Some years ago FWOP reported on the Choctaw Band being flooded out of the homes on the coast of Louisiana. Miami Beach as reported on the news (03-24-19) today is building sea walls or structures to stop the flooding in rich and poor neighborhoods. Can they build this walls and houses high enough?
Citizens’ Climate Lobby in Denton sponsored two “Climate Change Discussions” along with co-sponsors – UNT FWOP Chapter, UNT/FWOP Air Monitoring projects, UNT Urban Policy and Planning Degree, Nonprofit Leadership Studies Degree, UNT Health Services Administration Program, UNT College Democrats.
First session featured Phil Andrews, Managing Director of International Innovation Center in Dallas who examined which innovations under the banner of smart cities may assist cities and citizens to reduce climate change and adjust to the impact of climate change.
Second session had Stan Ingman discussing how Denton’s focus on being a more sustainable city has been attempting to mitigate the effects of climate change for many years as well as a respond the challenges of climate change. Your contribution could be, for example, using eco-friendly services like http://www.thefloridamaids.com. Denton plans to have 100% of its electricity provided by renewable energy sources, i.e. mostly wind and solar with some burning of methane coming off the solid waste deposited at ECO-W.E.R.C. in east Denton.
The next session at 5pm will be at 180 ESSAT Building at UNT and will host Steve Saunders, CEO of Tempo, Inc. on April 18th. Tempo is a holding company of diverse businesses that work to improve building performance in sustainability, efficiency, comfort and wellness.
Among the many personal awards, Mr. Saunders has received a National USGBC Leadership Award and is a member of the Contracting Business Hall of Fame. Tempo (including subsidiaries) is a 3-time ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year, three-time Contractor of the Year and five time National Green Partner of Excellence. The company Stay Classy in Scottsdale, Arizona is owned by its employees and operates with a black car service.
The discussant will be Eliecer Vargas, PHD, Visiting Faculty from CATIE, a Graduate School in Costa Rica, and Co-Director, Master’s in International Sustainable Tourism (MIST), College of Merchandising, Hospitality and Tourism, UNT.
Archive for April, 2019
In the last years, FWOP in partnership with Southwest Airlines has built a network with a wide range of organizations and thus skills.
FWOP helped to incubate the creation of ARISE Veterans Foundation www.AriseVeteranFoundation.org with projects in St. Louis, Nashville ( www.knowlesassistedliving.org ) and Carbondale ( http://www.livingatthelandings.com/ ) have been upcycling SWA leather seats for rehabilitation efforts, Knowles Assisted Living facility in Nashville, TN and has helped expand a veteran’s recycling business in East St Louis, IL. In early 2018, ARISE has helped Help Heal Veterans serve 35,000+ with veterans with Rehabilitation Kits, made out of SWA Leather. https://www.healvets.org/how-we-heal. ARISE now supplies free leather for them to expand their impact across America. ARISE is also sending boxes of pre-cut leather from seats done by elders in Nashville and sending pre-cut leather to 17 Native American Tribes located throughout the United States.
In 2016 with the help of FWOP and Arise Veteran Foundation board members, they were able to assist a mobile shower truck not for profit to get off the ground with grant writing help and help with fund raising and networking. Since then the shower truck has been providing hot showers and hygiene gear to hundreds of Homeless individuals in Saint Louis, Missouri. www.showertothepeople.net
In 2017 FWOP held Summit at CATIE ( https://www.catie.ac.cr/ ) in Costa Rica and many partnerships were formed. In August of 2018 , CATIE hosted Air Monitoring Workshops in linked to citizen science project out of Stuttgart Germany ( www.luftdaten.info ) organized by Constant Marks, a doctoral student at the University of North Texas. As a result a high school team has been established to spread the project across Costa Rica in local schools under banner of STEM education. Workshops in Denton and Nashville have helped spread the installations in USA and Ethiopia, with Mexico, Nigeria and Puerto Rica being next.
We visited the women entrepreneurs in sustainable rural tourism network called RETUS at the 2017 Summit. Rotary Noon Club with many other Rotary Clubs in the District have now raised funds to do three projects: 1st Expand RETUS businesses by training and marketing, 2nd rehab sustainable house and create an office for the women’s network, 3rd create an aquaponic pilot project in four locations within the communities in the women’s network. Abilene Christian University has now joined the team. A team will go south on March 30th, and Apirl will see teams arrive to work on the House and build first aquaponic unit.
Through another two ARISE affiliates, Diving With a Purpose ( http://www.divingwithapurpose.org/ ) – DWP- and Tennessee Aquatic Program in Nashville has joined FWOP network on many efforts! Divers in training Costa Rica joined DWP in Key Largo in July 2018 for a week long training workshop on coral restoration and underwater archaeology of ship wreaks. Pen pals have been established between youth in Nashville and Costa Rica. Today you can book an appointment online to get the best service. A DWP representative has gone to Costa Rica to work with colleagues in Costa Rica to create a plan for coral restoration and ocean preservation in next coming years They will meet again in Florida .
