley, CA, is a three-month residential training program for young adults (ages 21–31) that combines urban organic farming, social justice training and progressive Jewish learning and living within the setting of an intentional community.
Through the operation of Urban Adamah’s one-acre organic farm and internships with social justice organizations, fellows gain significant skills, training and experience in all aspects of sustainable urban agriculture, community building, leadership development and urban food access.
Upcoming Fellowships
Spring: March 1 – May 22, 2015
Summer: June 7 – August 21, 2015
Fall: September 1 – November 20, 2015
We accept 12–14 fellows per season. Admission is on a rolling basis.
Visit the Urban Adamah website today to learn more and to request an application.
www.urbanadamah.org |510-649-1595 | info@urbanadamah.org | See us on Facebook
The Urban Adamah Jewish Community Farm, located in Berkeley, CA, integrates the practices of Jewish tradition, sustainable agriculture, mindfulness and social action to build loving, just and sustainable communities.
SCA, the Student Conservation Association (www.thesca.org) is a national nonprofit that offers conservation service opportunities all across the country.
Internships are in areas like trail work, visitor services, habitat restoration, working with historical and cultural resources, education, interpretation, resource management, wildlife, botany, biology, sustainability, community outreach, and other conservation related fields. Internships are expense paid, and include housing, travel, a weekly living allowance, and the possibility of an AmeriCorps Award. All majors, ages, and skills sets are eligible to apply. Learn more about applying, benefits, and view SCA’s current list of positions at http://www.thesca.org/serve/internships.
SCA also offers field leader opportunities, overseeing groups of high school students or college aged students doing hand-on conservation projects. Leaders must be over 21, have outdoor leadership experience, and the passion to inspire the next generation of conservation leaders: http://www.thesca.org/serve/field-leaders/programs.
Beth McCarthy, three time SCA alum and SCA Northeast Recruiter, will be recruiting at Penn State on Mon-Tues, Nov 3-4, and has the following events scheduled where you can learn more about SCA, benefits and the application process:
Monday, Nov 3
Tuesday, Nov 4
Feel free to contact Beth at recruiting@thesca.org or 603-558-3502 with any questions or to set up a meeting during her visit.
Economics major Anthony Antonik and Engineering Science major Daniel Slotcavage join Episode 31 of Liberal Arts Voices to discuss the Penn State Bike Share program.
Anthony and Daniel, president and vice-president of PSU Bike Share, talk about how they founded this not-for-profit student run organization during an honors leadership jumpstart program through Schreyer Honors College in which students were responsible for creating a service leadership project.
The students discuss their goal for PSU Bike Share: to bring a public bike sharing program to Penn State that will offer an efficient, environmentally-friendly, and health-promoting form of transportation to the students, faculty, and staff at University Park.
PSU Bike Share was initially developed as a pilot program to gauge the interest level on campus. Anthony and Daniel describe how the program is currently functioning and how they would like to see the program develop and expand on campus. Listen to Episode 31 of Liberal Arts Voices to find out how to sign up for the program, make donations (monetary or bicycles), and get involved in leadership opportunities within the organization. You can also visit the PSU Bike Share website for more information.
Liberal Arts Voices: Episode 31 “PSU Bike Share”
To subscribe to Liberal Arts Voices through iTunes, click here.
We encourage all of our listeners to write to us with comments, questions, or suggestions at laus@la.psu.edu. We may even respond to these comments on the next episode of Liberal Arts Voices.
Welcome (back) students! Newcomer or not, the first few weeks at Penn State should be an extremely exciting and entirely new experience. It is rather likely that for the rest of the semester, you’ll be seeking to feel as relaxed as you did during the first week at Penn State. With the help of some green space, the desire for a nearby stress-free environment can be met.
For as long as I’ve been a student at Penn State, I’ve been searching places on or near campus that are sort of hidden in plain view. What sparks the search is a personal tendency of never really settling down, believing there has to be something or someplace I haven’t fully experienced, or that I overlooked every time upon passing.
Thus far, I have found a few that have given me hours of serenity despite the constant hustle and bustle of people all around me. I use them for time to write, time to think, time to–well, breathe. It’s a way of clearing my head. I don’t discard my busy schedule while I’m there; rather, I think of it as a place where I can unhand all distractions.
Since they’re all either on or within a mile of campus, it’s easy to go to them, even during the busy school week. Here are 5 of my favorite stress-free escapes.
5. The Arboretum
4. The Peace Garden
This is possibly the most curious little spot of them all. Though situated next to the HUB, which takes the cake for being the noisiest place on campus, it somehow manages to hold to its name of being a rather peaceful, quiet place to sit awhile. 
