Category Archives: Robert Barossi

environmental volulnteers, Oregon, Robert Barossi, salmon

Volunteers Help Salmon with Christmas Trees

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IMG_2853(Photo by Robert Barossi)

by Robert Barossi

At first, it may seem that Christmas trees and salmon don’t really go together. In this case, they do. Volunteers are part of an effort in Oregon to create spawning habitat for salmon by using parts of Christmas trees. As the trees were collected, tree parts and debris were used to slow the water down, creating  places where salmon can spawn. A collection of groups and organizations were involved in the effort, including the South Coast chapter of Coastal Conservation Association Oregon and a number of local students.

If you’ve enjoyed the stories on this blog, check out my eBook, Being Where You Are: How Environmental Volunteers Impact Their Community and the Planet Every Day

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California, environmental volulnteers, oil spill cleanup, Robert Barossi, Santa Clarita Valley High School

High School Volunteers Clean Up Oil Spill

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367(Photo by Robert Barossi)

by Robert Barossi

For this week’s second story, let’s stick with the theme of young environmental volunteers. Yesterday it was teens in Virginia involved in a myriad of important environmental projects. Today, let’s go all the way across the country to the coast of California, where a major oil spill recently hit the Santa Barbara area.

In this great story, three students from Santa Clarita Valley High School took action and got involved in the cleanup efforts. According to the article, they “took their two shovels, big plastic bags, masks, Home Depot buckets and gloves and went to work scooping up 70 gallons of oil off of the beach over the course of two days.” It’s another inspiring story that makes one feel optimistic about the environmental volunteers and leaders of tomorrow.

If you’ve enjoyed the stories on this blog, check out my eBook, Being Where You Are: How Environmental Volunteers  Impact Their Community and the Planet Every Day

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environmental volunteers, Project Green Teens, Robert Barossi, Virginia Beach

Green Teen Volunteers

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IMG_0218(Photo by Robert Barossi)

by Robert Barossi

Finally back here at the blog after what I now realize has been two weeks. Time definitely got away from me there, maybe it’s been the beautiful weather and all the opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. Or just the sometimes-crazy busy moments of life.

This great story out of Virginia, about some inspiring teenagers and their amazing environmental work,  seemed appropriate for the moment. It’s that time of year, when there’s a graduation every weekend, it seems. Colleges and universities have most likely already ended their academic years. High schools and lower-grade schools will soon follow suit. Many graduating high school seniors will go on to college to study environmentally-related academic fields. Others won’t go to college and will be working in fields that are directly related to the environment. They are all the environmental volunteers of the future.

Check out more information here on Project Green Teens and all of their work.

If you’ve enjoyed any of the stories on this blog, download my eBook, Being Where You Are: How Environmental Volunteers Impact Their Community and the Planet Every Day

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environmental volunteers, monarch butterflies, Robert Barossi

Volunteers Create Butterfly Habitat

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IMG_2141(Photo by Robert Barossi)

by Robert Barossi

In another story about a disappearing species, monarch butterfly populations have been seriously declining in recent years. Due to a number of reasons, many of them human-related, the milkweed plants where monarchs lay their eggs are vanishing from the landscape. As this environmental volunteer story out of New Jersey points out, if there’s no milkweed, there are no monarchs. Thanks to the volunteers in the story, milkweed is being planted in a small area near the New Jersey Botanical Garden. As the event proves, anyone can make their own backyard monarch-friendly by doing the same thing, planting milkweed wherever they are, as long as it’s a place where the plant will grow and thrive. If it does, it will provide an essential place for monarchs to breed, adding another small but important step in the attempts to keep this beautiful butterfly species alive.

For more inspiring stories of dedicated environmental volunteers, download my eBook, Being Where You Are: How Environmental Volunteers Impact Their Community and the Planet Every Day

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Chain of Lakes, environmental volunteers, Fox River, river cleanup, Robert Barossi

Volunteers and a Chain of Lakes

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Underwater Leaves(Photo by Robert Barossi)

by Robert Barossi

The previous post was a story about a small city and how its residents are trying to maintain green space in their area. Today, a story about keeping nature green in another metropolitan area, this time one of the largest in the country. Near Chicago, just to the northwest, the Chain of Lakes is a series of fifteen interconnected lakes, primarily connected by the Fox River. As this story out of that city describes, environmental volunteers took part in a major cleanup effort, aimed at cleaning and greening the entire waterway. The Fox River Chain O’ Lakes Waterway Cleanup included volunteers working at a number of different locations around the lakes, filling numerous large dumpsters with trash and pulling out of the water everything from hypodermic needles to a kitchen stove. The effort was led by the Fox Waterway Agency, now in its fourteenth year of hosting the annual event.

If you’ve enjoyed the stories on this blog, check out my eBook, Being Where You Are: How Environmental Volunteers Impact Their Community and the Planet

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environmental volunteers, Mississippi, Pascagoula, Robert Barossi, urban forests

Volunteers Build an Urban Forest

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Up a Tree(Photo by Robert Barossi)

by Robert Barossi

Lots of environmental volunteer stories involve heading out into the wilderness, deep into woods and forests, to conduct volunteer work. Just as important, though, are the efforts that take place in our cities. Environmental volunteer work is happening in numerous urban centers, from major metropolitan areas to the smallest of cities. On the gulf coast of Mississippi, in the city of Pascagoula, volunteers have been working to create what they’re hoping will be an urban forest. Work on the one acre plot of land includes removing invasive species and planting native trees, among other projects. They are hoping to make I.G. Levy park even more of a green space and attract more birds and wildlife to the area, as well as more tourists and nature lovers. In industrialized and urbanized places like this, nature is often nearly wiped out. It’s usually up to volunteers to keep these pockets of wild, green spaces, and the nature that thrives there, alive and well.