AWOW ( http://awownow.org/) a girl’s empowerment group had been working in Costa Rica for some years and they joined our Summit 2017. AWOW with Lewisville Rotary Morning Club are expanding their activities in San Jose, Costa Rica. Their current focus is establishing a dental clinic. Locals have raised funds for new building guided by Relief Pools, Baton Rouge experts. In 2017 they operated a preventive dental clinic in San Jose and plan to take a Rotary Team down in Spring, 2019.
Green House at Lafayette High School in St. Louis
Just for Kids and FWOP teamed up to establish a sustainable development learning program. This summer the existed greenhouse we opened up and students planted some 300 + plants and now crops are ready to be picked. Hummert International (Green House private company) , Home Depot, Arise Veterans Foundation are working to sponsor the new program. ( https://www.hummert.com/ ). They have a full plan for the next 9 months to be prepared to expand the effort in the Fall of 2019. Pranav Vashista is the student regional coordinator for Just for Kids at the Layette High School In St Louis, Mo he was able to attend the Summit in 2017. Through ARISE and FWOP they have been able to help them reestablish a greenhouse operation at the high school. Their goal is to help local food banks and people in need to be able to get fresh organic vegetables. www.jfkorg.org
“Resilience, Regulation and Climate Change in 2020” Steve Saunders
Steve Saunders is the CEO of Tempo, Inc. Tempo is a holding company of diverse businesses that work to improve building performance in sustainability,efficiency, comfort and wellness. Steve has received a National USGBC Leadership Award and is a member of the Contracting Business Hall of Fame among many personal awards. Tempo (including subsidiaries) is a three-time ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year, three-time Contractor of the Year and five-time National Green Partner of Excellence. The company is owned by the employees and operates on the principles of Servant Leadership and Performance Excellence, an accredited home inspection company.
Chair: Jim Moffitt, Citizens’ Climate Lobby, Denton Chapter
Discussant: Eliecer Vargas, Ph.D. Visiting faculty from CATIE in Costa Rica and Co-Director, Master’s in International Sustainable Tourism (MIST), UNT College of Merchandising, Hospitality and Tourism
April 18
5 p.m.
UNT EESAT Building
Room 180
RSVP to Stan.Ingman@unt.edu
Pizza and snacks provided
Sponsor: Citizens’ Climate Lobby
Co-Sponsors: UNT Future Without Poverty Chapter, UNT’s Urban Policy and Planning Degree and Nonprofit Leadership Studies Degree, UNT Health Services Administration Program, UNT College Democrats, UNT/FWOP Air Monitoring Workshops
UNT/FWOP with many partners on campus and the Citizens’ Climate Change Lobby have sponsored three open forums to discuss prevention of and adjustment to climate change globally, nationally and internationally. Senior Fellow at Harvard, Camilla Cavendish noted in the April 20-21 issue of the Financial Times that the central bank governors of London and Paris said in a powerful joint statement that climate-related insurance losses have quintupled in 30 years, and that only a “massive reallocation of capital” can prevent temperatures from rising by 2 degrees centigrade. She concludes that the Extinction Rebellion needs to be taken seriously. The editorial in the same issue of the Financial Times suggests that we may need to cut back on meat consumption because of the 14.5 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions produced by farm animals. “ Cattle are the worst culprits”.
Our first Climate Change session featured Phil Andres who reviewed which technologies and smart city innovations may lower CO2 emissions. Stan Ingman in the second session focused upon how Denton, Texas has become one model for how each city can be a solution to the climate change challenge. Denton by 2023 will operate on 100% renewable energy electric power. Dan Fette, a local green home builder, explained how all structures can move toward near zero CO2 emissions and lower water use.
The third session had Steve Saunders CEO of Tempo Inc. in Irving, Texas , an employee-owned air and heating system company, explained how we can move home and apartment building companies to improve performance in sustainability, efficiency, comfort and wellness, even while some 40% of his business owners may not believe in climate change. Mr. Saunders and his company, who has received awards from CNN , US Green Builders Council, Energy Star, and National Green Partners , focuses on three factors to operate his business bi-weekly or monthly, People, Profit and Planet. Eliecer Vargas from Costa Rica challenged us to reduce waste and thus avoid recycling which may be too simple-minded as it relates to the very complex issue of climate change.
Regardless of future climate change, we now know about large populations of climate refugees who are on the move across the globe. While we have had some successes in reducing poverty in places like China, we are faced with more and more examples of droughts, flooding, strong winds, poverty and extreme heat driving especially vulnerable rural populations in search of new places to live and work.
Two recent change books lay out the challenges ahead in detail:
https://www.npr.org/2019/04/16/713829853/climate-change-is-greatest-challenge-humans-have-ever-faced-author-says
