Heather Spence, Marine Biologist

On the national mall from September 23rd to October 2nd, you can tour 19 solar powered homes designed and built by teams of college students from around the world, as part of the U.S. Department of Energy “Solar Decathlon.” As the name suggests, the houses go through 10 contests, which include household tasks (e.g. laundry, hosting a dinner party), monitored performance (e.g. maintaining a comfortable temperature and humidity) and other judged characteristics (e.g. aesthetics, design). The winning team’s house must be affordable and easy to live in, and produce as much or more energy than it consumes. Come see these houses – you will definitely want to live in one!

NY and CA team houses with Washington Monument

City College of New York's "Solar Roofpod" is designed to be added to an urban rooftop as part of an integrated green roof system

Chinese Tongji University's "Y Container," made from recycled shipping modules, promotes flexible indoor space with sliding/swiveling wall panels and stackable triangular furniture modules

September 17 is International Coastal Cleanup Day!
Look for an event near you, or start your own. Celebrate all month, all year…
Check the Ocean Conservancy website for ideas and events.

Also, I take this opportunity to remind you about the serious threats of plastic pollution, including and especially six packs rings – please snip them! This is a spanish/english video I made to be shown in local schools in Cancun, and has now reached worldwide:

Watch the video here: Cut Six Pack Rings – Bilingual Video

Tomorrow, Thursday September 15, Diana Reiss will be “appearing” live on the Diane Rehm Show on NPR (11:06am ET), and also on FOX (I will try to post the time when I find out).

For more info on the NPR interview go to http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-09-15/diana-reiss-dolphin-mirror

Diana Reiss, my adviser, is going on book tour. Here is the information I have so far for related events -

September 19 – Redmond, WA and Seattle, WA

September 20 – Los Angeles, CA
September 21 – Menlo Park, CA and San Francisco, CA
September 24 – Sonoma County, CA

September 27 – New York, NY (Hunter College) [by invite, if interested let me know]

October 22 – St. Petersburg, FL St. Petersburg Times Festival of Reading

You can also get more information at the listing on Amazon