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Webster University Sustainability Program Hosts Free Summer Lunch & Learn Events

Join Webster University Sustainability and Butterfly Energy Works on Wednesdays during the summer months beginning May 31st from 12pm-1pm to learn about strategies and solutions being created and used right here in our local community to improve environmental, social and economic sustainability. The first session will feature Wayne Garver, president of the Gateway Electric Vehicle Club.
The lunch lectures include a free lunch and free opportunity to learn from a local environmental sustainability champion. After the final session on August 2nd, attendees will be entered into a drawing to win a Rolling Ridge Nursery gift card! Attendees will receive an entry for each session attended.

More details, such as speakers and building/room locations, can be found online HERE.  To register for a Lunch & Learn: CLICK HERE.

Parking is available in Garden Park Plaza parking garage. For more information contact Kelsey Wingo at kelseywingo07@webster.edu or by phone at 314-246-8611.

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Posted on May 28, 2017 in Local Events

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Perfect Storm: Climate Change, Commercial Development, and Floodplains

Photo by Ursula Ruhl, South County Times

“How high’s the water, mama?” Johnny Cash sang in 1974. The  scary answer: “Five feet and risin.’”

The late, great Cash should have seen our flooding Meramec River, between Kirkwood and Fenton, earlier this month. He could have easily sang, “43 feet and risin.’”

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Posted on May 26, 2017 in Environment, Opinion

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Gateway Greening: Good Home Needed For Free Plants May 25

Gateway Greening will be giving away the remaining plants from thier annual plant sale for FREE at the Carriage House location (3815 Bell Ave., St. Louis, MO 63108) from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., on Thursday, May 25, 2017.

This year Gateway Greening experienced an overwhelming abundance of donations to our annual plant sale. Despite seeing many beautiful plants heading off in the hands of gardeners just like you last weekend, we still have many more in need of good homes.

For more information contact Gateway Greening at (314) 588-9600.

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Posted on May 24, 2017 in Local Events

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ST. Louis Community College Receives Environmental Job Training Grant

St. Louis Community College (STLCC) received $200,000 in grant funding from the Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training program. The grant funding will offer program enrollees the skills needed to work in the environmental industry.

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Posted on May 21, 2017 in Environment

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World Renowned Botanist Peter Raven To Speak At Powder Valley Nature Center In Kirkwood May 23

Missouri Botanical Garden President Emeritus Peter Raven will give a presentation at Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center in Kirkwood at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 23. Dr. Raven one of the world’s leading botanists and advocates of conservation and biodiversity.

The man who helped mold the Missouri Botanical Garden (MoBOT) into the world-class institution it is today will speak at the Missouri Department of Conservation’s (MDC) Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center located at 11715 Cragwold Road in Kirkwood, near the intersection of I-44 and I-270.

Dr. Raven’s presentation will explore the challenges of maintaining sustainable natural resources on a planet with an ever-growing population.   He will address stewardship and conservation for the long-term success of our natural world.

The free event will be held Tuesday, May 23, at 7 p.m., but seating is limited. Advanced reservations are required by calling 314-301-1500.

Read more from the MDC below.

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Posted on May 19, 2017 in Local Events

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Celebrate The Great Missouri Birding Trail at Powder Valley Nature Center May 18

Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center will host the St. Louis area celebration of the Great Missouri Birding Trail Thursday, May 18. This virtual birding path is driven by a website that includes an interactive map of the best birding sites around the Show-Me State.

Celebrate the completion of the Great Missouri Birding Trail at Powder Valley Nature Center on Thursday, May 18, from 9 a.m. to Noon. The nature center is located at 11715 Cragwold Road in Kirkwood, near the intersection of I-270 and I-44. The free event is sponsored by the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) and the Missouri Bird Conservation Foundation.

The events will include a brief opening ceremony with Birding Trail signage unveiled followed by short birding walks on Powder Valley trails. The first 25 people at each event will receive a Great Missouri Birding Trail tote bag or water bottle. Attendees will also get Trail bumper stickers and lens cloths for cameras and binoculars.

Missouri has close to 1.5 million birders, age 16 and older, according to Mike Doyen, president of the Missouri Bird Conservation Foundation.

“Birding is the fastest growing activity in Missouri, the nation, and around the world,” he said. “Our estimated economic impact in Missouri is close to $1 billion annually.”

Read more about the new birding trail from the continued MDC release below.

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Posted on May 17, 2017 in Local Events

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Powder Valley Nature Center Children’s Event: “YOU AND ME UNDER THE CANOPY: OH, DEER!”

Photo by Diana Linsley, Webster-Kirkwood Times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wondering what topic story time at the Powder Valley Nature Center will be this month? Find out by attending “You & Me Under The Canopy: Oh, Deer!”

Location: Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center
Date: Wednesday, May 17, 2017, 10 – 11 a.m.
Ages: 2 – 6

Meet in the nature center lobby for a “nature” adventure. Everyone will hike with the naturalist to a special place in the forest and enjoy a nature story under the tree canopy. Siblings are welcome.

(Reservations required by calling 314-301-1500. Reserve by May 16, 2017) MDC website event link – HERE.

 

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Posted on May 9, 2017 in Local Events

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Flooding Once Again Spotlights Levees: “We Knew Better”

Photo by Ursula Ruhl, South County Times.

The issue of building levees to hold back the local rivers is again in the spotlight due to the latest round of flooding in areas, such as Fenton, Pacific, Eureka, Valley Park and Kirkwood. (Look for more coverage about the current flooding soon on Environmental Echo.)

Last year, Don Corrigan interviewed Professor Bob Criss, with the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Washington University. The interview contains some valuable insight into what could be a continuing flooding situation.

This was Criss’s comment last January about the December 2015 round of flooding – “Our flood problems in St. Louis and St. Louis County have been hugely magnified by what I would call idiotic decisions since 1993 especially,” Bob Criss said. “And we knew better.”

Check out the interview from last January below. We’ve come full circle back to where we were last year and Criss’s observations are still relevant today.

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Posted on May 2, 2017 in Environment, Podcasts

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Earth Day & Beyond

by Don Corrigan (South County Times)

This has been an Earth Day Month. From the very beginning to the very end of April, there have been so many notable events to remind us how to become better stewards of the planet.

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Posted on April 30, 2017 in Environment, Local Events

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Kirkwood’s Earth Day RESCHEDULED To May 6

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Posted on April 28, 2017 in Home