Meetings and Presentations

Friday, February 29
Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival
7-9:30 pm Kodiak College, room 130, BBB (Free)
Children's film festival and activities, room 106, BBB (Free)

Sponsored by Alaska Marine Conservation Council and Kodiak College Community Engagement Committee.
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Saturday, March 1^st –A Garden Party with Jeff Lowenfels,
Anchorage Daily News garden writer and co-author of Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener’s Guide to the Soil Food Web. Jeff will be at the Kodiak Wildlife Refuge Visitors’ Center from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. and will discuss lawn care, perennials, vegetables, trees, flowers, composting and more.

There is no better or funnier garden speaker!

Sponsored by Kodiak Garden Club and Sustainable Kodiak

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Next Sustainable Kodiak Meeting: Monday, March 3, 7:30 pm at Kodiak College, BBB, room 106. See you there!

Ocean Acidification: The other CO2 Problem

with Dr. Richard Feely

Thursday, February 14, 5:30 - 7:00 pm

Kodiak Refuge Visitor Center (402 Center Street)

Not only is carbon dioxide (CO2) a major contributor to global climate change, but increased concentrations of CO2 in the oceans is causing significant changes in marine ecosystems. Dr. Feely will discuss the implications of increased CO2 levels on the health of our ocean ecosystems and ocean-based economies.

Dr. Richard A. Feely is an Oceanographer at the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle. His major research areas are carbon cycling in the oceans and ocean acidification. He was awarded the Department of Commerce Gold Award in 2006 for his pioneering research on ocean acidification. Dr. Feely is a science advisor for the Alaska Marine Conservation Council.

Sponsored by the Alaska Marine Conservation Council with funding from National

Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs and ARCUS.

For more information:

Please contact Theresa Peterson

486-2991; theresa@akmarine.org

Municipal Composting: Public Meeting

Important Public SWAB meeting

Tuesday, February 19 at 5:15 pm.

Downtown-new Bear Refuge Museum

Municipal Composting, with Fred Warren, Environmental Specialist with RCAC in Tucson, Arizona, and Roland Shanks, Environmental Specialist with RCAC in Anchorage.

This note from Rick Pillans of Threshold Recycling, and a SWAB member:

“We are facing some very serious problems with the way we handle municipal solid waste here in Kodiak. The Borough has hired a consulting firm to study OUR problem, and give us some solutions as to ways of dealing with it. My thoughts are that if we don’t consider long term solutions along with making them environmentally sound we are just being naive. If we combine a major recycling/reducing program with a co-composting program we could realistically reduce our solid waste going into the landfill up to 80%. Expanding the landfill is a very expensive project, and not one that is really addressing the source of the problem, but only the issue, and only short term. What I am trying to do is look at what Kodiak needs for up to 40 or 50 years down the road. These are real issues that the public needs to be involved with because it does affect them directly.

Fred Warren an Environmental Specialist with RCAC in Tucson Arizona, and Roland Shanks also an Environmental Specialist with RCAC in Anchorage are doing a workshop on Friday the 15^th at the 10^th Annual Alaska Forum on the Environment in Anchorage. I am taking advantage of their services to bring them to Kodiak and do their presentation as part of our Solid Waste Advisory Board Work session. They will be presenting on Tuesday February 19^th, in the new wildlife building downtown where we hold our Sustainable Kodiak meetings. All are welcome, and encouraged to attend. It is a SWAB work session, and is open to the public.”