Environmentally Speaking

More than a Helping Hand

Jul 18, 2017

More than a Helping Hand For Division of Marine Fisheries staff, helping a co-worker is a daily occurrence, from holding a door for someone carrying a load to staying late to help meet a deadline. On March 14, one employee gave more than a helping hand when Cindi Hamilton (pictured on the left) donated a kidney to Carol Littrell (pictured on the right). Littrell, currently a part-time receptionist for the division, worked as an office assistant for the N.C. Marine Patrol for 33 years before retiring in 2012. Hamilton is an administrative assistant in the Director’s Office.

DEQ Staff Visit Bee Downtown’s Community Apiary at NCSU Centennial Campus

Jul 14, 2017

DEQ staff from the Secretary’s office and from the Office of Environmental Education and Public Affairs joined Bee Downtown Founder and CEO Leigh-Kathryn Bonner last Wednesday for an up-close and hands-on tour of the company’s community apiary at NCSU Centennial Campus.

Collaboration + Good Coffee = Connected Science Learning Success: State Agencies Partner to Unite Formal and Informal Educators in North Carolina

Jul 13, 2017

The Department of Environmental Quality’s Office of Environmental Education and Public Affairs and the N.C. Public Schools Science Section have coauthored an article that touts the unique collaboration between the two agencies to unite formal and informal educators in the state. The article, Collaboration + Good Coffee = Connected Science Learning Success was published in the spring edition of the Connected Science Learning journal, a publication of the National Science Teachers Association and the Association of Science-Technology Centers.

DEQ Lunchtime Program Teaches Employees How to Compost at Home

Jun 22, 2017

The DEQ Office of Environmental Education and Public Affairs took their Lunchtime Discovery Series to the Archdale Building recently to show DEQ and other state employees the benefits of composting. The workshop was held outside on the Halifax Mall where a small composting program has been in place since 2012.

Two dozen employees honored as DAQ Team of the Year for Western Wildfire response

Jun 22, 2017

The Asheville Regional Office and 14 additional Division of Air Quality employees were honored June 14 as DAQ Team of the Year for efforts related to air impacts from wildfires that consumed more than 80,000 acres of state and federal forest land in November.

Tim Skelding named 2017 DAQ Employee of the Year

Jun 20, 2017

With three nominations detailing his extraordinary service in 2016, Tim Skelding has been named Division of Air Quality Employee of the Year. Skelding, an environmental specialist with the Raleigh Regional Office, was honored by colleagues during the division’s annual appreciation event Wednesday at the N.C. Museum of History. He has worked at DAQ since 2003.

State to launch new high school curriculum focused on air quality

Apr 18, 2017

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality is launching a new high school curriculum focused on air quality in North Carolina. The It’s Our Air! program will officially launch April 26 in a ceremony at the Nature Research Center in downtown Raleigh.

Continued Growth for NC GreenTravel Program

Apr 4, 2017

NC GreenTravel Initiative is North Carolina’s sustainable tourism recognition program that assists travel-oriented businesses by helping them to improve their brand by conserving natural resources, protecting the state’s environment and attracting more visitors to our state. Several states have sustainable hospitality programs, but North Carolina’s program is the most extensive, helping a wider variety of tourism businesses become recognized as sustainable destinations.

DEQ partners with NCSU to offer environmental education credits

Mar 29, 2017

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality is working with N.C. State University to prepare a new generation of environmental educators. Beginning this 2017-2018 academic year, the N.C. State College of Natural Resources will partner with the N.C. State College of Education to offer two courses in environmental education--Environmental Education Teaching Methods and Environmental Education in Practice.

Read Across America, a really BIG event for Raleigh elementary school

Mar 8, 2017

By: Jamie Kritzer One of our most important jobs in the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality is educating the next generation to appreciate and protect the environment. “And if you’re gonna educate children, you better bring your ‘A’ game,” says DEQ Secretary Michael Regan. So for this year’s Read Across America celebration, staff with the Department of Environmental Quality used their creative genius to design an event that the students and teachers at Barwell Road Elementary in Raleigh will likely not soon forget.