Kent County and Green Building

Howard Fortunato and Jim McCulley made a green building presentation to the Kent County Delaware code enforcement officials today. Kent County is interested in learning about green building and how they can help encourage builders to build green.

This presentation was arranged by the Green Building Council of the Homebuilders Association of Delaware of which Howard is president. Wayne Bedwell, a local builder was also on hand to help answer any questions that the County officials had.

New Fountain

The residents of Saint Jones Commons in Dover are enjoying their new Aquamaster Fountain.

The fountain was installed last week by JCM Environmental, their pond managers. Besides looking and sounding nice, the fountain also helps to improve water quality by mixing the water and adding oxygen.

For more information, contact JCM Environmental at 302-737-9335 or 302-854-9138. Visit us at http://www.jcmenv.com/

Kind Words for JCM Staff

Mr. McCulley,

I wanted to drop a line and say Thank You to you and your staff for helping our students at Alfred G. Waters Middle School complete a successful year at Science Olympiad. I met Amy during last years Delaware State Fair in the DNREC exhibit. She was very informative and personable and made a huge impression on not only myself but my son as well. After talking with Amy she made me aware of the educational services that your company offers regarding public outreach. She gave me her business card and said to give her a call when school started back up if I needed her.

Amy along with Jodi visited our school twice bringing a menagerie of critters and stimulated the interest of many of our aspiring herpetologist. They had such patience with the students and did a great job in breaking down the material so that even the students that were not in our Reptiles and Amphibians group could understand what was being taught. The students could not wait for Amy and Jodi to come back for their final visit before competition. They are great ambassadors for JCM and the environmental science industry.

Thanks to Amy and Jodi I feel the kids on the Science Olympiad team were well prepared for their competition. Our AGW Reptiles and Amphibians team 11, made of Greg and Amanda, placed 7th overall in the event. They were very proud and said they could not have done it with out Amy and Jodi’s help.

Thanks again for allowing the girls to help out our team. They did a fantastic job.

We really appreciate it.

Regards,

Shannon Hughes
Reptiles and Amphibians Coach

Green Building at National Mall, Washington, DC

Yesterday I worked at an NAHB booth in Washington DC at EPA's National Sustainable Design Expo on the National Mall. There was also an adjacent Earth Day on the National Mall event with a concert and speakers and LOTS of people. There were many environmental science-minded enthusiasts at the Expo and lots of green minded people in general. We were surrounded by high level college presentations. Some of the college competitor project titles: Fuel Production from Coffee Wastes”; “A Sustainable Irrigation Ram Pump for Community Gardening in South Africa”; and A Process for Biological Nitrogen Removal from Dairy Wastewater in Constructed Wetlands”.

I was there along with several NAHB staff members and some local homebuilders and remodelers. We had a number of interested people coming up to inquire about green building and we explained it all. They were impressed that the home building industry has taken the intiative to build green and had a program to provide independent verification of the green certification. An interesting, but long day.

Ducks Unlimited-Greenwing Event

Mick, Jodi and Amy brought the JCM critters down to Owens Station (http://www.owensstation.com/index.html) in Greenwood, Delaware for the Annual Ducks Unlimited Greenwing Event on Saturday.

As always the critters were a big hit with both the kids and adults. Mick, Jodi and Amy had a great time talking to people about the Delaware native reptiles and amphibians and sharing fun facts with the Greenwing visitors.

For more information visit the links above or http://www.jcmenv.com/

J.S. Hovnanian & Sons Welcomes Roesville’s First Home Buyers

J.S. Hovnanian & Sons welcomes Roesville’s first homebuyers Barbara Jean and Lou DeSantos to their new residence at the company’s first-ever housing community in Delaware. This is an exciting and monumental milestone for the 4 generation company that recently unveiled one of the first Green Certified homes in the entire state of Delaware. Roesville, an active adult community, features ranch-style, single-family homes geared to the new generation of 55+ buyers. Starting in the low $200,00s, the spacious floor plans include three-bedroom and two-bath designs. A 10,000 square-foot Lodge, indoor/outdoor pool, state-of-the-art fitness center, travel library, basketball and tennis courts, putting green and a multi-modal fitness trail is also planned for the community. For more information about J.S. Hovnanian & Sons’ Roesville community or any of the other builder’s communities, visit http://www.hovhomes.com/.

Congratulations Mick

Congratulations to Mick McLaughlin (mick@jcmenv.com), who recently completed his requirements to earn the Certified Green Professional designation from the National Association of Homebuilders. The CGP program recognizes individuals with building industry experience that also complete specific green building and practical management curriculums.