If you’ve enjoyed the stories on this blog, download my eBook, Being Where You Are: How Environmental Volunteers Impact Their Community and the Planet

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citizen science, environmental volunteers, Robert Barossi, sudden oak death, UC Berkeley

Volunteers Helping to Predict Tree Diseases

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Up a Tree(Photo by Robert Barossi)

by Robert Barossi

This morning, I came across this great environmental volunteer story out of University of California, Berkeley. A study just published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment offers more support for the efforts of volunteers as citizen scientists, even concluding, in part, that “using long-term citizen-science data to predict the risk of emerging infectious plant diseases in urban ecosystems holds substantial promise. ” The study reveals just how successful volunteers have been at predicting sudden oak death (SOD), a disease that has killed numerous trees in California. Data from the volunteers was gathered during an event called the SOD Blitz, during which, ““The data we got…resulted in the formulation of the best predictive model yet about the spread of sudden oak death in California. Additionally, we were able to identify new infestations and identify trees that needed to be removed,” according to one of the study’s authors. The SOD Blitzes have become a massive project which take place every year and are, according to UC Berkeley,  “part of the largest citizen science effort in the country.”

 

For more stories of environmental volunteers, check out my eBook, Being Where You Are: How Environmental Volunteers Impact Their Community and the Planet Every Day

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environmental volunteers, Florida, oyster reefs, oysters, Robert Barossi

Volunteers as Oyster Gardeners

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ID-100154534(Image courtesy of artur84 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

by Robert Barossi

Oysters are not just for making pearls and eating at raw bars. As the National Oceanic and  Atmospheric Administration points out on their page about oyster reefs in Chesapeake Bay, “Oysters are filter feeders, consuming phytoplankton (free-swimming algae) and improving water quality while they filter their food from the water. As generations of oysters settle on top of each other and grow, they form reefs that provide structured habitat for many fish species and crabs.”

These oyster reefs are also highly susceptible to pollution, reduced water quality and increased runoff. These and other factors can lead to the decline of oyster populations and the destruction of oyster reefs. Today’s story, out of Florida, describes how volunteers are helping to bring back oyster reefs which have seriously declined over time. Volunteers in the area have been growing oysters which are part of an oyster reef pilot program. If the program works and the oysters begin to clean the water, more reefs will be created in other locations. As the article mentions, the “oyster gardening” program could have wide-ranging and long-lasting effects, thanks in large part to the dedicated volunteers.

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Being Where You Are: How Environmental Volunteers Impact Their Community and the Planet Every Day

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environmental volunteers, Robert Barossi, volunteer cleanups, watersheds, wetlands

Volunteers Are Cleaning Up, Part 2

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Rocks in Still Water(Photo by Robert Barossi)

by Robert Barossi

This morning, I couldn’t help but notice the number of stories about volunteer cleanups. Maybe it’s just that time of year? Or maybe these events are just happening more than ever. And being reported about more than ever in local news outlets.

Roughly four hundred volunteers participated in this event in State College, PA, led by ClearWater Conservancy. The volunteers cleaned up the area’s watershed at fifty different important sites.

Up in Minnesota, an impressive number of volunteers  also showed up for this event. Led by Cascade Meadow Wetlands & Environmental Science Center, the effort, which included many students, cleaned up the trash in a large wetland area.

Finally, some two hundred volunteers in Maryland showed up at Fort McHenry to clean up trash and waste. Led by the National Parks Conservation Association and the National Aquarium, the volunteers cleaned up lots of trash while also performing tasks such as tree planting and trail maintenance.

If you’ve enjoyed the stories on this blog, check out my eBook, Being Where You Are: How Environmental Volunteers Impact Their Community and the Planet Every Day

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Earth Day, environmental volunteers, Robert Barossi

Earth Day Volunteers

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Through the Trees(Photo by Robert Barossi)

by Robert Barossi

Environmental volunteers work hard every day of the year, no matter the location, weather or job to be done. They are also a big part of Earth Day, a day when people who don’t normally volunteer get involved and do something to give back for the planet. To commemorate the day, here are some Earth Day Volunteer Stories:

Cleaning lakes in Missouri.

Picking up litter in Pennsylvania.

Restoring trails along the Pacific Ocean.

Cleaning parks in New Jersey.

As this story from Rhode Island demonstrates, cities, towns and states are having numerous Earth Day events all week long.

And some cities are hosting all-day festivals, like this one in Phoenix.

No matter what kind of event it is (and these are just a few stories out of many I came across) these Earth Day efforts will hopefully get people even more interested and involved in helping the home we all share, the planet Earth.

 

If you’ve enjoyed the stories on this blog, check out my eBook: Being Where You Are: How Environmental Volunteers Impact Their Community and the Planet Every Day

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