LAF’s “Climate Change & Environmental Resiliency…Making a Difference” forum will be held on Wednesday 12 October beginning at 5:30 pm at UNCA’s Reuter Center in the Manheimer Room.
Register Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/laf-evening-forum-climate-change-environmental-resiliency-tickets-419103498847
Using focused presentations and small-group facilitation, the forum will offer participants the opportunity to consider their role in climate change and environmental resiliency. Specifically, they will be encouraged to leave the forum with deepened knowledge of the opportunity to impact climate change and the environment across three dimensions:
In Their Home/Backyard
In the Local Asheville/Buncombe County Community
Beyond Buncombe County
In Part I of the forum, held in May, Jim Fox, Senior Resilience Associate with Fernleaf, discussed mitigation strategies applicable to Asheville and Western North Carolina. Part II will expand the topics to consider conservation actions, Green energy, education, collective action, and policy development. Participants will receive a curated reading list to stimulate their thinking beforehand. Click here for a copy of that list.
The lead speakers on October 12 will be Ken Brame, Sierra Club, and Deke Arndt, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They will be assisted by facilitators who will rotate among each small group of participants to encourage developments in the three dimensions noted above. The facilitators are Eric Bradford, Asheville Green Works; Bridget Herring, City of Asheville; Jim Fox, Fernleaf; John Ross, Author/Ecologist; Renee Fortner, Riverlink; Rachael Blackburn, Conserving Carolina; Joel Porter, CleanAIRE NC; Megan Sutton, Nature Conservancy; and Robert Turner, Author and Director Creekside Farm Education Center. In addition, UNCA student members of the American Meteorological Society Student Chapter and those enrolled in the Environmental Studies program will participate and help to document recommendations.
Nancy Waldrop, LAF President had this to say about the upcoming Forum. “Leadership Asheville Forum is exceedingly pleased to present an evening forum on Climate Change and Environmental Resiliency…Making a Difference. Nothing is more critical to a continuing “life as we know it” on Earth than our response to the changes in our climate…and our acknowledgement of the role we play in creating those changes. This summer, as never before, those changes are in evidence all around us and all over the world. While it literally will take the world to effect this increasingly critical situation, there IS much we, as individuals, can do. It is our hope this special Evening Leadership Asheville Forum, with the help of its exceptional speakers and facilitators will provide insight and motivation for each of us to consciously make our own contributions to reduce the effects of this climate crisis ….. whether in our backyard, our communities, or the bigger world …for the sake of all who are here, and most importantly, for those who come after us.”
WHAT: LAF's October 12 Critical Issues Evening Forum
WHERE: UNCA’s Reuter Center, 300 Campus View Road, in the Manheimer Room
TIME: Begins promptly at 5:30 pm; arrive early to check-in, get your table assignment
COST: Free
OF NOTE: We will follow any health and safety restrictions recommended by UNCA in effect at the time of the event.
The deadline for registration is Sunday 9 October. LAF members have priority for registration. Membership is encouraged, but not required.