2024-2025 Current Issue: Roots and Resiliency: Fostering Forest Stewardship in a Canopy of Change
CURRENT ISSUE WEBINARS (1 hour, 4:00) – recorded and gets put on the website
- December 16: Forest History & Futures in CT including core forest – Found here: https://youtu.be/sbxjeNQ_ecE
Forests have been impacted by humans in many ways and for a long time. Indigenous views of natural resources are very different than European perspective. From the beginning of colonization forests have been altered and changed resulting in shifting energy flow and ecosystems with lasting impacts that seen today. Join Beth Bernard, Outreach Educator from CT DEEP Forestry as she helps set the stage of how we have shaped our forests of today. Has our outlook on forest resources changed over time? How will resilient thinking and methods become part of generational system planning for forest resource management and impact other systems of today? These are the answers to find in this year’s current issue challenge.
- Jan 29: Preparing to Present:
Join Emily Picard, a UCONN Extension Fairfield County 4H educator, who will lead the session on the skills that help teams organize their messages and polish their speaking skills. Emily works with students to develop leadership skills in various settings and to present in many areas of agriculture and natural resources. What will be covered is gathering information, practicing basic presentation skills, and working together to increase your ability to present a strong program this spring.
When: Jan 29, 2025, 04:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
February 11, 2025 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Stakeholder Panel
For the challenge, you will represent a stakeholder group and make your case for forest land use plans. But what is the mindset of your stakeholder group and how do you understand their perspective? Meet representatives of these groups and learn how they view forests and their sustainability and uses in a changing climate. Get their viewpoints on the reasons for use or conservation and ask questions to understand how ideas can conflict with or complement each other.
February 23, 2025 6:30 pm- 8:00 pm
Trivia Night- Invasive Species Week Celebration
Get your teammates together and take on other teams to see how much you know about forests, invasive species, and information from workshops and webinars to date. It will be fun and interactive, resulting in prizes for the first and second-place teams.
Registration is required. All team members must register individually, four members minimum per team with a maximum of six on a team. Multiple teams are allowed for schools don’t worry we can mix if needed. Use this link and complete the form. A Zoom link will be provided prior to the event. Coaches may attend but they will be on a coach’s team not with their students. Don’t worry they will have their own prize competition going.
February 25, 2025 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Young Forests and Wildlife
Join Wildlife Biologist Jane Seymour to learn how forests and their management play a role in wildlife conservation. Using forest management strategies biologists plan spaces for a diversity of wildlife based on needs provided by forest structure. How are the two fields brought together and managed and what roles for sustainable planning do they play for communities? Teams and individuals can register with the provided link.
2025 CURRENT ISSUE RESOURCES (PDF)
2023-2024 Information below:
2024 CT Envirothon Oral Presentation topic and rubric
Links for Renewable Energy Sources_CT
Envirothon Special Topic Webinars
Energy and its production touches every aspect of our lives, and has a significant impact on our planet environmentally, economically and socially. This year for our current issue, we will have a series of webinars, an in-person workshop at the start of 2024, and posted resources. More information to come.
Questions can be sent to ctenvirothon@gmail.com
This year’s current issue is Renewable Energy for a Sustainable Future placing more demand on electricity. How do we generate electricity without producing carbon? The choices are many. To begin let’s make sure we understand how electricity is generated and how much energy we will need. Join us for a basic introduction to the world of electricity, use of terms, and the sources that can produce it. Registration is required.
Presentations from In-Person Workshop
- Energy Sprawl, Kip Kolesinskas, Consulting Conservation Scientist (pdf)
- Planning for Green Energy, Bill Colonis, CT Green Bank (pptx)
March 7 th 4:00 pm
Looking at the Scenario.
Speaker, Susan Quincy
Take some time to breakdown the packet. You can ask some questions about the problem at hand and how to
potentially look at the answers. We will do review of the resources on the website and how to look at the variety of
materials provided to you. Prepare yourself beforehand by reading through the scenario and task, look at the maps and
start to list some ideas with your teams. The topic is Renewable Energy for a Sustainable Future and has many options
open for you to apply.
Link to view webinar:
March 26, 2024
Youth Climate Summit
8:00 am – 1:30 pm
Free Virtual Conference for High School Students Across Connecticut.
Register your students to hear from young leaders and those working with youth to help shape the future of our
environment. Students from Simsbury, Darien, Groton, New Haven, and Bridgeport schools are involved in helping make
the day happen. For a flyer with details and how to register contact susan.quincy@ct.gov
Registration Link: https://coeearegistration.wufoo.com/forms/m1dhiksl0w1ci7a/
April 4th 4:00 pm
Talking Points
What makes a good PowerPoint? The presentation portion of the current topic is important and takes practice. Join
specialists in public speaking as they share tips to help you relax, prepare, and improve your presentations and
communication skills. This webinar will be interactive to allow you to practice with your teammates and others some
easy speaking games and techniques. Interactive use of Zoom will also be possible, individual log in is invited.
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://ctdeep.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIocOmvpzMpHdRg-BMJk7RGg7rowlUjLS8K
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Webinar 2: An Electricity Grid in Transition
The transition to renewable energy will require different approaches and investments. All of which requires funds and energy sources to invest in. Deciding how to do this and planning to face these challenges is where we are right now. Join Joshua Walters from CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection as he helps prepare you to answer the same questions our policy makers and energy specialists are answering now. See what possible solutions you can find to answer how to fill an energy grid for the future through your research this year. Joshua Walters is Staff Attorney under the Office of the Commissioner focus on Energy.
