The Blue Ridge Sustainability Institute drives knowledge into action, solving societal problems today and for generations to come by harnessing world-class environmental, economic, and energy research to collaborations among researchers, educators, entrepreneurs, government officials, and community activists.
BRSI's
Definition of Sustainability
The Blue Ridge Sustainability Institute is an advocate and catalyst for actions that make the earth more sustainable. Sustainability means creating and maintaining conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling social, economic and environmental requirements of present and future generations.
Paul Bellows Chair Retired Chief Operating Officer, Kilpatrick Stockton LLP
Patricia S. Smith Treasurer Retired President, The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina
W. Louis Bissette, Jr. Secretary Partner, McGuire, Wood & Bissette
Becky Anderson Consultant; Founder and Former Director, Hand Made in America
Jack Haiden Britt Blackwell Britt & Associates; Retired Executive Vice President of The University of Tennessee
Susan Fox Assistant Director of Research, Southern Research Station, US Forest Service
Holly Jones Buncombe County Commissioner; Director, YWCA of Asheville
Robert K. McMahan
Dean, Professor of Engineering, The Kimmel School,Western Carolina University
Green Mondays Sponsors:
BRSI Profile
We have an amazing collection of talented professionals who contribute their time and resources to the management and development of BRSI projects and programs.
This month's featured member is:
Paul Dezendorf
Business Manager and Grants Manager
Thank you, Paul, for your contributions!
BRSI Sponsor Profile
We owe much appreciation to our sponsors who are instrumental to our existence and development.
Noah Wilson Manager of Manager of Information Technology
Asheville Green Drinks is a networking party and part of the self-organizing global grassroots movement that connects local communities with environmental ideas, media and action.
The beginning of a new year allows time to reflect and consider where we will put our energy and support in the upcoming year. We hope you consider investing in the Blue Ridge Sustainability Institute as we continue to grow and expand! Your contribution is invaluable to the development and implementation of programs and projects that further our mission of Knowledge into Action. You can become a Friend of BRSI for $25/year. Your name will be displayed in recognition on our website. With your gift, you are investing in the future of sustainability in our region. Together, we can make a difference!
Blue Ridge Sustainability Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Your donation is tax deductible.
Become a Friend of BRSI! Make a tax deductible donation now!
Progress has been steady on the Green Restaurant Initiative since last month's newsletter update. The final solar thermal panels have been installed by Sundance Power Systems for the French Broad Chocolate Lounge and Posana Café. These two restaurants back up to each other between Biltmore Avenue and South Lexington Avenue and occupy the same building complex, allowing the restaurants to co-locate their systems on an adjacent building. After running into challenges related to the age of the roof structure on the historic Adler Building where both restaurants are located, Sundance Power Systems identified a creative solution to the problem. They were able to construct a robust mounting system of steel I-beams supported by the building's parapet walls. This hefty mounting system provides a solid base for the panels while fully protecting the integrity of the historic structure. You can see this integrated structure in the picture below!
Thumbs up to clean, local, solar energy! Katie Cavert (BRSI), Jael and Dan Rattigan (French Broad Chocolate Lounge), Peter Pollay (Posana Cafe) and Tim Ballard (BRSI) celebrate the final stage of the Green Restaurant Initiative on the roof of the historic Adler Building in downtown Asheville
The downtown Green Sage has also now achieved Three Star Green Certification, joining Posana Café (three stars), Tupelo Honey (two stars), and Tupelo Honey South (two stars). This month we'll be wrapping up installation of energy efficiency measures with a host of lighting retrofits and are aiming to have all restaurants Green Certified by Earth Day 2012. Keep your eyes peeled!
Looking ahead!
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 9am at Posana Cafe
As part of the Green Restaurant Initiative, BRSI is hosting a Green Restaurant Education Forum. Aimed to increase awareness and savings for restaurants, the following topics will be included in the program:
2012 Progress Energy Rebates
New Refrigeration Lines
Building Efficiency and the new Codes
Restaurant Peer to Peer Exchange: The Certification Process, Sharing Lessons Learned
We hope that restaurant owners and managers will take part in this energy and money-saving forum!
For more information, please contact Laura Piraino, Green Restaurant Education Manager.
As always: eat well, eat local, eat green!
