GLIN==> Press release: NY Sea Grant part of multi-state public education climate change project

PRESS RELEASE:  March 12, 2010
Contact:  David B. MacNeill, 315-312-3042
 
NY Sea Grant Part of Multi-State Public Education Climate Change Project
 
Oswego, NY ­  Science can be exact and it can create a lot of ³what ifs?,²
as with the possible impacts of climate change. David B. MacNeill of New
York Sea Grant, Oswego, NY, is participating with a NOAA ³Climate
Engagement² mini-grant project that will communicate the uncertainties of
climate change to coastal communities in New York and in states from Maine
to Virginia.
 
NOAA has provided funding to underwrite the climate change education
outreach training of NOAA¹s North Atlantic Regional Team and Sea Grant
extension educators.
 
MacNeill is among the Sea Grant extension educators who will attend an April
12-14 workshop at the University of Rhode Island¹s Coastal Institute in
Narragansett, RI. After that ³train the trainer² session, MacNeill will
participate in developing educational workshops for coastal citizens,
business and community leaders, and other stakeholders.
 
Developing strategies for communicating the uncertainties of science to
stakeholders is a long-term interest of MacNeill, a Fisheries Specialist
with New York Sea Grant, Oswego, NY. MacNeill, brings recent expertise in
communicating the factors that affect fisheries in Great Lakes ecosystems to
this climate change project.
 
³I will be working with educators throughout the Great Lakes and national
Sea Grant networks to develop ways to help our coastal communities
understand and adapt for potential climate change impacts,² MacNeill said.
 
³New York Sea Grant is currently the only Sea Grant program in the U.S.
actively engaged in climate change outreach coordination in both Great Lakes
and coastal marine environments,² said Jim Ammerman, Director of New York
Sea Grant. ³This is an important service that we can provide both for NOAA
and our New York coastal communities.²
 
In 2009, MacNeill helped co-organize and moderate climate change workshops
in Charleston, South Carolina, for more than 90 Sea Grant specialists,
communicators, program leaders and NOAA staff.
 
³These workshops created a baseline foundation for assisting community
leaders, planning agencies and coastal businesses with adaptive planning for
climate change impacts,² MacNeill said. ³For example, here in New York State
this type of education takes a proactive approach to developing resources
for dealing with such issues as flooding, erosion and storm surge along our
Great Lakes shoreline.²
 
NOAA National Sea Grant College Program Director Leon Cammen, Ph.D., said,
³Since our Sea Grant researchers and extension agents serve the local
coastal communities in which they live, Sea Grant is well-suited to connect
NOAA science to the needs of local coastal communities. Issues related to
climate change are a Sea Grant priority.²
 
Sea Grant is a nationwide network of 32 university-based programs that work
with coastal communities. The National Sea Grant College Program engages
this network of the nation¹s top universities in conducting scientific
research, education, training, and extension projects designed to foster
science-based decisions about the use and conservation of our aquatic
resources. 
            
NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth's environment, from the
depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our
coastal and marine resources. Visit: http://www.noaa.gov and
http://www.climatewatch.noaa.gov.
 
New York Sea Grant has worked with Cornell University and NOAA¹s northeast
Regional Climate Center to develop the East Coast Winter Storms
Climatological and Forecasting Web site at http://nywinterstorm.org.
Additional information is available at http://nysgextension.org. #

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