Lots of great strategies from Cassie Carroll of the Illinois Green Business Association at today’s webinar! You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/WoNdBnD8fsg
Hear from Cassie Carroll from the Illinois Green Business Association talk about simple costs savings strategies for water and energy, and Larry Irwin from Leidos, who manages the Ameren Incentives Program for Industrial and Large Businesses. Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/Hegorf6zE40.
Cassie Carrol from the Illinois Green Business Association gave the first of four webinars on Thursday, Feb. 3rd about sustainable business. You can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/_NjMERkTHHE
Sustainability continues to gain momentum nationwide and large corporations continue to drive innovation. Consumers are also seeking ways to not only be sustainable but want to support products and businesses with sustainability missions and activities. In this session, we’ll define sustainability in business and review how consumers are driving a more sustainable economy. Sustainability not only benefits your business, but also benefits your local community. We will discuss the benefits of incorporating green practices into your company and dig into some ways your business can start aligning your business and activities to meet this growing demand for a clean and green economy.
Haven’t signed up for the series yet? Get more info and register here: https://all4.earth/si-sustainability-network/
The Climate Economy Education Inc’s strategy is based on educating every individual on how they can live their passions and earn a living while nurturing human and environmental health. We call it “thriving authentically.” There are so many factets of each individual and their situation that make them shine. We want to teach every young person from an early age that they are each one of a kind and posess their own happiness, and that their future is whatever they make it (so make it a good one!).
The core of The Climate Economy’s strategy is to build “Cooperative Climate Venture Centers” (CCVCs) in low-income and marginalized communities up and down the City of New Orleans Amtrak trail line (for starters and first in Carbondale, IL). These centers will provide a nurturing creative cooperative safe space for young travelers. They’ll also serve as engines for growth in The Climate Economy, where business models and lifestyles are good for the climate, economy and humanity. Students can hop from place to place and learn about the depth and beauty of our American tapestry, and contribute their own efforts. In The Climate Economy, Life (yes, with a capital L) is about 1) discovering and growing your passions, 2) traveling your journey without destroying nature and human health, and 3) sharing and participating with others, all while having a blast. That’s Life Baby!
Here is a condensed version of The Climate Economy’s Vision for CCVCs:
The CCVC is located in a locality that has traditionally been left behind, with easy access to the Amtrak station and multi-modal transportation center in Carbondale. Anyone, at any time of day or night, can come into the center for humanitarian aid, study or work time, just for leisure, or in case of a disaster or emergency. There are places to shoot hoops and let out physical energy.There are even temporary living spaces like youth hostels for travelers and students; CCVCs spreading across the country become the destination for students taking a gap year. There’s plenty of space to accommodate the various stakeholder groups, healthy food and water available, a health clinic, restaurants and shopping on the premises and nearby, and people can easily move between spaces while maintaining personal safety, authority and initiative.
Spaces for hands-on educational exhibits inspire and inform on what’s possible, including a local focus on jobs and industries that are locally present or nascent. Tourists and student groups fill up this space during the day. After school programs for high-school age and up are offered in the evenings throughout the facility. Maker and manufacturing space enables education, training and making in a new distributed small-batch world of essential products, as well as processing and use of materials grown and harvested in the region. The facility also includes equipment for things like hydroponics and aquaponics and actually produces food for the facility, and a community kitchen for education and use by climate ventures. A computer lab is available for pursuit of online education and training, and meeting space is available to accommodate maker and other group activities going on at the CCVC. A community energy committee is established to help steer towards 100% clean renewable energy and good jobs. Meetings for each section and for the CCVC as a whole are regularly scheduled and open to all and follow the adaptive action format, so people get used to solving problems together in sustainable ways in a rapidly changing world.
Every community needs a CCVC! Your community’s CCVC doesn’t have to have all the components or be right on the Amtrak line, there are no “absolutes” in this model. The key is that it’s youth-led, and you grow it collaboratively and organically in your community. It’s a process, you don’t have to have a big fancy business plan, tons of money. Having a champion, or a “catalyst,” in your community helps, this is someone who herds the cats (using CLEANetwork.com’s tools for his of course). Anyone can be a catalyst. There is no one single person who has all the energy required for this kind of effort, but everyone has a role they can play. CCVCs are the ultimate “climate venture,” a business model or lifestyle that’s good for the climate, economy and humanity; it’s the climate venture of climate ventures. It’s a vibrant, nurturing petrie dish of people-centered creative cooperative caring growth and innovation like the world has never seen. We’re going to reinvent our lives, our communities and our country for the betterment of all life.
The whole idea of CCVCs came out of the first Youth Climate Economy Ventures cohort back in 2019-beginning of 2020. The students at the Boys and Girls Club of Carbondale learned about business models and lifestyles that are good for the climate, economy and humanity, and did a community climate SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats). Out of those efforts, the idea of a “youth community center and maker space, always open, free, with mentors and training” For Carbondale came to life. I think it’s the best freaking idea I’ve ever heard. I’m working to track down the students that were part of that effort so that they can get credit for it. So these efforts are student led, community supported. You can read about all of this here (PDF).
