News

RACC team member Dr. Alan Betts is interviewed on Insight a public affairs program for Rutland County hosted by Laura Vien. Alan and Larua are joined by panelists Royal Barnard and Alan Keays for a discussion about weather. The interview aired on 4-18-2012.

Risk insurance mechanisms have been proposed as proactive policy options to enhance the resilience of communities for coping with extreme events. Many risk insurance mechanisms require designation of "risk zones" to legalize governmental interventions. After a three-day workshop and ensuing interviews, "wicked" challenges were identified in the designation of risk zones: risk thresholds; land value; damage-reduction; land-use planning; forecast uncertainty; map accuracy; modifiable-areal-unit problem; winners and losers; single versus multiple hazards; and cross-jurisdictional administrative boundaries. A total of 56 peer-reviewed studies are synthesized that evaluate these "wicked" challenges in flood insurance programs and derive deliberative heuristics for designating risk zones in publicly sponsored insurance mechanisms.

The Agency of Natural Resources is pleased to present this
report on the health of Vermont’s environment.

Most of us will never forget the historic floods of 2011 and the
damage they delivered to our homes, farms, businesses, and
public infrastructure such as roads, water systems, and bridges.
The impacts on Vermont’s natural environment were also severe.

As we continue to bounce back, we have a unique opportunity
to reflect and learn. Hardship reminds us that we must continually
strengthen our understanding of the major risks facing our
ecosystems and our communities. It prompts us to ask: What can
we do to minimize these risks? And how can we prepare for
adversity if some risks cannot be fully mitigated?

EPSCoR 2030 Workshop - January 19-20, 2012, Washington, DC

A panel of nationally recognized scientists and engineers met at the behest of the National Science Foundation (NSF) to examine the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) in terms of its relevance to the National research agenda. The two-day workshop produced observations about the value of the NSF program and recommended programmatic changes to be made both by NSF and by the EPSCoR states that can enhance EPSCoR’s effectiveness.

We extend our sincere thanks for your participation in the New England Board of Higher Education's Locally and Regionally Engaged: New England Colleges and Universities as Drivers of Innovation, Workforce and Economic Development summit, held on Tuesday, April 3, 2012 at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

Educators from Vermont and New York gathered at St Michaels College near Burlington, Vermont on Saturday, March 1o. Sponsored by CBEI (http://www.lcbp.org/watershedmatters/) the goal of the event was to share with teachers information and tools to teach about climate change—and an opportunity to think about how that could happen in their own classrooms. It was a great day!

Irene Devastation Now Visible By Google Maps
Vermont Public Radio
VPR's Mitch Wertlieb turned to two professors at St. Michael's College, Geography Professor Richard Kujawa and Environmental Studies Professor Laura Stroup to tell us the value of having these images at our digital fingertips.

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One of the winners of the second annual Green Mountain Environmental ...
BurlingtonFreePress.com
Mary Watzin, Dean of the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, speaks about the importance of the Citizen Scientist movement during Green Mountain Environmental Leadership Awards at ECHO in Burlington on Tuesday, April 17, 2012.

The rapid pace of climate change in northern latitudes presents society with many challenges and a few opportunities. I am writing from the perspective of Vermont in the northeastern United States, where I conduct research on local climate change1,2, give talks3 and write for local newspapers4. In the past few decades in northern New England (45 degrees N), the winter season, when small lakes are frozen, has been lessening by about seven days per decade1. This impacts local ecology, stream flow and human recreational activities like ice fishing. Similarly, ground freeze-up is coming later, and melt is happening earlier in the spring.

The International Joint Commission (IJC) is inviting the public to comment on the International Missisquoi Bay Study Board’s final report on phosphorus loadings to Missisquoi Bay on Lake Champlain.

In 2008, the Canadian and U.S. federal governments asked the International Joint Commission (IJC) to help them coordinate initiatives in both countries to reduce phosphorus loadings to Missisquoi Bay. The IJC appointed the International Missisquoi Bay Study Board to help it carry out this request. The study identified specific areas in the Vermont portion of the basin where efforts to control phosphorus runoff would be most cost effective.

Why did Lake Champlain flood so badly last spring? How unusual was that summer drought? Why was the rainfall during Irene so intense? How are we to make sense of all this?

The weather certainly has been strange lately. As we emerge from the "year of no winter," following the year of record-breaking spring floods, a summer drought, the devastation of Tropical Storm Irene, and that early heavy snow storm last October, most of us are wondering: What is going on?

What a remarkably mild winter it was! West of the Green Mountains we had no permanent snow cover this winter to reflect sunlight and keep temperatures cold...

The 52nd annual VT State Science & Math Fair was held at Norwich University in Northfield last Saturday. 170 students in grades 5-12 were awarded prizes and college scholarships that add up to almost $1 million. Eva spoke to the young leaders of tomorrow about their research projects and results.

Science Minded: Teacher spurs curiosity
U-T San Diego
Vermont EPSCoR By Aaron Hartmann My dad is a teacher, so naturally the idea for this week's post came from him: Write about the teacher that inspired you to get into science. The concept of having one inspiration may sound cliché, but I have such a ...

Less snow could mean fewer floods, tame rapids
Wall Street Journal
"If you're a town downstream that gets these giant ice dams floods like happen in upstate New York, Vermont, all the hilly places, then it reduces the risks of the bigger floods," said Curt Stager, a professor of natural sciences at Paul Smiths College ...

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North Country Public Radio
Natural Selections: Tent Caterpillars
North Country Public Radio
... whose voracious appetite can completely strip a tree of foliage. These moth larvae are unusual, both in their engineering feats and their social organization. Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager explore the life cycle of this nemesis of orchard and yard.

Adaptaton to Climate Change in the Lake Champlain Basin
With New Understanding through Complex Systems Modeling

BurlingtonFreePress.com (blog)
Another early spring green-up in Vermont
BurlingtonFreePress.com (blog)
I came across a paper by Pittsford, Vermont climate scientist Alan Betts, which says that in recent decades, first leaves on lilacs are coming earlier at a rate of 2.9 days per decade. Betts says the growing season for frost sensitive plants is two ...

March 10, 2012 at Saint Michael's College, Colchester, VT The goal of this event was to share resources and tools for teaching about climate change. It was a stimulating day of new information, dialogue, and classroom applications in an innovative format of presentations, lab work, and computer time.