Spring 2006

Volume 19

The Seventh International Conference on School and Popular Meteorological and Oceanographic Education will be hosted July 3-7 in Boulder, Colorado, by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR).

Known informally as “EWOC 2006,” this conference will focus on education related to understanding weather, oceans, and climate. Participants include teachers from the U.S. and the international community who are interested in informal and hands-on education.

A detailed description of the program, field trips, and the registration process is available online. The $350 registration fee includes dinner at the NCAR Mesa Lab on evening of July 3;  all sessions, coffee breaks, and luncheons on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, July 3, 5, 6, and 7, and a poster session on the morning of July 4. There are no sessions planned for the afternoon of July 4.

For more information, please contact the local organizing committee coordinator: Susan Foster, UCAR Office of Education and Outreach, PO Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307, (303) 497-2595; (303) 497-2598 fax; susanf@ucar.edu.

The Solar 2006 Conference, presented by American Solar Energy Society (ASES), Colorado Renewable Energy Society (CRES), and others, opens its Exhibition Hall to the public Sunday, July 9 through Tuesday, July 11 from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. at the Adam’s Mark Hotel of Denver, 1550 Court Place, Denver, Colorado 80202.

Visit over 80 renewable energy companies showing the latest advances in solar, wind and other renewable energy technologies from the leading renewable energy companies in the world. Don’t forget to stop by the NCAR/UCAR booth (number 178) to receive science education materials! For more information, please call (303) 443-3130 or visit www.solar2006.org.

NCAR is proud to be collaborating this summer with an unprecedented project called EcoArts, which is bringing together eighteen major science, arts, and environmental organizations—plus an amazing array of world-class talent—for the purpose of increasing awareness about global climate change and sustainability in a conversation powered by the arts. From July 6-16, EcoArts will co-present a unique series of concerts and dance performances, science and art exhibits, talks, tours, panel discussions, a national solar conference, and other extraordinary events at venues in Denver and Boulder. Many of the events are free!

As part of EcoArts, NCAR staff will offer special guided half hour tours on Saturday, July 15, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. of the “Climate Discovery” exhibit housed at the I.M. Pei-designed Mesa Laboratory. Visitors can tour three galleries of interactive, multimedia exhibits that recount the climate and climate change stories. “Climate Now” focuses on the Sun-Earth connection and natural processes interacting to produce weather and climate. “Climate Past” demonstrates with artifacts what we know about Earth’s climate of the past. “Climate Future” features current climate research, actual climate models, predictions about Earth’s future, and scenarios regarding how we might affect possible future outcomes. For more information, please contact Linda Carbone, UCAR Education and Outreach, (303) 497-1185 or lcarbone@ucar.edu.

Hundreds of visitors enjoyed the Wild Science Saturday and Wild Earth Saturday events held at NCAR’s Mesa Lab this past winter and spring. The events, coordinated by Wild Bear Center for Nature Discovery and UCAR’s Office of Education and Outreach, featured activities, workshops, and presentations from numerous organizations, including a display of colorful murals designed and decorated by area schools for the Earth Day Mural Project (below).

Mark your calendars for NCAR’s largest public event, Super Science Saturday, on October 21, 2006 at NCAR’s Mesa Lab, 1850 Table Mesa Drive in Boulder from 10 a.m. to 4p.m.!