The following restaurants are currently participating in the Green Restaurant Initiative (click to go to their websites):
BRSI would like to thank John Ager, one of our dedicated supporters. If you were at this year's Annual Celebration at Sherrill's Inn, you no doubt felt the warmth by his fires and of his hospitality. John is a jolly, kind man who is dedicated to family farming and sharing the incredible stories of the past while working toward a sustainable future.
John grew up in Atlanta and became involved in sustainable farming when he came to Hickory Nut Gap Farm. He met Annie his wife as an exchange student at Vassar College. Annie grew up at the historic inn; her grandparents, the McClures, founded Hickory Nut Gap Farm and the Farmer's Federation in the early 1900's. Author of the book We Plow God's Fields, John documents the history of the McClures and the rise of cooperative farming in the area. Hickory Nut Gap Farm supplies organic meats, fruits, produce, horseback riding lessons, and lumber to the Western North Carolina community. Because a conservation easement was established back in 2009, Hickory Nut Gap Farm will be a dedicated working farm for years to come. You'll notice many local restaurants carry their products and you'll regularly find their son Jamie at the tailgate markets. As the Hickory Nut Gap Farm website proclaims, "We hope to continue to live the vision of our ancestors by increasing the vitality of the WNC farming economy. Our mission is to connect sustainable agriculture practices, our family history, and our customers by sharing the family farm experience and serving as an example of healthy land stewardship. Thank you for supporting our family farm." Jamie and Amy were recently named Young Farmers of the Year by North Carolina Farm Bureau.
John's support through the McClure Foundation has enabled BRSI to publish our monthly newsletter Knowledge into Action for the past year, keeping you up to date with sustainability news, upcoming events, and the work of BRSI. John explains that the McClure Fund was originally created to support the Farmers Federation's educational and economic development initiatives, adding that "BRSI is a great partner for the Fund. The goal is to bring cutting edge education and development projects to Western North Carolina." Thank you, John! We appreciate your generous support.
Meet Paul Dezendorf:
BRSI's Business Manager
and Grants Manager
Paul Dezendorf's professional and personal interests cover a wide scope of academic and professional areas.
Paul was born in Panama and lived in Venezuela and Spain, where he developed an interest in international education and international relations and well as a yen for travel. He then headed off to the New York metro area for college in economics and an MBA in entrepreneurship at Rutgers. His interest in communications led to a first job at CBS, Inc., where he did statistical analysis as well as content analysis of the 1972 presidential campaign coverage by CBS, NBC, and ABC. His interest in communications led him to follow the growth of broadband communications and to leave CBS to work in cable television. He started quite literally on the ground as an installer and worked up through regional manager positions in Westinghouse, Times Mirror, and Cablevision Industries in New Jersey, New York, Missouri, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Carolinas.
Paul and his family moved to their home in Skyland, just outside of Asheville, thirty years ago. Paul enjoys the acreage of country living but the closeness to urban living. Both his boys enjoyed growing up in the area and are now located not far from home in the Raleigh area working in IT. His wife Helen works at UNC-Asheville in Ramsey library, where Paul often enjoys spending his time. They now have five grandchildren who keep them busy on visits.
After moving to Asheville, Paul became increasingly frustrated by the corporatization and mergers in the cable business that reduced the independence of P&L managers. As a result, he left the cable business and began to work in a series of positions in the Asheville area. However, he saw the need to return to graduate school in order to pursue his interests. He was determined to move out of what he called "powerful but very monotonic positions" and into pursuing what he found intellectually interesting for the rest of his life.
Paul then moved on to a series of graduate programs. He began with a Graduate Certificate in Gerontology at the University of South Carolina with a focus on demographics, a long-term interest. He then completed a Masters of Social Work in organizational and community change, where he "finally got around to learning about social and behavioral sciences." He was then awarded a Public Health Traineeship at the Arnold School of Public Health at USC. The traineeship and other awards funded his doctoral study and research in computer-mediated communications to bring about community change. His academic and work experience in business, social sciences, and public health led to a doctoral fellowship at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, doing research in the application of computer-mediated communications for bringing about change at the regional level.
Paul's polymath approach to life led to an invitation to teach at UNC-Greensboro and to finish writing his dissertation. Upon completion, he decided to work for people he liked doing things he enjoyed and he moved as necessary, accepting a series of contract positions in West Virginia, East Carolina University, Winthrop University in South Carolina, Western Carolina University, and UNC-Asheville. Those positions and a series of supportive bosses led to 47 national and international presentations in 15 years as well as publications in a variety of fields.
