The GLRPPR Blog

If you’re still not sure what all the fuss is about related to social networking, and think that tweets are just for the birds, you may want to participate in an upcoming webinar hosted by the Northeast Waste Management Officials Association (NEWMOA), entitled How P2 Assistance Providers Can Effectively Use Social Media. NEWMOA, like the Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR), is one of eight regional pollution prevention information centers throughout the U.S. that collectively comprise the Pollution Prevention Resource Exchange (P2Rx).

The webinar, scheduled for this Thursday, September 15 at 1 PM Central, will explain how the use of social media and web 2.0 technologies can bring value to pollution prevention and assistance programs. The presenters will also discuss their experiences using different social media applications to reach a variety of audiences, and share tips on what has been successful. One of the presenters will be GLRPPR’s own Laura Barnes, who will discuss “How to Get Started Using Social Media.” Other speakers include Andy Bray of NEWMOA and Sarah Haas from the Minnesota Technical Assistance Program (MnTAP).

Social media can be a powerful tool for staying informed, networking (especially in these days of limited budgets and frowned upon travel requests), and spreading the word about your products and services without spending a great deal of money.  After participating in the webinar, I encourage you to make use of GLRPPR’s Twitter and Facebook pages. These pages incorporate items from various GLRPPR RSS feeds, such as news items, new additions to our Sector Resources, and blog posts (like this one!), so they can be a great way to catch the best highlights from many of our services in one place.  These pages also feature items re-posted (“re-tweeted”) by myself and Laura from the various other Twitter, Facebook and news sources that we monitor — our recommendations for content that you would find interesting and useful. They also offer an opportunity to comment on posts (Facebook) or use direct messages and “mentions” (Twitter), thus providing an online forum for discussion of resources. And through the use of conventions (like Twitter’s #FollowFriday and #EcoMonday) and lists of friends and followers, you can learn about other people and organizations engaged in work and interests similar to yours.

So be sure to register for the webinar on NEWMOA’s web site. We’d love for you to be one of our tweeps!

Join the Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR) and U.S. EPA Region 5 for a webinar on May 12.  Space is limited. Reserve your webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/440261202.  After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

The GLRPPR/EPA Webinar provides an opportunity to hear about P2 Programs in the region, ask questions and stay connected.

Agenda:

1. Opening comments by Julie Guenther, Region 5 EPA
2. Presentation by IL: a. GLRPPR – Bob Iverson; b. I-CORE – Mike Springman
3. Presentation by MN – Phyllis Strong: a. P2 Grant work; b. Green Chemistry and Design program; c. P2 integration program
4. Presentation by MI – Karen Edlin: a. Economy, Energy and Environment (E3); b. Michigan’s Sustainable Hospital Initiative; c. Advancing Green Chemistry
5. Presentation by IN – Jennifer Schick

Title: GLRPPR/EPA Region 5 Forum
Date: Thursday, May 12, 2011
Time: 8:30 AM – 10:30 AM PDT  

System Requirements:

• PC-based attendees–Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server
• Macintosh®-based attendees–Required: Mac OS® X 10.4.11 (Tiger®) or newer

Contact Bob Iverson, GLRPPR Executive Director, for further information or questions.

Our thanks to Donna Walden, Regional Coordinator at the Western Sustainability and Pollution Prevention Network (WSPPN), one of our sister P2Rx Centers, for assisting with the set up and administration of this webinar.

The pollution prevention world has undergone dramatic changes in staff, funding, technology, and program objectives since the Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR) was established in the 1990s. GLRPPR needs to change to keep pace with the rest of the P2 community. As the GLRPPR Steering Committee, EPA’s Regional Pollution Prevention coordinator, and GLRPPR staff continue this process, we need your help.

Please take a moment to complete the questionnaire at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QLZPFN5. GLRPPR is your organization and we need your feedback to plan for the future.

The Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) has received a pair of national environmental awards. Awards were received for the Sustainable Electronics Initiative (SEI) and by Dr. Tim Lindsey.

The 2010 Most Valuable Pollution Prevention (MVP2) awards presented by the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable (NPPR) celebrate the successes of innovators in the areas of pollution prevention and sustainability. These prestigious awards were presented recently at a ceremony in Washington, DC.  ISTC is a unit of the Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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Recently, GLRPPR‘s Laura Barnes participated in a webinar hosted by our sister Pollution Prevention Resource Exchange (P2Rx) Center, the Western Sustainability & Pollution Prevention Network (WSPPN). Laura co-presented with Rick Yoder from another of the P2Rx Centers, the Pollution Prevention Regional Information Center (P2RIC). Donna Walden of WSPPN moderated the session.

Rick and Laura described many social networking and bookmarking tools (such as Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc.), why using these tools has become important for those in pollution prevention and sustainability organizations, how these tools can be great sources of information as well as marketing, and also provided some great tips for using these technologies. The audience asked lots of questions, and overall the webinar was very informative even for those of us who already regularly use Web 2.0 tools.

If you missed the session, or attended and would like copies of the presentations, these are now available for download on the WSPPN webinar page (look for “Web 2.0 Social Media Webinar, Recorded on July 28, 2010″).

Thanks to WSPPN, and particularly to Donna Walden, for making this webinar possible.

Thirty eight Illinois companies and organizations have been honored for their significant achievements in protecting the environment, helping sustain the future, and improving the economy. The Governor’s Sustainability Awards were presented by the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) in Champaign during a luncheon. ISTC is a division of the Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability at the University of Illinois.