On a practial level, the CCVC contains elements that are well proven:
We are just at the beginning of our journey. Everything we do at The Climate Economy Eduacation Inc is to build CCVCs and the support structure they need to thrive, including a thriving local business community. Building out this vision is not going to happen overnight, but we do need to try and move forward a little bit (or a lot) each day, whatever our personal capacity allows. So yes, I’m saying that adults out there can get involved now in making these things happen. You don’t have to be a teacher or any special profession. This is a really fun volunteer opportunity starting out, which can lead to lots of new jobs, productive projects and businesses in your community. Talk to your kids about it, listen to what they say.
Every community can develop their own version of a CCVC. There are many ways to go about getting started. You can grow as you go. You could have a kickoff event, or a resilience fair, to bring people together. You could ask around about what’s going on in your community and what people are already working on, to see where you might be able to collaborate with ongoing efforts. You can join the CCVC Group on CLEANetwork.com (registration required, no cost or other obligations), where we’ll be providing tips and tricks for getting started and moving things along, while documenting our ongoing efforts in Carbondale to get this model working. You can always connect with me here on CLEANetwork.com. We also appreciate donations and volunteers. Let’s have some fun!
Virtual Event this Saturday Provides Education, Community Conversations, Networking and Celebration of Community Resilience and Sustainability
Everyone is encouraged to attend this virtual event, to find their niche in the upside of taking action on climate change. This event, held virtually this Saturday, August 28, 1-3:30 p.m., aims to accentuate bold action on climate change—action that leads to improved safety and security for current and future generations, better public health, conservation of nature and biodiversity, and business and job growth. There’s now no doubt that human activities have unnaturally disrupted our world’s natural climate systems, causing problems that will only get worse if we don’t act boldly. Global temperatures are rising and will continue to rise, leading to sea level rise, extreme weather, and shifts in habitats and growing seasons. You can register for the zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYvdeyorD8sHN1k6wm2o_vH16Hl3Heg_CO2.
The good news is, we have the solutions. Our outdated laws, energy and economy can and must be adapted to reduce the harm and disruption that they cause to humans, animals and natural systems. People have the power to change the outdated and harmful institutions and to build out clean energy and ecosystems that reduce pollution, create jobs and economic systems that equitably benefit workers, and allow all to lead purposeful, healthy lives.
More information about the event agenda, speakers, and network partners is available at the Resilience Fair website: http://resiliencefairs.com/. This free event is for anyone in the Carbondale and surrounding communities interested in community sustainability and resilience. Everyone is welcome to join us and participate in discussions of our community’s future. Registration for attending is at the website address above or directly at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYvdeyorD8sHN1k6wm2o_vH16Hl3Heg_CO2. This event is the first in a series in Carbondale and other locations across southern Illinois and is aimed at helping our community members navigate these challenging times.
The key to meeting these challenges is our working together to accomplish goals we all can agree on, such as better health, conservation of nature and more and better jobs. The old ways that are causing harm need to be stopped, their workers and communities supported, and the new ways built out and celebrated. Thus the first hour of this event, 1 to 2 pm, will focus on education: on the impacts of climate change and on new models, such as worker-owned cooperative business models, that will help our community bring about positive change for our community and for the natural environment we are part of and depend on. During this first hour, speakers include:
Hour 2 of this event, 2 to 3 pm, will be devoted to a community conversation on concerns those attending have about issues their neighborhoods face and on their ideas for bringing about positive change that will make their neighborhoods more resilient. This conversation, focusing on priorities for community resilience, will be guided to bring out ideas that can be integrated into the five areas of the Sustainability Action Plan. Community members are encouraged to attend in order to add their voices to this community conversation and to the Sustainability Action Plan.
A number of groups are already at work on innovative community projects that will make Carbondale more resilient. To promote awareness of this work and promote networking across shared interests, from 3-3:30, during the “celebration” part of the event, several organizations will share their stories about local resilience, information about their resources, including funding available, and how to get involved. Several organizations locally and regionally already provide resources and will be at the event for networking and sharing:
The upside of taking bold climate action is immeasurable in terms of better public and environmental health, jobs and sustainable economic growth. We have the technology and all the models and information we need; what we need most is for every person, every member of every community, to be taking action. Attend the resilience fair and find your niche. Contact information:
Get more information about the August 28 event in Carbondale, as well as other events coming up across southern Illinois this fall at the Resilience Fairs website: http://resiliencefairs.com/.
To get more information about the City of Carbondale Sustainability Commission’s Climate Action Plan, contact Jane Cogie, 618-713-7024 or jane.cogie@gmail.com.
To get help organizing a resilience fair in your community, contact Amy McMorrow Hunter, amy@theclimateeconomy.com, 618-713-2896.
First of all, can I just say how nice it is to have a president who is clearly super excited and proud to be our president and to be out there and working to protect lives and improve things for all Americans using science and compassion? There’s my hopefulness, now back to reality. We have a lot to do, and we have to make sure and hold President Biden and his administration accountable. These are crucial times of change. It was great to see right away a bold climate and jobs agenda getting out there. On his first day in office, President Biden signed several climate- and energy-related executive orders including the following:
Sounds freaking great. Let’s do this. If you want to start boning up on your climate and energy knowledge, take the Clean Energy and Jobs course. Cheers!