2022-2023 Current Issue Resources
CIRCA presentation: https://youtu.be/aA2IlJu3hjk
– Last Current Issue Webinar, Putting It All Together: https://youtu.be/Rkpdy9j8x0c
Look at the En-ROADS Climate Action Simulator and how it can help your students address climate actions and issues. This workshop will show the levels of information the simulator contains and how students can use it to help prepare and illustrate information for their oral presentations. We will go over the areas of action and how they relate to field topics and address global perspectives on equity, and technology.
Jeff Howard, CT DEEP Office of Energy Supply and Infrastructure, will share insight into the choice to go electric. Often, we hear why electric if we use fuel to make electricity? Jeff will explain how the switch to electric for cars and utilities works to address carbon and support green technology. The choice in the fuel supply and how to build a suite of solutions that leads to less greenhouse gas emissions.
Webinar 3: Environmental Justice and Indigenous Values
Environmental Justice and Indigenous Values
Join Indigenous Educator Darlene Kascak from the Institute for American Indian Studies,
Washington Depot, CT. Darlene is a storyteller for the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation and traditional
educator with the museum. She will introduce us to the cultural link that connects native
cultures to the environment and is part of their decision-making process and lives. Climate
change has impacted many cultures differently and the balance of solutions is important to
include as we address solutions. How do we include equity in these plans?
Webinar 4: Opportunities and Economic Value in Climate Adaptations
What are the opportunities for economic development when addressing climate adaptations?
Join members of Connecticut Green Bank as they highlight the economic impacts going green
and green infrastructure offer. Included will be ways investing in green pathways can pay off and
the challenges to making it happen. Click HERE for the presentation slides.
Please click HERE to see the 2023 Scenario, Scoring Rubric and Presentation Rules
2021-2022 Current Issue: Waste to Resources
Study Materials
- Post 1 – Key Topic Intro: Sustainable Materials Management PDF
- Post 2 – Landfills and Hazardous Waste PDF
- Post 3 – Waste Reduction and Reuse PDF
- Post 4 – Recycling and Waste Diversion
- Post 5 – Organics – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
- Post 6 – Systems Thinking
- Post 7 – Gas Cylinders
- Post 8 – Careers in SMM
- WEBINARS
- Managing Materials Sustainably Webinar
- Gas Cylinders Powerpoint and Webinar from March 2nd
.
2020-2021 Current Issue : Water Resource Awareness, Connections and Impacts
Study Materials
2020-2021 Current Issue List of References
We recommend these 2 videos to prepare for the introduction of the Current Issue scenario later in January.
1: Try to solve a mystery as you use this video lesson to learn about groundwater contamination://lessons.projectwet.org/plume-problem
2: the 6-minute video from the list of DEEP resources posted in the Station Training folder, under Current Issue: https://portal.ct.gov/DEEP/Aquifer-Protection-and-Groundwater/Aquifer-Protection/Aquifer-Protection-Program
Additional Materials:
https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/topo-maps-how-to-use.html
Using Web Soil Survey, Topographic Practice 1, Topographic Practice 2, Multiple Choice Questions about Topographic maps
Project WET Lesson (Student and Advisor Materials)
Student Materials:
1. Blank community map from the Project WET lesson that we gave to the advisors. This is for students to practice plotting contaminant data and visualize the distribution throughout the mock community. It is in PDF
format.
2. A PowerPoint presentation of a DIY demonstration of a contaminant
plume moving through sand. This demonstration was from the Project WET lesson that we gave to the advisors as well.
Advisor Materials: emailed on 1/15/2021. Please email CTEnvirothon@gmail.com if needed.
1. A Project WET lesson plan (PDF) that allows students to work through a scenario to determine the source of a contaminant. In this case, it is Arsenic.
2. The answer key of plotted data from the data sets provided in the PDF mentioned above. It is in a PowerPoint format. The first slide is the blank map, the second slide contains the map with data set 1 plotted, and the third slide contains the map with both data set 1 and 2 plotted.
Project WET Follow-up Lesson (Student and Advisor Materials)
- Slide one is a topographic map with drinking water and drilled well data distributed (same values and more or less same distribution as what was provided previously).
- Slide two is the soil map (same values and more or less same distribution as what was provided previously).
- Slide three is a table that contains the information that goes with the soil map. It is meant to contain information that you can extract from Web Soil Survey (example: well drained and poorly drained soils with their corresponding symbol, name, and description).
Student Materials: Topographic and Soil Map Activity
Advisor Materials: Emailed on 1/29/2021. Please email CTEnvirothon@gmail.com if needed.
2018 Teacher Workshop Presentations
Kip Kolesinskas – Farming Forward- Challenges and Opportunities in a Changing Climate (PDF)
Nancy Marek- Using UAS, Temporal Signatures, RGB Imagery to Map the Distribution of Understory Invasive Species in the Temperate Deciduous Forest. Note- large file, please download. Give the video on the second to last page time to load, turn up sound, and enjoy!
Additional Resources
How Integrated Pest Management Helps Pollinators in Agriculture – Kim Stoner (PDF)
List of useful and relevant URLS for 2019 Oral Scenario (PDF)
Getting Started on the Farm Plan (PDF)
The 2019 Current Issue was Agriculture and the Environment: Knowledge & Technology to Feed the World
Current Issue Learning Objectives (From NCF Envirothon)
Visit NCF Envirothon for more information and resource links.
https://www.nature.org/en-us/explore/magazine —Articles titled “Smart Growth” and “Down to Earth” have content appropriate to this year’s national theme. They are found by scrolling down on the “NC Magazine” page to the “Read Past Issues” box, then selecting the “Show More” box to articles from the March 2018 issue.