From the rolexawards.com:

The Laureates of the inaugural series of the Young Laureates Programme will be chosen in March 2010 by a panel of distinguished, highly talented individuals. The winners will be announced in April 2010.

Please visit the new Young Laureates programme website to meet the finalists in the inaugural series.

View the list of Jury members here.

Would You Know What To Do With A Python?
Would You Know What Not To Do?

To date, several large Pythons have been reported in Sarasota County. We need your eyes to spot them so we can catch them before they spread further.

Python Patrol Workshop

Monday, April 26, 2010
Session 1: 9 am - 12 pm
Session 2: 1 pm - 4 pm

Sainer Pavilion
New College of Florida

Space is limited. To register for this FREE workshop, go to the following website:
http://pythonpatrol.eventbrite.com/

PDF Flyer

Reposted from ncf.edu:

Join New Topics New College for a visual tour of the places in the world most affected by climate change, from the poles to mountains and our cities, and some of the actions being taken to combat the warming, presented by Gary Braasch,  an explorer and photojournalist from Portland, Oregon. Braasch is an environmental photojournalist who creates remarkable images and important documentation about nature, environment, biodiversity and global warming. Included will be images from Florida and the Atlantic Coast, underscoring the local effects and dangers of rapid climate change.  Braasch recently reported and photographed from the Copenhagen international climate negotiations last December, and will offer his perspective on the direction being taken by the world’s nations in reacting to and reducing global warming. The talk will take place at the Mildred Sainer Pavilion (5313 Bay Shore Road) on March 9, 2010 at 4:00 pm.  Tickets are $15.  For more information or to make a reservation, please call the New College Events Hotline at (941) 497-4888 or email events@ncf.edu.

Tuesday, March 9 at 4:00 pm

“Climate Change – a Visual World View of Global Warming”
Gary Braasch, explorer and environmental photojournalist
Faculty host:  Meg Lowman, professor of biology and environmental studies, New College of Florida
Underwritten by the TREE Foundation

New Topics New College is a collaboration of the New College Foundation and New College of Florida.  This dynamic community series pairs prominent national speakers with New College faculty for stimulating discussions on relevant topics of our time.  A reception follows each program and provides an opportunity to meet the speakers, students and faculty.

New Flyer

The Rolex Awards for Enterprise: Young Laureates Programme Press Release:

GENEVA, September 30, 2009 – Ten leading international figures in science, the environment and exploration will select the first five winners of the recently launched Rolex Awards for Enterprise: Young Laureates Programme, Rolex announced today.

A geographically and professionally diverse group, the inaugural jury for the Young Laureates Programme will meet at Rolex headquarters in Geneva in early March 2010 to select the five budding pioneers between the ages of 18 and 30 who will be the first Young Laureates. The winners will be announced in April 2010.

Full Press Release

1. January 20-28, students and families can join her for canopy research at the world’s longest canopy walkway site ACTS (Amazon Center for Tropical Studies). Only 15 participants for this land-based study trip. View PDF Flyer .

2. For a more luxury time in the Amazon, CanopyMeg will be co-leading a travel trip for the Explorers Club — departure date is April 4 on a wonderful ship, traveling from the mouth of the Amazon up near the headwaters with all sorts of adventures along the way. PDF attached that gives the approximate itinerary, with full costs available by calling the toll-free number listed on the description. View PDF .

As part of the 5th International Canopy Conference 2009 (and its subsequent publications), co-chair Meg Lowman is compiling a comprehensive history of canopy access. If you have any special methods that you invented or pioneered, stories worth telling (and re-telling), equipment that deserves recognition, inventions that facilitated improved canopy research, or other notable tales and fables, please email Meg with details so you will be included in this documentation:

canopymeg@gmail.com

5/11/09 Update: This is the last call to organize a symposia at the 5th International Canopy Conference being organized by ATREE on “Forest canopies : Conservation, Climate change and Sustainable use” during 25th – 31st October 2009, Bangalore, India, The deadlines for organizing a symposium have been extended from 3rd April 2009 to 20th May 2009, and please find the guidelines on http://canopy2009.org/html/sub2.html

The call for abstracts is open for contributed oral and poster abstracts, and guidelines can be found on http://canopy2009.org/html/sub3.html and http://canopy2009.org/html/sub4.html respectively.

Social events at the conference include a Canopy Art exhibition, Canopy Photo and Film festival and public lectures along with other traditional events.

Please find more information on www.canopy2009.org, and forward this to your colleagues to make this conference a success.

