Grant Opportunity: $3,500 to an individual or group pursuing a program or initiative designed to benefit our environment. Deadline: June 30, 2024

 

Quadratec invites applications for ‘Energize the Environment’ Grant Program

May 23, 2024

Deadline: June 30, 2024

Quadratec invites applications for its ‘Energize the Environment’ Grant Program, which will award a grant of $3,500 to an individual or group pursuing a program or initiative designed to benefit our environment. 

Examples of eligible projects include trail building or restoration projects, park beautification events, litter prevention initiatives, Earth study missions, sustainable land management activities, community environmental educational projects, and youth educational engagement events. 

Any individual, group, or organization in the United States can apply for the program.

For complete program guidelines and application instructions, see the Quadratec website.

Link to complete RFP

The Police Killing of Roger Fortson Shows the Conflict Between the 2nd Amendment and Paranoid Cops May 20, 2024

 https://reason.com/2024/05/20/the-police-killing-of-roger-fortson-shows-the-conflict-between-the-2nd-amendment-and-paranoid-cops/

2ND AMENDMENT

The Police Killing of Roger Fortson Shows the Conflict Between the 2nd Amendment and Paranoid Cops

Fortson, a 23-year-old active duty airman, was shot and killed by a Florida sheriff's deputy when he opened the door to his apartment holding a gun at his side.

C.J. CIARAMELLA | 5.20.2024 3:57 PM

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(Ben Crump via Twitter)

Hundreds of Air Force service members in dress blue uniforms filed into a Georgia megachurch Friday for the funeral of Roger Fortson, 23, a senior airman who was shot and killed by an Okaloosa County sheriff's deputy earlier this month after he answered the door to his apartment holding a gun at his side.

Fortson's dramatic funeral, which included a video message from Rev. Al Sharpton, was a stark reminder of the deadly incoherence between America's Second Amendment culture and hypervigilant police training and tactics.

Fortson was fatally shot on May 3 after sheriff's deputies arrived at his apartment complex in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, responding to a call about an alleged domestic disturbance.

Body camera footage released by the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office shows the deputy knocked on Fortson's door and announced himself several times. Fortson eventually opened the door, holding a handgun at his side. The officer said "step back" and began firing. Fortson only had time to raise his empty hand, palm outward. Three to four seconds elapsed between Fortson opening the door and the deputy firing six rounds at him.

Ben Crump, a prominent civil rights attorney who is representing Fortson's family, said in a recent press conference that police went to the wrong door. A radio dispatcher told deputies that the call was "fourth-party information from the front desk at the leasing office," and body camera footage showed an unidentified woman telling deputies she was "not sure" which door the disturbance came from before directing them to Fortson's apartment. Fortson's family says he legally owned the gun, had no criminal record, and was home alone at the time of the incident.

"We've got to call it as it is—Roger died of murder," Rev. Jamal Bryant said at Fortson's funeral. "He died of stone-cold murder. And somebody has got to be held accountable. Roger was better to America than America was to Roger."

The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office initially framed the fatal shooting as self-defense.

"Hearing sounds of a disturbance, he reacted in self defense after he encountered a 23-year old man armed with a gun and after the deputy had identified himself as law enforcement," a May 4 statement from the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office read.

The two narratives illustrate a problem Reason has written about time and time again: The government insists that its citizens have a Second Amendment right to own guns and defend their homes with them, but it also insists that it's reasonable for police to respond with deadly force when they're startled by the sight of a gun, or what could be a gun but might be a harmless object, or the knowledge that a gun is nearby, as in the case of Philando Castile.

Last year police in Farmington, New Mexico, fatally shot a man while responding to a domestic disturbance call at the wrong house, after the man showed up at the door holding a gun.

In 2022, Florida resident Corey Marioneaux Jr. was charged with attempted murder of a police officer for shooting a gun at SWAT team officers who had just broken through his front door with a battering ram at 5 a.m. The charges against Marioneaux were later dropped, and an internal review found no wrongdoing on the part of the police either—a simple misunderstanding that could have killed someone.