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The presentations from the recent Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR)/Region 7 Pollution Prevention Roundtable conference are now available on the GLRPPR web site.

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Laura Barnes and Joy Scrogum of GLRPPR are winners in the P2tagteam world. P2Rx is sending delicious prizes to the top bookmarkers for the P2Tagteam on the Delicious site. Laura won a quart of custom made ice cream for being the top bookmarker. The ice cream was delivered frozen.

Joy received a bag of chocolate kisses for her bookmarking efforts.

You can see photos of the winners and their prizes on GLRPPR’s Facebook page.

In case you have not heard, Delicious is a social bookmarking service that allows you to tag, save, manage and share Web pages all in one place.

Instead of having different bookmarks on every computer, Delicious makes it easy to have a single set of bookmarks kept in sync between all of your computers. Even if you’re not on a computer you own, you can still get to your bookmarks on the Delicious website.

If your friends use Delicious, you can send them interesting bookmarks that they can check out the next time they log in. Of course, they can do the same for you. As you explore the site and find interesting users, you can use our Subscriptions and Network features to keep track of the Delicious tags and users you find most interesting.

For more information on Delicious, see their Help section, which includes an excellent list of frequently asked questions.

P2Rx has started a collaborative tagging effort on Delicious to encourage P2 professionals to share the resources they find and bookmark. If you locate a resource that you think would be helpful to other P2 professionals, simply add P2TagTeam tag in the Tags field when you add the bookmark to Delicious. For more information on P2TagTeam, visit the P2Rx web site or contact Laura Barnes (lbarnes@istc.illinois.edu).

A heartfelt thank you goes out to our Hoosier hosts for the recent Region 5 & 7 joint conference in Indianapolis. The presentations were interesting, the facilities were comfortable and convenient, and our hosts were friendly and helpful.

Our three day session started off with a training day on how to help make a business green. Laura Barnes from the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center led a training session on ways to save money and improve an organizations environmental performance through green business practices. Then Marcus Rivas from Region 7 presented case studies of work done by the Kansas Green Teams. Several members of the Green teams were able to join us by conference phone.

The next day Rick Bossingham, Assistant Commissioner of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management welcomed us and gave an overview of where Indiana is heading in the environmental field. Tanya Mottley of the U.S. EPA Office of Pollution Prevention (P2) and Toxics then presented the EPA’s Strategic Plan and welcomed comments from participants. Her presentation lead us into a very interesting roundtable discussion of how traditional P2 activities fit into sustainability efforts.

After lunch, Karen Haley, Director of the Office of Sustainability, then told of the environmental efforts underway in Indianapolis. Denise Coogan with Subaru of Indiana gave a witty and informative presentation on how that carmaker has become a zero landfill company. The day wrapped up with Tony Nesky telling us of the Region 5 Sustainability Network and Phil Kaplan of the EPA discussed some of the results of recent P2 projects in the region.

Since Phil Kaplan is retiring soon, GLRPPR presented him with a “Legacy Tree” which will be planted in his hometown of Highland Park, IL. Phil has been a good steward of the environment and a friend to GLRPPR.

Rick Yoder of P2RIC got things rolling on Friday with a discussion of new web tools that could improve information discovery and collaboration. Greg Hume of TechSolve then presented information on his company’s Green Supplier network and collaboration with the city of Columbus, Ohio. Dr. Michal Kopach then told us of the use of an electronic Lab Notebook for Green science at Indianapolis’ own Eli Lilly Company. Cam Metcalf of the Kentucky P2 Center was the final speaker with a talk on the Seven Steps of an Energy Management Program. For the last portion of the day, we went across the street to the Indiana Government Center to attend a webinar with Natalie Hummel of the U.S. EPA on the new Greenhouse Gas calculator tool.

The conference was held at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indian and Western Art in downtown Indianapolis. It was a fantastic facility. And those of us who went to dinner at a local Greek restaurant were full for days after all of the wonderful food.

Special thanks to Jennifer Schick of IDEM for all of her organizing efforts. She was helped by Bobbi Steiff and others at IDEM. Thank you everyone!!

(You can see pictures of the Joint conference on the GLRPPR Facebook page. If you are not yet a Facebook user, join us.)

The conference in Indianapolis was a success and we appreciate the time and effort of those who attended, presented, and discussed the issues on the agenda. If you attended the conference, please consider submitting an In-Kind Contribution for the time you invested in GLRPPR activities. GLRPPR is required by U.S. EPA to obtain in-kind funding contributions from individuals who participate in activities related to the program. By completing the online In-Kind Contribution Form every time that you invest your time in GLRPPR activities, you have the opportunity to help sustain the program.

Examples of activities that qualify for in-kind contributions include:

• Attending conferences,
• Participating in committee activities,
• Contributing resources for the GLRPPR web site
• Providing information to be shared among the region (i.e. articles for the blog, conference announcements, etc).

What expenses and activities count?

• Travel to and from GLRPPR meetings and conferences.
• Work hours NOT paid for out of federal grant funds.*
• Materials and supplies used for GLRPPR activities.

*Include preparation time in office, travel time, time spent working on GLRPPR related project activities, and time spent working at meetings (including conference calls) conferences and GLRPPR sponsored training.

If you have any questions about in-kind contributions, please contact GLRPPR Executive Director Bob Iverson.