Advisory Positions from Sec.of Agriculture for Advisory Committee on Minority Farmers. June 7, 2017.

      The Secretary of Agriculture is soliciting nominations for membership for the Advisory Committee on Minority Farmers.  Interested individuals from among socially disadvantaged farming and ranching producers (industry); civil rights professionals; private nonprofit organizations; State, and Tribal agricultural agencies; academic institutions; commercial banking entities; trade associations; related enterprises that support socially disadvantaged producers; and higher education institutions that work with socially disadvantaged producers. 

Prior applicants under the previous solicitation are not required to reapply.  An organization may nominate individuals from within or outside its membership; alternatively, an individual may nominate herself or himself.  Nomination packages should include a nomination form along with a cover letter or resume that documents the nominee’s background and experience.  Nomination forms are available on the Internet at https://www.ocio.usda.gov/document/ad-755.  For additional information, please visit: 

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/06/01/2017-11216/advisory-committee-on-minority-farmers-request-for-nominations.

2.      The Secretary of Agriculture is also soliciting nominations for membership for the Advisory Committee on Beginning Farmers and Ranchers.  We are soliciting nominations from interested organizations and individuals from among ranching and farming producers (industry), related government, State, and Tribal agricultural agencies, academic institutions, commercial banking entities, trade associations, and related nonprofit enterprises. The deadline for applications is June 15, 2017.

Prior applicants under the previous solicitation are not required to reapply.  An organization may nominate individuals from within or outside its membership; alternatively, an individual may nominate herself or himself.  Nomination packages should include a nomination form along with a cover letter or resume that documents the nominee’s background and experience.  Nomination forms are available on the Internet at https://www.ocio.usda.gov/document/ad-755.  For additional information, please visit:

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/05/31/2017-11214/advisory-committee-on-beginning-farmers-and-ranchers-acbfr-request-for-nominations.

Call for Nominations to Serve on NOSB The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) is a Federal Advisory Committee that provides advice and recommendations to the Department of Agriculture on the implementation of the Organic Foods Production Act. NOSB members are volunteers and come from across the organic community. Each member is appointed by the Department of Agriculture to a five-year term. USDA seeks nominations to fill one vacancy for an individual with expertise in areas of environmental protection and resource conservation to serve on the NOSB from January 2018 to January 2023. The USDA is also seeking nominations for a pool of candidates to fill future unexpected vacancies in any of the seven position categories, should unexpected vacancies occur. A person appointed to fill an unexpected vacancy will serve for the remainder of the 5-year term of the vacant position.  Committee member duties include: Attending committee meetings (travel paid by USDA) Participating in bi-monthly subcommittee conference calls Reviewing materials and/or recommending changes to the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances Advising the Secretary on other aspects of the USDA organic regulations Written nominations must include a resume, an AD-755 Application Form, and a cover letter (optional), and must be postmarked on or before August 7, 2017. More Information: Call for Nominations Flyer (PDF) Press Release: USDA Seeks Nominations for the National Organic Standards Board  Federal Register Notice: Call for Nominations (Includes Application Instructions)  Advisory Committee Background Information (Form AD-755) (PDF) NOSB Recommendation on Criteria for NOSB Membership (PDF) For more information, visit the NOSB Nominations Webpage.

Calculate your carbon emissions. UNISDR. 2017 Global Platform

Dear partners,

Thank you for your active participation in the 2017 Global Platform.

We kindly encourage you to calculate your carbon emissions at https://carbonfund.org/calculate-your-footprint/ and to off-set the equivalent amount at https://offset.climateneutralnow.org/register

When offsetting, we encourage you  to mention under "reason for purchase", #MEXICOGP17, and to post about the offset on social media using the hashtags:#MEXICOGP2017 and #GoGreen


Thanks,
The UNISDR Team

August 27-Sept 1, 2017. Stockholm World Water Week.

 GWP Partners,

The 2017 Stockholm World Water Week will be held 27 August – 1 September. The week is organized by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI). SIWI is offering GWP Partners a 25% discount off the “early bird” registration fee. You can register here and insert the code WEE25 on page two of the registration form. (GWP does not provide funding for attending the Stockholm Water Week.)

Please note that the early bird deadline is June 30. This offer is only valid for GWP registered Partners.

