People First Tourism is subject of WCOM radio program

Posted on March 28, 2014 by

NC State Parks, Recreation & Tourism Management professor Duarte Morais and two of People First Tourism’s micro-entrepreneurs were guests on WCOM-FM 103.5 (Chapel-Hill-Carboro Public Radio).

In the interview, broadcast on March 26, 2014, the guests discussed with host Lee Anne McClymont the evolution and impact of this innovative program. P1T uses web to cell technology to empower entrepreneurs to shape their future and creates dignified and sustainable livelihoods Glocally.

Listen to the WCOM podcast>> The interview starts at 2:44.

Learn more about People First Tourism P1T Website>> P1T Facebook>>

PRTM Student Is NCAA Wrestling Champ

Posted on March 28, 2014 by

NC State University junior, Nick Gwiazdowski, just capped a record-breaking season by becoming the sixth NCAA wrestling champion in NC State University history.

A program management major in the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, Nick’s path to NC State and the 2014 championship was one of hard work, dedication, and good choices.

Read the complete article in The Bulletin>>

Why We Should be Worried About the Rapid Growth in Global Households

Posted on February 19, 2014 by

Demographers are not as worried today as they were several decades ago about the prospect of a “population bomb,” a scenario where so many people come to populate the planet that we exhaust its resources. Population growth has slowed in many parts of the world. And in much of North America, Europe, China, and Brazil, fertility rates are so low that local populations are on pace to decline.

These trends, however, don’t cover the whole story of human impact on the environment. The growth in the number of humans on earth may be slowing. But something very different is happening in the growth of human households.

A “household explosion” long underway in developed countries is now rapidly accelerating around the world.

Researchers Mason Bradbury, M. Nils Peterson* , and Jianguo Liu identify some hidden but seismic shifts on this front in a new paper in the journal Population and Environment. For years – in some countries, centuries – the average household has been shrinking in size. As a result, the total number of global households is growing much faster than the growth of the world population itself.

Why does this matter? In the U.S. and Europe, the average household included about five people in the late 1800s. Now it has more like 2.5. That means the same number of people today live in twice as many homes, requiring twice as many resources to build and furnish them, to heat and cool them, to pave roads to their front doors.

Read the complete article>>

An excerpt from The AtlanticCities – February 14, 2014
Article author – Staff Writer Emily Badger

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* Dr. M. Nils Peterson is a professor in the Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Program in the College of Natural Resources at North Carolina State University.

CAMCORE Demonstrates the Role of Industry in Conservation of At-Risk Forest Species

Posted on February 19, 2014 by rwgonzal

Camcore and its host members often collect seed in remote areas

“International extension agents”— that’s how CAMCORE director Bill Dvorak sometimes refers to the people who work for CAMCORE (the Central America and Mexico Coniferous Resources Cooperative), a nonprofit international tree-breeding organization headquartered at North Carolina State University (NCSU).

Although formally launched in 1980, Dvorak said the organization’s origins date back to the 1970s. “In the late 1970s there were some foresters from the United States—professor Bruce Zobel here at NCSU, and [Carl Gallegos] from International Paper company, and several other folks who went down to Guatemala and saw that many of the pine forests were being destroyed by woodcutters,” he said. “Forty percent of all the pine species in the world occur in Mexico and Central America, so it’s kind of a center of genetic diversity for the pines and, since Zobel had a lot of experience working with industrial cooperatives, and industrial, private sector members, he said, ‘Why can’t we form a industrial cooperative to conserve the genetic material of pines from Central America and Mexico in other, more protected, places?’”

This, generally speaking, is what CAMCORE does today. CAMCORE personnel travel to a threatened forest stand to collect the seed of a particular species. Some of the seeds may be put into longterm storage, while others are planted on members’ land in more protected areas in genetic field trials (or progeny tests) and conservation areas (referred to as “ex situ conservation banks”) in countries around the world with similar climates. Then the CAMCORE staff based at NCSU analyzes the data from the trials and produces annual summaries to help members decide what to grow in what location.

Read the complete article >>

An excerpt from The Forestry Source – January 2014, Vol. 19, No. 1
Article author – Joseph M. Smith, The Forestry Source Managing Editor, smithj@safnet.org

Opening of $6 million golf clubhouse will enhance N.C. State’s PGA degree program

Posted on January 27, 2014 by

N.C. State’s new $6 million Carol Johnson Poole Clubhouse which opened earlier this month, will benefit the Professional Golf Management program of the College of Natural Resources, the turf grass program and the N.C. State women’s and men’s golf teams.

Before the clubhouse was built, the golf programs were housed in a series of trailers and had indoor hitting rooms in a structure that was originally designed to hold machinery.

Though the structure was refurbished, it did not compare to having a real clubhouse, according to Robb Wade, director of the N.C. State PGA Golf Management Program.

“It was kind of like trying to teach physics without a physics lab,” Wade said. “There’s lots of theory, but until you have a place like that, you can’t really enhance the learning.”

The clubhouse is part of the Lonnie Poole Golf Course located on N.C. State University’s Centennial Campus in Raleigh, N.C.

Read the complete article in the TechnicianOnline>>>