Masthead 2012
Volume 2: Issue 10                                                                                 November 2012
In This Issue
Tom Hatley Receives Award
Upcoming Green Monday
BRSI Sponsor Profile: Purplecat Networks
BRSI Volunteer Profile: Michael Hall

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Newsletter Team  

Editor/Design/Production:

Katie Bray

Copy Editor:

Carolyn Keefe

 

Contributors:

Lenny Bernstein

Sara Landry

Kelly Martin

Jonathan Robert

Susan Weidmann

 

 

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Mission Statement:

 

The Blue Ridge Sustainability Institute drives knowledge into action, solving societal problems today for generations to come by harnessing world-class environmental, economic, and energy research to support 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. 

 

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Board of Directors

 

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

John Ager 
Owner; Hickory Nut Gap Farm, Partner, Drovers Road Preserve

Becky Anderson

Consultant; Founder and Former Director, Hand Made in America 

DeWayne Barton 
Co-Director, Green Opportunities

Jack Haiden Britt

Blackwell Britt & Associates; Retired Executive Vice President of The University of Tennessee

Kitty Boniske 
Former Chair, International League for Peace and Freedom, Asheville Chapter

Robin Cape 
RLCape Consulting, Inc.

Susan Fox

Assistant Director of Research, Southern Research Station, US Forest Service

Pam Lewis 
Director of Entrepreneurship, Asheville/Buncombe Economic Development Coalition

Holly Jones

Buncombe County Commissioner; Director, YWCA of Asheville 

Randy Talley

President, The Green Sage

Thank you
Green Monday logo

 Sponsors

Funder_Logos_ProgressEnergy

 

 

purple cat  

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:

 

Michael Hall

 

IT and Web Developer

 

Thank you, Michael, for your contributions!

BRSI Sponsor Profile

 

We owe much appreciation to our sponsors who are instrumental to our existence and development. 

 

This month's featured sponsor is:

 

Purplecat Networks Inc.

 

Thank you

for your support!

 

BRSI Partners and Collaborators

 

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BRSI Leadership Group Member, Tom Hatley, Receives Award


2012 Ramsey/Brunner Land Conservationist of the Year Award

 

Tom Hatley, a member of BRSI's Leadership Group, was honored on Saturday, November 3, with the 2012 Ramsey/Brunner Land Conservationist of the Year Award from the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee (LTLT).  The award will honor Tom "for his many contributions to conservation across the southern Blue Ridge," including his "instrumental role in the founding of LTLT and formulating conservation strategies that led to the conservation of the Needmore Tract and the Cowee Mound and the establishment of the Little Tennessee Sustainable Forestry Partnership."  The award will be presented in a ceremony beginning at 11:30 a.m. on the banks of the upper Nantahala River in Rainbow Springs located on the south side of US Highway 64, approximately 15 miles west of Franklin, NC. and will be part of LTLT's annual autumn "celebration of the land," which will include outdoor and educational activities for young and old. LTLT established the annual award in 2004.  The award has been presented previously to regional conservation leaders such as Bill Gibson (head of the Region A Council of Governments) and Bruz Clark (President of the Lyndhurst Foundation).

 

Read more here! 

  

 
Upcoming BRSI Green Mondays
 
Green Monday logo 
November 19, 2012

4:00-5:30 p.m. 

 
The (un?)Sustainability of Revitalization in Asheville's River Arts District 
 

 

An exploration of the good and the bad outcomes associated with urban revitalization efforts, using the River Arts District as a focus of conversation.  Hosted by Blue Ridge Sustainability Institute.

 

Urban Planner Stephanie Monson Dahl will moderate a group of diverse panelists in a conversation about the meaning and impact of tax valuation, the definition of a place through its people, how consumers do or don't value the arts, and the impact of human development on the natural environment. Panelists will use data and stories from our own communities and elsewhere to increase the collective understanding of what we can do to make our revitalization efforts more sustainable in the future.  

 

Progress
    

  purple cat

Get connected at Green Mondays!

 All are welcome to come and participate! 

 

BRSI Sponsor Profile: 

 

   purple cat

 

Purplecat Networks Inc. has strived to be an environmentally conscious business since its inception in 1998 and has been carbon negative since 2004.  In 2010, solar panels were installed, covering 1/3 of the company's total energy needs, yet they still paid the WNC Green Building Council's Appalachian Offsets Program for its full energy needs. Purplecat operates as a carbon negative business through this combination of energy credit and energy production.  Its goal is to become carbon negative for the lifetime of the business, not just carbon neutral moving forward.  "Since programs like Appalachian Offsets and NCGreen Power didn't exist when Purplecat opened its doors, there is some payback to accomplish," says Purplecat Owner, Peter Brezny, who has also set the goal of functioning as a paperless office.  Peter holds a bachelor of science degree in environmental science and has been a contributor to BRSI, as well as the local chapter of the Sierra Club, the Dogwood Alliance, and the Canary Coalition.  You can find more information here:
 http://www.purplecat.net/about.html 

 

Thank you Purplecat Networks Inc. for your continued support of BRSI and sustainability in the region!


Meet Michael Hull: 
IT and Web Developer 

  

 

This month we are excited to introduce volunteer Michael Hull.  BRSI's IT and Web Developer comes to us from Kingsport, TN.  He was a newcomer to Western North Carolina when he came to BRSI in early 2012, but now is proud to claim the region as home. 

 

Michael's background is in mathematics, and one offshoot of this background is teaching himself programming languages and design techniques for the web.  Michael currently works as a web developer; he also owns his own math tutoring business in Asheville.

 

After college, Michael went to graduate school and taught math at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff for four years.  While there, he was in awe not only of the natural beauty of the southwest, but also of the public consciousness toward sustainability and conservation.  Water conservation is clearly an important issue in the southwest, but what really stuck with Michael was the ubiquity of the bicycles in Flagstaff.  He has always been an advocate of walking and biking over driving, but Flagstaff's core integration of bike lanes and urban trails was affirmation that cars don't have to be the central focus in American transportation.  Michael is a firm believer that we shouldn't wait on advancing technology to help us decrease our dependence on gas.

 

Michael's other passion in sustainability revolves around food.  He sees a big problem with the way food is intertwined with big business in our country, and an even bigger problem with the lack of discussion about food-related issues at the national level.  One thing that drew Michael to Asheville is the abundance of healthy local foods and the efforts made by restaurants and vendors to sell local products and support local farms.

 

 

Thank you Michael for volunteering your time, energy and expertise to BRSI!  We appreciate you! 

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!  

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