That same year, a Minneapolis Police Department officer shot and killed 22-year-old Amir Locke during the execution of a no-knock raid. Locke, who was not named in the search warrant, appeared to be asleep under a blanket on a couch. As police entered the room, he put his hand on the barrel of a handgun, and an officer shot him three times.

In 2006, former Reason writer Radley Balko detailed the case of Cory Maye, a Mississippi man sentenced to death for fatally shooting a police officer during a no-knock drug raid.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis relentlessly brags about "Free Florida," a supposed refuge from liberal busybodies, where things like owning a gun and not eating vat-grown meat are sacred. The title of his book was in fact The Courage to Be Free. But DeSantis has no courage when it comes to the police. His only priority is giving law enforcement more privileges and insulation from civilian accountability. 

Roger Fortson lived in this very same Florida. Now his name will be added to the long list of people who were killed for doing something they were assured was their right as free citizens of the United States.

Grant Opportunity: Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment invites applications for Central Coast Community-Based Water Quality Grants Program. Deadline: June 28, 2024 at 5:00 p.m. PT

 

Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment invites applications for Central Coast Community-Based Water Quality Grants Program

May 21, 2024

Deadline: June 28, 2024 at 5:00 p.m. PT

The Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment invites applications for the Central Coast Community-Based Water Quality Grants Program, which will support a range of environmental justice, water quality, and climate resiliency projects relating to water supply across California’s Central Coast. 

Preferred topic areas include the human right to water, environmental justice and local environmental justice capacity, water-quality impacts of climate change, drought-related water supply resiliency projects, climate adaptation and mitigation projects, sustainable drinking water or wastewater treatment solutions, sustainable groundwater management strategies, and providing benefits to underrepresented communities. 

Two grant tracks will be offered for this fund. Smaller, community-based applicants are encouraged to apply for grants of $20,000 to $50,000, while larger organizations and state agencies are encouraged to apply for grants of $100,000 to $200,000. Large grant requests must demonstrate at least 25 percent of match funding to be successful. 

Projects must take place within the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board’s jurisdiction (Region 3), which includes southern Santa Clara (Morgan Hill and south), Santa Cruz, San Benito, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara counties, and small portions of Ventura, Kern, and San Mateo counties. 

Eligible applicants include 501(c)(3) nonprofits, federally or state recognized Indian tribes, and public agencies. 

For complete program guidelines and application instructions, see the Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment website.

Link to complete RFP

Debris Removal, Space Debris: Opinion: The problem with space junk – and how to solve it. May 9, 2024

SEPERATE THOUGHT

New perspectives needed in removal of space debris.

"The incident in Naples serves as a wake-up call — a call to action demanding innovation, collaboration and responsible stewardship of our cosmic backyard  "

BEMA International

====================================

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/09/opinions/space-junk-circular-space-economy-jah/index.html

Opinion: The problem with space junk – and how to solve it

Opinion by Moriba Jah

Published 11:38 AM EDT, Thu May 9, 2024

Editor’s Note: Moriba Jah, an astrodynamicist and space environmentalist, is a winner of the MacArthur Fellowship and serves as faculty at the University of Texas at Austin. He is co-founder and chief scientist of Privateer, a space data intelligence company. The views expressed in this commentary are his own.

(CNN) In the tranquil city of Naples, Florida, the Otero family recently experienced a heart-stopping moment when a small fragment of space debris crashed through their roof, highlighting the hidden perils of our skies.  No one was hurt, but if the debris had struck someone, it could have ended in tragedy.

This incident serves as an example of the urgent need for a profound shift toward sustainable space practices.

The object that struck the Otero home wasn’t just a random piece of debris; it was a remnant from a discarded battery palette, originally weighing several tons, once used aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The battery palette was released from the ISS in 2021 and was expected to burn up upon reentry from orbit. But the smartphone-sized portion that struck the Otero residence on March 8 survived, and, in crashing back to earth, carried with it the weight of our unsustainable approach to space exploration. Our linear model — where satellites, like single-use plastics, are launched and abandoned — is contributing to the growing menace of space debris.

