Topics Related to Environmentally Speaking

The Department of Environmental Quality’s Office of Environmental Education and Public Affairs and the N.C. Public Schools Science Section have coauthored an article that touts the unique collaboration between the two agencies to unite formal and informal educators in the state. The article, Collaboration + Good Coffee = Connected Science Learning Success was published in the spring edition of the Connected Science Learning journal, a publication of the National Science Teachers Association and the Association of Science-Technology Centers.

The DEQ Office of Environmental Education and Public Affairs took their Lunchtime Discovery Series to the Archdale Building recently to show DEQ and other state employees the benefits of composting. The workshop was held outside on the Halifax Mall where a small composting program has been in place since 2012.

The Asheville Regional Office and 14 additional Division of Air Quality employees were honored June 14 as DAQ Team of the Year for efforts related to air impacts from wildfires that consumed more than 80,000 acres of state and federal forest land in November.

With three nominations detailing his extraordinary service in 2016, Tim Skelding has been named Division of Air Quality Employee of the Year.

Skelding, an environmental specialist with the Raleigh Regional Office, was honored by colleagues during the division’s annual appreciation event Wednesday at the N.C. Museum of History. He has worked at DAQ since 2003.

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality is launching a new high school curriculum focused on air quality in North Carolina.

The It’s Our Air! program will officially launch April 26 in a ceremony at the Nature Research Center in downtown Raleigh.

NC GreenTravel Initiative is North Carolina’s sustainable tourism recognition program that assists travel-oriented businesses by helping them to improve their brand by conserving natural resources, protecting the state’s environment and attracting more visitors to our state.

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality is working with N.C. State University to prepare a new generation of environmental educators.

Beginning this 2017-2018 academic year, the N.C. State College of Natural Resources will partner with the N.C. State College of Education to offer two courses in environmental education--Environmental Education Teaching Methods and Environmental Education in Practice.

By: Jamie Kritzer 

One of our most important jobs in the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality is educating the next generation to appreciate and protect the environment.

“And if you’re gonna educate children, you better bring your ‘A’ game,” says DEQ Secretary Michael Regan.

So for this year’s Read Across America celebration, staff with the Department of Environmental Quality used their creative genius to design an event that the students and teachers at Barwell Road Elementary in Raleigh will likely not soon forget.

By: Sarah Young

Two people instrumental to recycling and stormwater programs in North Carolina have retired from the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality.

Scott Mouw and Bradley Bennett both retired from the state of North Carolina on Feb. 28. Scott was the section chief for the Recycling and Materials Management section of the Division of Environmental Assistance and Customer Service (DEACS), and Bradley served as the head of the state’s Stormwater Permitting Program in the Division of Energy, Mineral and Land Resources (DEMLR).

For gardeners or anyone interested in water conservation, rain barrels are essential. These barrels allow homeowners to collect rainwater from a roof to use as an alternative water supply in place of groundwater. Most rain barrels have a closed top to help control mosquitoes and keep out extraneous materials, but I have always had an open-top barrel with a spigot to be able to dip water out for quick trips to vegetable and flower gardens.