3. Hintz Family Alumni Center
Including the colorful Alumni Gardens and a pond teeming with wildlife, this area, too, allows a secluded feeling despite being smack dab in the center of campus. It’s also equipped with wooden benches, a stone footbridge, and a white gazebo for shade when you need it, and an open lawn outstretched when you don’t.
2. Lederer Park
Venturing slightly south of campus, Lederer is a scenic spot to relieve stress via exercise. A thin gravel trail encircles a large, grassy field and weaves through a lesser-known arboretum. Then, a short walk up the road spits out into a series of dirt trails through Thompson Woods and Walnut Springs Park, where a tiny stream trickles softly through the thicket.
1. Sunset Park
Just 2 blocks north of campus, Sunset Park opens up into 20 acres of forest filled with running, biking, and hiking trails. With plenty of nature to explore, each trip through can be a unique adventure.
My hope is to show you that these magnificent places are there, if right under our noses. Most of all, I am writing to share them so that you may find peace in places you pass. As the semester unfolds before our eyes, so, too, can new escapes. Find yours.
Looking back on a 14-year (and still progressing) career at the US EPA while planning for a Happy Valley visit with current students on October 13 (more on that later), a poignant moment is recalled: the day I found a postcard from my favorite PSU professor in the mailbox of my new Washington, DC apartment.
“Andrew,” it said with exasperation, “You went out to change the world and ended up in the belly of the beast!”
Needless to say, my exuberance over securing a job at the Environmental Protection Agency was appropriately humbled.
And yet, now – so many years removed from that postcard and my activist days at Penn State – do I feel like my ideals have been… devoured?
Truthfully?
Sort of.
And: not really.
Contrary to what I believed at PSU (I’m unstoppable!), what I wished for as a young graduate (revolution!), and what I worked for during an ill-fated job in California (power to the people – now!), I’ve come to understand that – except in rare circumstances – change is incremental.
And maybe the most suitable place to implement that gradual change is from within the very “beast” that all too often squelches it (which is the impression many folks have of the federal government).
So, here I am at the EPA, where I work daily on climate change – the mother of all environmental problems. My job is to provide assistance to local governments and schools, private companies and nonprofits, and common joes from all over the mid-Atlantic. I help them with efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions, lessen their “carbon footprints” and design environmental programs to engage and motivate the broader public.
On the horizon remains the vision of the world as I would like it to be, and from time to time in my day-to-day work, I gaze up to make sure that I’m getting closer to it.
And I am.
I may not be on the path I imagined for myself when I left Penn State with my Political Science degree (member of the revolutionary vanguard… folk hero…etc.), but I’m still heading in the right direction. Changing the world in small, bite-size chunks; one email, one conference call and one meeting at a time…
How about you?
What are your goals? What paths do you hope to follow to reach them?
Come share some thoughts with my colleagues and me on October 13 at 6:00pm in 103 Career Services Building.
Monday, October 4, 2010
6:00 p.m.
HUB Robeson Center – Auditorium
Bill McKibben will speak on Monday October 4, 2010, as part of the annual Colloquium on the Environment Speaker Series. His lecture, “The Most Important Number in the World,” is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. in the Auditorium of the HUB-Robeson Center. A book signing will immediately follow his lecture. The event is free and open to all.
Bill McKibben frequently writes about global warming and alternative energy and advocates for more localized economies. In 2010, The Boston Globe called him “probably the nation’s leading environmentalist” and Time magazine described him as “the world’s best green journalist.” In 2009 he led the organization of 350.org, which coordinated what Foreign Policy magazine called “the largest ever global coordinated rally of any kind,” with 5,200 simultaneous demonstrations in 181 countries. MSN named him one of the dozen most influential men of 2009.
“Penn State continues on its path to achieve a 17.5 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2012 and is currently working on the next plan. We are looking forward to Bill McKibben’s presentation and hope to be inspired to do even more,” explained Steve Maruszewski, Assistant Vice President of Physical Plant and Manager of the Finance & Business Environmental Key Initiative.
McKibben is the author of numerous books. His first, The End of Nature (1989), is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change. In March 2007, McKibben published Deep Economy: the Wealth of Communities and a Durable Future. It addresses what the author sees as shortcomings of the growth economy and envisions a transition to more local-scale enterprise. In April of 2010, he published Eaarth. In Eaarth, he insists, we need to acknowledge that we’ve waited too long, and that massive change is not only unavoidable but already under way. Our old familiar globe is suddenly melting, drying, acidifying, flooding, and burning in ways that no human has ever seen. We’ve created, in very short order, a new planet, still recognizable but fundamentally different. We may as well call it Eaarth.
