
Durham's Bionomic Education and Training Center program and the Future of our Youth
In April, 2013, the Environmental Protection Agency calculated that fifty-five percent of monitored waterways in the United States are impaired by pollution, meaning they are too polluted for healthy recreation, public drinking water and subsistence fishing. Twenty-five percent of the nation’s beaches are under advisories or closed at least once per year due to water pollution.

Awards, Icing on the Environmental Cake
… Every year, the SWCD’s poster, essay, public speaking, and slide-show contests are open to all 3rd through 6th grade students. Each first place student wins $50, and their teachers win $30; second place students win $25.…

For the Love of BETC
… Polluted runoff is a leading cause of impairment in at least 40% of North Carolina's waterways, including all of Jordan Lake and a significant part of Falls Lake. Forty percent of America's rivers and 46% of America's lakes are too polluted for fishing, swimming, or aquatic life…

Digging our Way Out
… Thanks to a heads-up from Ray Eurquhart, a long-time Durham Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) board member, in October I contacted the SWCD about the N.C. Community Conservation Assistance Program (CCAP), which funds up to 75% of qualifying stormwater management projects on public and private land…

Streamlining Must Not Prohibit Input From Residents
… If streamlining is needed, then it should be on the part of developers not citizens. Right now, when development meets citizen opposition to rezoning and comprehensive plan amendments, they may actually request deferrals, presumably in the hopes of wearing citizens down …

Medlin Hired as Planning Director: A Breath of Fresh Air
… With regard to the announcement that Steve Medlin has been hired as Durham’s new planning director. All I can say is Whoooo-Hooooo! …

County OK another step in the wrong direction
…I was deeply discouraged by the Durham Board of County Commissioners' Feb. 25 approval of Epcon's comprehensive plan amendment for the West Side of Farrington Road, which permits a residential density increase from four single-family homes per acre (RS-20) to as many as eight units per acre (PDR 4.5) in an area where rural farmland now exists…

Welcome to my blog ...
... where you'll find articles pertaining to education and written for parents, caretakers, & teachers (traditional & home-school) regarding practical hands-on books, curricula, events, & opportunities. Other articles concern parenting, marriage, writing, & life in general, as well as local (Durham/Raleigh/Chapel-Hill), regional (Southeastern United States), and national issues and concerns.