Pennsylvania Sea Grant Educates and Inspires Students and Adults through the Connect with Your Environment Newspaper Page

August 2, 2019

Many people read the newspaper to stay connected with local happenings and news, but Pennsylvania residents are also reading the newspaper to connect with their environment.

Pennsylvania Sea Grant, in partnership with the Erie Times News, produces a weekly environmental newspaper page, as part of the national program Newspapers in Education. Stories about local, regional, and global environmental issues, research and educational programs reach students in classrooms throughout the Erie, PA school district each Tuesday during the school year.

The Connect with Your Environment page promotes place-based science literacy by highlighting local environmental coastal issues. The page has highlighted a variety of topics, from pets that become invasive species, to local plastic pollution, and environmental science careers.

The pages each include an interactive newspaper or in-class activity. In 2017, 141 teachers in 75 schools used the pages in their classrooms, reaching over 6200 students. Even outside the classroom, the Connect with Your Environment page is motivating Pennsylvania residents to get engaged in exploring and protecting their local environment: Pennsylvania Sea Grant has seen more involvement from citizens in stewardship and volunteer opportunities as a result of the page.

Read past issues of Connect with Your Environment on the Pennsylvania Sea Grant website.

Four people install substrate for an oyster reef.

Alaska

Biden-Harris Administration invests $60 million to build a climate-ready workforce through Investing in America agenda

Today, the Department of Commerce and NOAA announced $60 million in funding to help train and place people in jobs that advance a climate-ready workforce for coastal and Great Lakes states, Tribes and Territories as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda under the Inflation Reduction Act. To date, awards like these from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda have created more than 270,000 jobs across the country.

The funding will support nine projects around the nation, with $50 million going directly to the projects and $10 million for technical assistance to support the grantees.

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Sea Grant aquaculture professionals from across the country convened in Portsmouth, NH in early April for a 4-day intensive “Sea Grant Aquaculture Academy” hosted by New Hampshire Sea Grant with support from North Carolina Sea Grant.

Sea Grant takes center stage in Oceanography special issue

NOAA Sea Grant-funded research and work with coastal and Great Lakes communities across the nation are being highlighted in a special issue of “Oceanography,” the official journal of The Oceanography Society.

This special issue, published in April 2024, features 36 articles contributed by Sea Grant authors across 29 programs and the NOAA National Sea Grant Office.