Beginning with a trip to Russia with his wife in 1999, Paul also began to develop an enthusiasm for writing grant proposals beginning. He spoke with faculty at the Urals Academy of Public Administration and saw an opportunity to seek major funding from the U.S. State Department to help create the first Master of Public Administration in Russia.
Paul at the Siberian Academy of Public Administration Management with the Chancellor, Head of International office and some of Paul's students
That award led to 19 more grant-funded trips over 12 years in Russia culminating in a Fulbright Award for a year of teaching and research in Moscow at the Higher School of Economics, one of the top three public administration schools in Russia. As he said, "Spending a year right by Red Square and walking distance to the Bolshoi and all the major tourist attractions of Moscow was quite a thrill."
Paul currently teaches in the Master of Public Administration program and the Master of Health Sciences program at Western Carolina University as well as his work with BRSI. He has a great deal of enthusiasm for BRSI and for the promise of "knowledge into action."
The Climate Change Negotiations:
Is the Glass Half Full or Half Empty?
by Lenny Bernstein, Director for Projects and Programs
Note: This is Lenny's personal opinion. If you agree or disagree with it, send BRSI an e-mail to admin@blueridgesustainability.org with the subject line reading "Climate Change Comments." We'll publish a summary of signed views in next month's BRSI newsletter.
If you are reading this, the odds are very strong that you are concerned about the impacts human-induced climate change will have on society.
Climate change is a global problem. Even if the U.S. were somehow to overcome the climate skeptics who have blocked action at the national level and significantly lower its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, we could not solve the problem alone or even in concert with the world's other rich countries. A ton of GHG emitted in the poorest country has the same effect on the climate system as a ton of GHG emitted in the richest country. China, still a relatively poor country, is now the world's GHG emission leader. The developing nations as a group now account for more than half the world's GHG emissions. This is not to say that all nations should be required to adopt the same climate policies. Rather it is an acknowledgement that the Kyoto Protocol's approach of legally-binding GHG emission limitations for only developed nations will not control climate change.
The Kyoto Protocol, agreed in 1997, included a legally-binding requirement that 38 developed nations reduce their GHG emissions over 2008-2012 to an average of 5.2% below their 1990 emission level. The U.S. was the only developed nation not to ratify Kyoto. Without the U.S., the overall reduction will be less than 4%. Globally GHG emissions will continue to rise, whether or not the U.S. accepted its Kyoto obligation, because the growth of GHG emissions in the developing world far exceeds the reduction in the developed world. Kyoto, by itself, would slow climate change by a miniscule amount. This was well-known in 1997, but Kyoto was hailed as a first step, with the implicit assumption that it would be followed by other steps, which would require larger emission reductions. However, to date, agreeing on even a second step has proven beyond the ability of the international negotiations.
Achieving sustainability will require a fundamental change in the way we look at lifestyle choices. Just as we learned as children to turn off the lights when we left a room and not to litter, our children (or grandchildren) will have to learn about the choices they will have to use sustainable energy, agriculture, and transportation. Much of this education will have to come from parents (and grandparents), but schools also have a role to play.
The Blue Ridge Sustainability Institute' s next Green Monday on January 23 will address the question: What are our kids learning about sustainability? It will include presentations by:
Robin Cape, on the Reading, Riding, and Retrofit program she founded to support the greening of schools in Buncombe County;
Anna Littman, of the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project, on the Growing Minds educational program they have developed for students, teachers and farmers;
Treasure Smith, a fifth grade teacher at Evergreen School, and Rebecca Molaro, one of her students, on their experiences learning about sustainable agriculture;
Erica Schneider, Outreach Specialist for Sundance Power, talking about the programs on sustainable energy she presents in schools.
Kimberly Novak, Madison High School Science Teacher on "Wind for Schools" curriculum she has helped implement
Come join us for what promises to be a lively discussion!
Green Mondays are held in the Board Room of the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce Building from 3:00-4:30 p.m. Green Mondays are funded by a grant from Progress Energy, with support from the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and Purplecat Networks.
Short presentations from speakers will be followed by a general discussion.
Green Mondays are open to the public.