Proponents of a circular space economy advocate for a transformative departure from this wasteful paradigm. Much like embracing reusable materials on Earth, transitioning to a circular space economy means designing space systems with reuse, refurbishment and recyclability in mind. Satellites should be built to have extended lifespans, allowing for upgrades and modifications rather than being discarded after a single mission.

We don’t send our cars to the junkyard when their parts break. We repair them, and for those cars that are junk, many parts are salvaged and repurposed for other vehicles. Because all satellites are single-use, as soon as they die we need to launch something else, and the dead satellite needlessly consumes orbital carrying capacity (the load size that can safely be in orbit, not unlike the carrying capacity for a highway). It becomes a hazard to the safety of other space objects for years, decades or longer.

Rather than leaving defunct satellites to drift aimlessly in orbit or plunge unpredictably to Earth we must adopt controlled reentry procedures. This means purposefully making the satellite burn up in the atmosphere, while at the same time ensuring that the particles produced by this process don’t pollute it. That requires us to utilize research and engineering to determine the best materials and designs for satellites. This would ensure that objects safely burn up, minimizing the risk of debris scattering across our lands and oceans and not polluting the atmosphere in the process.

I’m not alone in my quest for celestial stewardship. The European Space Agency (ESA) has emerged as a trailblazer in the pursuit of a circular space economy. ESA has made a bold commitment to developing and implementing circular economy principles across its space missions and operations. This strategic initiative encompasses designing spacecraft for reusability, exploring innovative recycling technologies for space hardware, and prioritizing responsible end-of-life disposal through controlled re-entry or orbital maneuvers.

By embracing circular economy principles, ESA aims to minimize space debris, reduce mission costs and pave the way for a more sustainable — and in the long run, more successful — future in space exploration.

NASA, as a leader in space exploration, also has a critical role to play in advancing the development of reusable and recyclable space systems. The agency’s scientific and technological expertise can pave the way for innovative solutions that minimize waste and maximize sustainability in space missions.

NASA is not new to spearheading innovation when it’s needed. One example of NASA’s capability to lead innovation in critical moments is the development of the Space Shuttle program. The Space Shuttle, with its reusable orbiter and solid rocket boosters, represented a significant leap forward in space transportation technology. By designing a spacecraft that could be launched, returned to Earth and relaunched, NASA demonstrated the feasibility and benefits of reusable space systems.

In addition to launch vehicles, NASA has been at the forefront of developing innovative technologies for resource utilization and sustainability in space. Projects such as the Artemis program, aimed at returning humans to the Moon sustainably, involve the development of technologies for in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) and habitat construction using local materials.

Though NASA has released a space sustainability strategy, that strategy stops short of what would be required to make space exploration sustainable. NASA must join ESA in explicitly embracing the principles of a circular space economy for its strategic vision and operational frameworks. This includes integrating circular economy principles into mission planning, spacecraft design and end-of-life strategies. By leading the charge toward sustainable space practices, NASA can inspire other space agencies and private companies to follow suit.

The incident in Naples serves as a wake-up call — a call to action demanding innovation, collaboration and responsible stewardship of our cosmic backyard. Let us seize this pivotal moment to redefine our relationship with space — a relationship founded on principles of conservation, responsibility and reverence for the awe-inspiring wonders that grace our universe.

Seminar: Prince George's County, MD. Flood SKYWARN. 2-hour training session will be held on Thursday, May 23rd @ 6:30 pm

 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSft6wS-qnv2WvJgZJdHBKFMFbqwpEC4vO9MynmF9odBdhjnrg/viewform  

Flood SKYWARN - Prince George's County, MD

The National Weather Service in Sterling, Virginia will be providing a Flood SKYWARN seminar in Prince George's County, MD. The 2-hour training session will be held on Thursday, May 23rd @ 6:30 pm at the following address:

Prince George's County Emergency Operations Center

7915 Anchor Street

Landover, MD 20785

If you are interested and would like to attend, please register below by providing some basic information. Please fill everything out thoroughly. There is limited seating so it will be first-come, first-serve basis. Someone from our office will be contacting you via the email address you provide to confirm your attendance. If you need to cancel your reservation, please email us at lwx-report@noaa.gov or call 571-888-3500.