Monday, October 23, 2006

October's Network

Last night, Dawn (the Network Analysis Guru) and I created October's network. Below is a mini-version of the network. To see a larger version of it, click here. As you can see, the network is growing!

To recap, the legend is as follows:

Red--IUSB faculty and students

Purple--IUSB administration

Blue--Friends and family

Light blue--UGA colleagues

Green--South Bend businesses and non-profits

Yellow--reusablebags.com

Pink--NPR radio essay contacts

Since airing the radio essay on NPR, I've been contacted by Marianne Peters, Freelance Writer, and Elizabeth Scarborough, Member of the Audobon Society. Both have expressed their interest in participating with this project. Marianne and I will be co-authoring a paper on environmental and practical issues that relate to conservation. And Elizabeth and I have discussed plans to have the Audobon Society participate at the festival. Of course, I will keep you informed as these plans continue to develop.

So, for those of you who are in the network, THANKS for your support. I sincerely appreciate it. And if you don't see your name in the network, but wish to become a part of this project, all you need to do is contact me!

Monday, October 16, 2006

National Public Radio: Billions of Plastic Bags

Last week, I was on the local National Public Radio station (88.1WVPE), which airs radio essays from the American Democracy Project. Of course, my commentary was about this project! Click here to listen to it online (text provided, too). I must say that airing the radio essay was fun, exciting, and a bit nerve-wracking. I'm certainly glad I did it. Anyway, I hope you enjoy hearing it for yourself!

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Guest Speakers for Festival

Folks, I've got more good news to share with you: We have two guest speakers for the Conserve Plastic Bags Festival! (Please note: The tentative date for the festival is scheduled for April 14, 2007.)

Steve Antonneti, District Manager of Wal-Mart, will host a discussion session on Wal-Mart's efforts to recycle plastic bags. As part of his presentation, he will show us video footage on plastic-bag recycling in Bentonville, AK. He will also be able to answer any questions or concerns we may have about this recycling process. So this will be a *great* opportunity for us to get informed and ask our burning questions about plastic-bag recycling at Wal-Mart!

In addition, Vincent Cobb and his representatives at reuseablebags.com will participate at the Conserve Plastic Bags Festival! They will host a discussion session on the importance of conserving plastic bags. (If you haven't checked out their website, I highly encourage you to do so!) They will also have a lot of goodies in-store for us (e.g., t-shirts, stickers, cloth bags).

This should be educational and FUN!