Join us on January 23rd from 3:00 - 4:30 p.m.
Monthly Green Monday events take place at the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce located at 36 Montford Avenue, Asheville.
Eco-Tourism
December 12, 2011 Review
Western North Carolina has enormous potential for eco-tourism, that is, responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and sustains the well-being of the local people. This Green Monday provided an overview of the growth of eco-tourism, some of the eco-tourism initiatives underway in our region, and efforts to ensure that eco-tourism activities are meeting sustainability standards.
Alex Naar, Director of Sustainable Tourism Outreach at East Carolina University's Center for Sustainable Tourism, set the stage with some statistics on tourism in North Carolina and his center's goals. The 36.8 million visitors annually make North Carolina the sixth most visited state in the nation. These visitors spend $17 billion, directly supporting 185,000 jobs and contributing $ 1.5 million in state and local taxes. The Center's mission is "To transform the tourism industry in its adoption and application of sustainable actions for positive economic growth and general community development." This mission is responsive to trends in tourism, which include growing interest in greener options and authentic experiences.
Jennifer Flynn, Town Clerk and NC STEP (Small Towns Economic Prosperity) Program Coordinator for Marshall, NC, described efforts to market eco-tourism attractions in MADISON County. The county's website now features pages on agritourism, the Appalachian Trail, fishing, rafting, natural hot springs, mountain music, and mountain accommodations. The county is creating a strategic plan to market itself as an ecotourism destination.
Sarah Marcinko, Sustainability Leader for Navitat Canopy Adventures, described her company's efforts to create a sustainable tourist attraction in Burnsville, NC. A canopy adventure uses a series of ziplines, bridges, and other elements to convey participants through the forest at treetop level. Navitat designed and installed its facility to minimize damage to the existing forest. It includes environmental education in each of its tourist offerings and has incorporated waste reduction, energy efficiency, and natural resource management into its on-going operations. It is committed to using locally-sourced, green products, and to developing and investing in its staff.
Jeff Geiner, President of Adventure America Zipline Canopy Tours, presented a $1520 check to Asheville Greenworks to plant trees in West Asheville at the site of their Asheville zipline.
Julie Judkins, Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC), reiterated Benton MacKaye's 1921 vision for the Appalachian Trail (A.T.): a path interspersed with planned wilderness communities where people could go to renew themselves and seek respite from an increasingly urbanized society. The A.T. hosts over two million recreation visits annually and generates $27 million in spending in local communities. The A.T. Communities program, which Julie manages, seeks to increase the benefits of the trail to nearby communities and to make them destinations for trail users. She used a program developed with Unicoi County, TN, which includes a sustainable tourism initiative, hiking trails festival, and increased partnership between the ATC and the community, as an example. Unicoi County currently obtains $12 million annually in economic benefits from nature-based recreation. If successful, this effort could increase that total to nearly $17 million.
Alice Cohen, National Forests in North Carolina, introduced a year-long effort, starting in January, 2012, to obtain public input to a Forest Service strategy for non-motorized trails, and invited all to participate. Non-motorized trails for hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding are a major eco-tourism attraction in North Carolina, and heavy use is straining existing trails. The goals for the Forest Service strategy are:
Identify ecologically sustainable systems - reduce impacts on other resources.
Provide high quality recreation experiences to a variety of users.
Identify national forest trails as part of a network of recreational trails, including other federal/state/local trail systems.
Recommend a path for future sustainable trails management.
Organize and empower volunteer groups to work collaboratively to provide increased maintenance and support to the forest trails program.
Ed Mayer, cofounder of Earth Matters, provided an overview of the international organizations promoting eco-tourism. These included:
The International Ecotourism Society, which seeks to be a global source of knowledge and advocacy uniting communities, conservation, and sustainable travel.
Sustainable Travel International, which promotes sustainable development by promoting programs that help travelers, businesses, and destinations protect the environment, preserve cultural heritage, and promote economic development.
World Tourism Organization, a UN body, which has developed a global code of ethics for tourism.
Missed it? Watch the video of this Green Mondays below.
Green Mondays December 12, 2011: EcoTourism
BRSI's monthly newsletter, Knowledge Into Action, is made possible by a generous donation from the
James McClure Clarke Fund
Thank you for your dedication to sustainability in Western North Carolina
