A Summit Summary Sheet and Summit Final Report are now available.
This event brought together leaders from business, government and environmental education to find common ground and create the following 10 Strategies to help move Arizona toward a more Sustainable Future.
COMMUNITY STRATEGIES
- Define & Enhance a Sense of Place: Community asset mapping; use of town hall and other public formats to collective viewpoints; publishing the results broadly; disseminating the vision in document form and creation of a periodic re-evaluation process.
- Bridge Formal & Informal Education: Evolve Learning Ecology, Cultural Diversity & Arts: Creation of a Learning Center on ecology/sustainability; use of Parent/Teacher Associations; Meetings to Discuss Issues and Assisting implementer with information on where to get help.
- Implement Policies which Encourage a Balanced Community Economy: Creation of affordable housing, green transportation and encouraging self-sufficiency; implementation of tax incentives; Creation of multi-use zoning and development of government-business partnerships.
GOVERNMENT STRATEGIES
- Vision: Government should act as a facilitator of a broad-based coalition of interests in agriculture, education, business, community, etc.; and the creation of a roadmap for sustainability with a set of metrics
- Education: Government should identify/set standards that would cause the integration of EE in the curriculum at all levels to create active and ecologically literate citizenry
- Modeling: Government should implement, demonstrate and support the benefits of more sustainable approaches through resource management, economic development and communication
ENVIRONMENT STRATEGIES
- Integrate best practices in education (public & school-based) to address one major environmental issue annually. It is proposed that the first year focus on water; rally the environmental community around a limited number of focused issues; engage involvement by media, policy makers, business & industry, environmental community, and educators; get involved in the Governor’s Task Force; measure success by the number of people reached public opinion surveys, and the number of new collaborations
- Balance economics, environment & culture by creation of statewide sustainability standards incentives for building LEED certified buildings; incentives for smart growth; restructuring financing that rewards conservation, innovation; reward efficiency, conservation, quality of life and sense of place through consideration of full life accounting; beginning at the county level in the creation of a common database providing statistical information such as air quality. energy, land, water statewide
BUSINESS STRATEGIES
- Encourage businesses to promote sustainability-consciousness from an industry perspective through the creation of industry-specific standards and indicators to improve sustainability; generate the standards and indicators from within each industry from best practices with a document that would include list of organizations with the standards; providing businesses regionally appropriate and relevant models of economically successful alternatives in a booklet or website format; encouraging a percent increase in using the model indicated by a survey of the best practices; use language seen in marketing and corporate literature as shown by the best practices survey
- Promote marketing methods & ways that business can participate in sustainability practices; technologies that are economically beneficial to businesses and their customers by providing support on how to focus marketing campaigns on quality of life as the way to "sell" environmental responsibility; increasing percentage and sales of green products; and increasing listings in "Arizona Green Book" of businesses doing green business.
We are looking for individuals and organizations with the passion and skills to help us realize the Summit goals. Please visit the AAEE website or contact Julie Blake Gidley at julieblake23@hotmail.com or 480-481-8123 if you are interested in getting involved.
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There will be a meeting before the October 27 meeting in Phoenix! See below.
Tucson Gathering: October 12
Join the Tucson AAEE contingent for a fun afternoon of refreshments and debriefing on the Arizona Crossroads EE Summit. Meet from 4 – 6 pm on Thursday evening. Learn about Rain Harvesting from the state’s expert, Brad Lancaster. Meet us at The Water Resources Research Center at 350 North Campbell Ave. in Tucson. For more information contact Kerry Schwartz at 520-792-9591.
The Tucson Meet Up drew twenty organizations to the long conference table at UA Water Resources Research Center. We made significant progress. Read below. We are already on the move:
We agreed that by coming together as a coalition, we can launch an effective campaign to promote environmental literacy and build a community that values and lives in sustainable ways. With a “new face” we can approach city and county officials with a “made to order” initiative from the combined resources we each bring to the campaign. We will engage government and business to help us launch a community-wide media campaign and series of sustained events and opportunities for citizens to get involved.
We will focus on water in the first year then move to another focus topic in subsequent years.
We agreed that key sectors of our community should be invited (business, education, civic and non-profit organizations, media and government).
All materials and media should be bilingual and members of the campaign coalition should represent the diversity of cultures, interests, and age groups that make up our communities. (Be sure to include artists and writers.)
Our work will be characterized by a more holistic approach that results in focused initiatives with lasting impacts and measures of our success.
We will approach the City Council and Board of Supervisors as a coalition with a combined membership representing a powerful voting block - a coalition across community sectors that will bring them “an offer they can’t refuse.”
To market our efforts and effectively communicate key ideas, we will need business and governmental funding for professional communications strategies and materials.
We will invite David Modeer now to get involved in shaping our efforts.
Susan Williams for AAEE will serve as Coordinator of our project.
The coalition will meet bi-monthly and provide professional development and networking opportunities to increase our personal knowledge about water issues and support our work.
We will strive to walk our talk in individual lifestyle and at our work places.
Our Phased Approach
I. Form a coalition of about 50 organizations with all sectors represented. Invite media, journalists to follow and publicize.
II. Go to the Chamber/Mayor to present the Coalition and the Campaign
III. Planning
a. Media Blitzes to support major events and opportunities to learn about water issues.
b. Combine with existing festivals and events: Dia de San Juan for example
Next Meeting
Tucson Botanical Garden
November 14, Tuesday, 4-6 pm
Participants at October 12 Meeting: graduate students, environmental educators from governmental and non-profit organizations, the public library’s community events coordinator, interested citizens, radio media, citizen advocates, and public conservation initiatives..
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