2/16/09 Update: The theme for this conference is Forest Canopies: Conservation, Climate Change and Sustainable Use. The conference program will include keynote and plenary speakers on critical topics, invited and contributed scientific symposia, methods workshops, a student symposium, poster sessions, field trips, a film festival and traditional canopy social events

You can now visit www.canopy2009.org for more information and please forward to your colleagues. ATREE invites you to present your work at the conference. Your active participation will help meet global challenges and make this conference a success. Dr. Meg Lowman is co-chairing this international event.

————–
SAVE THESE DATES!!!!!

5^th International Canopy Conference 2009
Forest Canopies: Conservation, Climate Change, and Sustainable Use
October 26-31 2009 Bangalore INDIA

Download the brochure

Forest canopies are the least explored habitats in the world. They not only support high terrestrial biodiversity, but also represent a critical interface between the atmosphere and the earth. Forest canopies also provide goods and services to support diverse human activities. Thus interactions between forests and humanity offer opportunities to explore sustainable use of such resources, particularly for sustaining local livelihoods. Sustainability is vital for environmental policies to foster conservation, sustainable use and mitigation/adaptation to climate change. This demands the integration of canopy science with physical science, social science and information technology.

The 5^th international canopy conference in 2009 will bring diverse professionals together to build inter-disciplinary links in canopy science to foster increased understanding of this unique subset of forest ecosystems. ATREE (Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment) is the major supporting institution for the conference, with Convenors Dr. Soubadra Devy (soubadra@atree.org) and Dr. T. Ganesh (tganesh@atree.org). Dr. Kamal Bawa and Dr. Margaret Lowman will serve as co-chairs. The goal of the conference will be to highlight the respect to important global challenges, especially climate change, sustainability, and conservation. The conference will provide an opportunity to build networks across continents, to facilitate capacity-building, and to address issues requiring information from multiple sites, within countries and across continents. The proceedings of the conference will be published in an edited volume, with a subset of papers published as a special issue of an international journal. Special sessions will be held on: Education; Climate Change; Ecosystem Services and Sustainability Initiatives; Innovative Tools; and an Emerging Issues Round Table discussion.

Special features of the conference include:

• All-day field trip to view Indian forests and inspire discussion
• Canopy film festival (similar to the successful programs from the 1^st conference)
• Canopy awards ceremony
• Student session
• Publiclecture to promote canopy education
• Opening Plenary talk by Thomas E. Lovejoy, President, H. John Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment

Save these dates! A timeline leading up the conference will be:

1. Call for symposia - January 2009
2. Call for abstracts - March 2009
3. Registration by 10 April 2009
4. More information will be posted on www.atree.org

Please contact Soubadra or Ganesh (emails above) with suggestions for speakers that may represent new, unpublished, innovative canopy projects around the globe.

From New College News:

Professor of Biology and Director of Environmental Initiatives at New College Meg Lowman, a.k.a. “Canopy Meg,” will speak at United Nations Association, Sarasota-Manatee Chapter, on March 24 at 6:00 pm. Professor Lowman will be joined by Dr. Eugenie “the Shark Lady” Clark. The event is entitled “Two Women: Two Extraordinary Scientists” and will be held at the Herald Tribune Building, 1741 Main Street, in the first floor Community Room.

For more information, please contact Catherine Seress at (941) 928-1187. Please note that searing is limited.

From the Venice Area Audubon Society:

Dr. Meg Lowman to Speak at VAAS Dinner
Topic: Conservation for the Next Generation

The Venice Area Audubon Society is privileged to have the renowned scientist Dr. Meg Lowman speak at the VAAS fundraising dinner Sunday, March 15th at 5:00 PM at the Crossroads American Grille.
Dr. Lowman has recently returned from speaking at the Ecological Society of Australia Conference in Sydney, Australia, where she was interviewed by ABC Radio National. During the interview she dicussed the mysterious world of the canopy and remarked that over half of the life on earth lives in the tops of trees which includes millions of insects and thousands of birds. Dr. Lowman stressed the urgency to uncover the secrets of the rain forest before we lose the forests.

More info and sign up form PDF

From WINGS Worldquest:

On April 28th in New York City, Wings WorldQuest will host the 7th annual Women of Discovery Awards, honoring five outstanding women explorers from around the world, and six elected Fellows whose explorations have taken them from the depths of the sea and into space, back in time and charging into the future.

In 2007, the Fellows Program was established to expand the scope and reach of Wings’ network of women explorers. Along with our Awardees, our elected Fellows create a vibrant community of colleagues who advance Wings’ mission of collaboration and advocacy. They comprise the braintrust that informs our education and outreach programs, offering inspiring role models for future generations.

For more information about Wings Women of Discovery Awards on April 28th or related lectures at the American Museum of Natural History, please contact Gala Coordinator, Annabelle Rosborough at annabelle@wingsworldquest.org or call 212-759-1128.

PDF of the full article