This adds to Mick's extensive list of credentials, including many years of experience in field biology, research, habitat assessment, bog turtle surveys, floral and faunal taxonomy and natural history, just to name a few.

www.jcmenv.com

Adopt-A-Wetland Field Trip

Watching Wetland Wildlife Workshop

On April 4th, 2009, Mick McLaughlin (mick@jcmenv.com) and Catherine Byrd (catherine@jcmenv.com) attended the Delaware Adopt-A-Wetland Watching Wetlands Wildlife Workshop at the Delaware Aquatic Resources Education Center in Smyrna, Delaware.

The Adopt-A-Wetland Program is celebrating their 20th anniversary this year. It is a community based environmental stewardship program where individuals and groups “adopt” a wetland in the State of Delaware. The workshop was geared towards promoting the Adopt-A-Wetland program and to inform people about loan monitoring kits. Approximately 30 people attended the workshop. During the workshop, four monitoring kit stations were set up and participants were encouraged to visit each station. The four Adopt-A-Wetland Program loan kits on display included the following: water quality; macro invertebrates; amphibians and reptiles; and invasive and native plants.

Part of the workshop also included a trip to a vernal pool at Cedar Swamp led by Mick and Catherine. Participants learned about vernal pools and the organisms that call them home. Mick and Catherine waded through the vernal pool in search of critters, while participants walked around the edge with nets. Several Spotted Salamander egg masses were found, as well as, some aquatic insects. Due to the windy weather, no adult salamanders or Fairy Shrimp were found. However, Mick had collected some salamanders from another site and brought them to the program for display.

During the program, Mick discussed the intricacies of vernal pools with participants and answered questions. Afterwards, participants returned to the Aquatic Resources Education Center for the Adopter Achievement Awards. Overall, it was a fun-filled and educational day for everyone.

www.jcmenv.com

Proactive Advice from Seth Godin

Seth Godin (www.sethgodin.com) had a great blog today about being proactive and it was related to the homebuilding industry and so I am re-posting it here:

On becoming proactive

Tom points us to a provocative idea for home builders. If you want to sell a new house, why not offer prospective buyers help in selling their old houses? Send your idle crews to their house to paint it or do other important cosmetic fixes. Fill the old house with the furniture you use in your models, etc.


Take it a step further. If your home building service is totally slack, why not get to work upgrading and selling older homes or even foreclosed ones?
Consider what a solo entrepreneur could do using eBay: instead of waiting for people to hold garage sales, why not distribute fliers offering to run a virtual garage sale for anyone who will open their home to you? Go in with a digital camera, catalog and photograph the top 20 most valuable items in the house and sell them on eBay... and split the money. Your proactive effort overcomes the seller's inertia and you both profit.


There are huge opportunities for this in the business to business space as well. Most companies would welcome a post-tax-day accountant who offered (on spec) to review bills or expenses in exchange for half the money saved. If they had time, they'd do it themselves, but of course they don't.

In my experience, much of marketing is a game of waiting for the other guy to go first. Well, if nothing is happening, you go first.

www.jcmenv.com

A.G. Waters Does Well in Science Olympiad

From Shannon Hughes at A.G. Waters -

Well Our A.G. Waters teams placed 9 and 10 overall. Greg and Amanda placed 6th in Amphibians and Reptiles. We don’t know how Kristen and Bavanah did (not top 10), but when we find out we will let you know.

We were the only other public school aside from H B Dupont in the top 10.

Thanks again for everything…the kids really appreciated it and had a great time working with you all.

Shannon


This is a big improvement over last year. Thank you Amy and Jodi for all of your help!

www.jcmenv.com

Science Olympiad Update

On Monday afternoon, Jodi Kerstetter and Amy Nazdrowicz met with the A.G. Waters Middle School Science Olympiad team to help them prepare for their upcoming competition. This was Jodi and Amy’s second visit—they also stopped by earlier this year to help get them on the right track for their studies prior to the competition. During the most recent session the kids practiced identifying and assigning scientific names to the infamous JCM critters based on observable characteristics. They had been studying hard for months, and their dedication to this competition really showed!

The A.G. Waters team heads to competition this Saturday, and is hoping that their avid studying pays off with a first place finish.

Good luck!

Alan Levin at PGA Meeting

Jim McCulley jim@jcmenv.com, attended the Positive Growth Alliance Dinner last night at the Sussex Manor House. Alan Levin, the new Delaware Economic Development Director was the guest speaker. Mr Levin made the commitment that Delaware State Government would be more supportive of small and medium businesses in Delaware. He said that Delaware would encourage development through speedy permit processing, cooperative regulators and innovative solutions. It was very encouraging to hear.

Jim was also asked to speak for a few minutes on the concept of valuing our natural resources in Delaware to encourage protection. Currently the identification of important natural resources (wetlands, forest, rare species, etc.) lowers property values when exactly the opposite should be true to encourage protection of these resources.

To discuss further, call Jim at 302-737-9335 X110 or jim@jcmenv.com

Also visit http://www.jcmenv.com/