Best regards,

GWP Stockholm Secretariat

June 9, 2017 3:00pm ET for an emergency call American Sustainable Business Council

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Last Thursday’s Paris Climate Agreement announcement by President Trump represents a major turning point. His ill-informed, counterproductive decision is an attack on American innovation and our future. Read our statement. Please join us this Friday, June 9th at 3:00 ET for an emergency call to plan how we’ll use the voice of business to push back now. We want to hear what your organization plans to do and offer some specific actions we can take together. Collectively, we must push back on the narrative that only big businesses support staying in the agreement, and make it crystal clear to Trump and Congress that small- and mid-sized companies see climate change as a fundamental threat. If Trump expected his decision to go down easy, he’s mistaken. With Trump, Pruitt and their allies at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce openly at war with our values, we’re seeing business leaders from small- and mid-sized enterprises ready to step up. At ASBC, we're helping to mobilize responsible businesses across the country. One thing you can do right now is sign the “We’re Still In’ letter. On Friday, we want to learn about your plans to organize businesses in your community and lay out efforts we’ll pursue over the next month. To start, ASBC will: Develop Op-eds and Letters to the Editor you can edit and place in your local paper about the risks of climate change and how it will help our country to stay in the Paris Agreement. Offer guidance on how to get your governor, mayor and/or City Council to sign onto Clean Energy initiatives. Connect you to local and state legislators who want to partner on building a low-carbon economy in their towns and cities. Organize a national webinar with mayors, business leaders and other key officials and influencers on local and state climate policy initiatives. You know this Administration is putting our future at risk. Let’s talk about how we can change that. Looking forward to hearing from you at 3 p.m. ET this Friday, June 9. Sincerely, Richard Eidlin Co-founder & VP of Policy and Campaigns American Sustainable Business Council

June 27-July 20th. Volunteers needed for Future Leaders Program at Bowie State University. Homeland Security and Emergency Management

Capstone Objective: 

The Prince George’s County Youth Career Connect Program (PGC-YCCP) Homeland Security Capstone Challenge 2017, is designed to teach students how to respond to emergency situations that may occur in their own communities or schools.  The PGC-YCCP is for students attending Prince Georges County Public Schools Career Academies at Bladensburg (Biomedical Sciences), Fairmont Heights (Information Technology), Parkdale (Homeland Security) and Potomac (Homeland Security and Information Technology) High Schools. Students will work in teams to gain knowledge on emergency preparedness and response. Students will use knowledge gained from sessions to develop their own emergency plan for their community or school utilizing an emergency scenario provided during the program. 

During the Capstone Challenge finale, each team will present their solution to a panel of expert judges who will choose the winning team. The PGC-YCCP Homeland Capstone Challenge will run for four weeks beginning June 26, 2017- July 20, 2017 Mondays through Thursdays from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on the campus of Bowie State University.

Volunteer Request:

We are seeking subject matter experts (SMEs) in emergency preparedness and response to teach basic knowledge on how to respond to an emergency until help arrives. Students will need to learn basic community emergency response protocol and procedures to successfully complete capstone challenge. 

In addition, we are seeking SMEs to lead sessions on the following topic areas: 

Types of Disasters, Fire Safety, Disaster Operations, 

CERT Organization and Scenario Stimulation (see dates below).  

Last, we would like to invite SMEs to serve as judges during the Capstone Challenge Finale.

Subject Matter Sessions: (9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. or 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.)

June 27th:           Types of Disasters

           Need Two Speakers for each session, morning and afternoon session.
June 28th:           Fire Safety

           Hopefully P.G. Fire\EMS can handle these sessions(morning & afternoon)

July 3rd:               CERT Organization (Team roles/responsibilities)

           Need Two Speakers for each session, morning and afternoon session.

July 6th:               Disaster Operations

            Need Two Speakers for each session, morning and afternoon session

July 10th:             Scenario Stimulation

            This will probably be a table-top exercise (TTX), with possible functional exercise

             for exercise development.

July 20th:             FINALE (9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.)

Judges:

1.      Charles D. Sharp.  CEO BEMA International

Additional judges needed.  Call contact to get on list.

CONTACT:

Jasmine Logan 

Lead Program Coordinator

The Maryland Center at Bowie State University

                     jasmine3.logan@pgcps.org