I’m in Madison, Wisconsin, along with my colleague Andy Balaskovitz, for the annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Journalists.  We knew it would be a great trip when we ran into this serendipitous sign early in the drive:

And so far, it’s been teriffic.  I spent yesterday morning on a Great Lakes research vessel, while Andy went birding in the country’s biggest freshwater cattail marsh. More on that later.

This morning the conference headed back indoors for an optimistic address from Al Gore about the upcoming United Nations climate talks in Copenhagen.  He likened the current political atmosphere to a moment in a football game when one team abruptly changes the game’s momentum, and ”the psychology of the contest changes dramatically.”

Gore cited recent defections from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over the chamber’s stance on climate legislation, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency’s new reporting requirement for major emitters of greenhouse gases, as indicators that an agreement is likely at the U.N. meeting in December.

Gore admitted that his optimism was largely a result of a fear of what would happen should the negotiations prove fruitless.

“The consequences of failure in Copenhagen would, in my opinion, be catastrophic,” he said.

-Andy McGlashen

Students and professional chemists will convene in East Lansing in a month to discuss the opportunities and challenges of developing green technologies.

The National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers will host its Midwest regional conference at Michigan State Oct. 30 through Nov. 1. The meeting will include plenary sessions on green energy, chemistry and engineering, as well as a keynote address from Dr. Lealon L. Martin of Rensselaer University.  There will also be workshops designed specifically for undergraduates, grad students and professionals, with topics including the fastest growing jobs in the Midwest, and technical writing tips from an editor of Science.

The meeting is open not just to black chemists and engineers, but to “anyone who is interested in using their talent to save the planet,” said Fletcher Daniels, chair of the committee planning the conference.

“We want the conference to be an interdisciplinary experience, full of scientists, policy makers, economists and agriculture researchers,” he said.

The deadline for registration and for poster abstracts has been extended to Oct. 20.  To sign up or learn more about the conference, click here.

Mention green roofs around the MSU community and chances are Brad Rowe’s name will come up.

Rowe (Horticulture) has been studying green roofs ever since Ford Motor Co. asked MSU to help install a 10-acre green roof at the River Rouge plant in 2003.

Since then, Rowe has been researching what plants work best on rooftops in different regions, managing water stress levels and reductions in storm water runoff. Results have been promising.

Rowe draws inspiration from European countries, where modern green roofs have been commonplace for more than 50 years.

His latest project at MSU looks at the viability of growing vegetable gardens on rooftops – a practice most effective in urban areas.

“Why not grow [vegetables] on the roof?” Rowe asks in the video. “It’s wasted space.”

– Andy Balaskovitz