Captain Dan Kipnis knows the oceans better than most people know the water in their sink. He has spent much of his life on the water fishing in South Florida.
And yet he couldn’t help but notice that things were changing.
“I run boats non-stop. I was a commercial fisherman, I had fish markets, charter boats, party fishing boats plus I love to fish,” Kipnis said. “I saw that the sea level had risen and was continuing to rise.”
Examples are easy to come by. In the recent fall equinox, Kipnis said that the ocean poured over route A1A in Ft. Lauderdale. In fact, the ocean washed sand right into the road during normal weather conditions.
“That’s going to happen all around Florida,” he noted. “It’s starting already.”
Kipnis will deliver his message about the damage that climate change is having on our oceans and an economy that depends heavily upon them to GLEE’s annual meeting on February 8 at 6 p.m. at the Marathon Community Theater.
The session is open to anyone who would like to hear his talk but those who want to attend must RSVP to info@keysglee.com by February 4.
As a committed angler Kipnis knew he had to get involved. He’d been working with the National Wildlife Federation on the issue of global warming and heard that Nobel laureate and former Vice-President Al Gore was looking for speakers to train to get out the message about the danger climate change presents to everyone, particularly those living in a vulnerable area such as the Florida Keys. Kipnis, among the 15,000 who applied, was selected to be part of a group of 1,000 to spread the word.
“You have a real issue in the Florida Keys,” Kipnis observed. “You have the potential, 100 years from now, of not being able to live in most of the areas you live in right now. That’s not a joke. With the ice we’re losing in Greenland, the potential for 10 or 12 feet of sea level rise exists and with that you’ll have one narrow strip running right down the center of the Keys.”
He’s careful to point out that he doesn’t give Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” talk. Instead his presentation focuses on oceans and near coastal areas, bays and estuaries. He has traveled all over Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina and other areas giving the presentation, giving 55 of them last year.
Kipnis will design the talk to show – specifically -- what the effect of climate change is going to have on Florida Bay and the Florida Keys in terms of both temperature rise and sea level rise.
“I bring this message to people so they understand the gravity and the severity of the situation,” he said. “They appreciate that because no one is talking to them about it. I’m not trying to scare people; I am just not lying to them.”
The question most people ask him after the talk is about what they can do. He provides a list of nine things that people can do – easily – by themselves. These are steps about changing individual lifestyles with no pain and, in most cases, saving some money.
For example, he recommends that people bank online. Doing so saves postage, paper checks and envelopes and doesn’t require trucks or planes – and the fuel they use – to fly the mail around.
People can meet Captain Kipnis at a reception catered by Cristiano’s Café and Catering, which begins at 5 p.m.
Those attending GLEE’s quarterly Keys Sustain-ability Program (KSAP) session on February 8 will have an opportunity to learn what the company that operates Key West’s Margaritaville has already learned: how to make a business more sustainable.
Jennifer Woofter, who operates Strategic Sustainability Consulting (http://www.sustainabilityconsulting.com/) in Washington, D.C., will speak at the afternoon session about how she provides companies with the tools and expertise they need to to assess their carbon footprints and then find ways to reduce that impact. It’s something she has done for Margaritaville as well as other corporate and university clients.
It’s a particularly apt topic since GLEE is working with local governments towards the same end. The goal is to make the leap from good intentions towards long-term sustainable performance.
Last year SSC conducted a green office audit for Margaritaville, helping them create a sustainability policy that provides both social and environmental influence for the company.
Her company uses a variety of techniques to achieve the goals.
Her larger clients employ Strategic Sustainability’s Green Office Audit. In this way a company is able to identify its key environmental impacts, assess the various challenges and opportunities, calculate its carbon footprint, and then create a six month action plan. Woofter says that this option is best for companies that have decided to make an environmental commitment, but aren't quite sure where to go from there.
Her company also offers a "Mini" Green Office Audit. This represents a pared down version of the standard Green Office Audit above. The Mini is designed for organizations with fewer than 25 employees that want to take a strategic look at their operations, but don't have the time or budget for a full audit.
Finally, SSC uses an ecological footprint calculator developed by TheGreenOffice.com to establish a company’s Carbon Footprint. Woofter says that this is a great first step in determining the scope of a company’s environmental impact and can help determine where its attentions are best focused for future sustainability initiatives.
Woofter draws upon a decade of expertise in the fields of corporate social responsibility, ethical investing, and organizational accountability systems to help clients make the leap between good intentions and long-term sustainable performance. Some of her recent clients include American Greetings, Calvert Group, Georgetown University, Net Impact, and Teck Cominco.
Prior to the start-up of Strategic Sustainability Consulting, Woofter was a social research analyst with Calvert Group. In addition to researching companies for inclusion in Calvert’s socially responsible mutual funds, she also led the company’s initiatives to promote corporate accountability through increased transparency and disclosure. Woofter also worked on Capitol Hill, as a staffer with the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, where she focused on federal accountability systems.
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Here is a shortlist of suggestions from Freelance Switch on greening up your own office:
GLEE member Midge Jolly will be giving a talk on “The Science and Art of Organic Fruit & Vegetable Gardening” to the Marathon Garden Club from 9-noon on February 5. Here she provides us a preview of the talk and some helpful tips:
Sustainable gardening is also known as organic or low impact gardening. I find the term sustainable fits long term gardening goals more clearly and without limits. Whether one has been gardening with low impact for year or is new to the idea of low impact gardening, Florida Keys gardeners face some unique challenges because of our soil, water availability and plant sourcing.
The common wisdom in organic gardening has long been that successful gardening starts with careful soil management. Keys gardeners are at an extreme disadvantage when growing unless they choose plant material that are strictly native and able to tolerate our extraordinarily alkaline soil.
Raised beds, organic soil amendments (particularly compost and worms) and mulch are the three best ways to manage our “poor” soil for planting ornamentals, exotics and food crops.
Fresh, clean water is an increasingly scarce resource across the planet. Water planning may be the new starting place for successful organic gardening. This is true particularly for gardeners in the Florida Keys, as we increase efforts to conserve water and continue to garden.
Planning well for water needs during the wet and dry seasons, with ongoing drought consideration, is essential to a successful garden, whether ornamentals or food crops. We must all keep abreast of the current water restrictions to do our part.
Rain barrels and cisterns are old tools getting a new face. We can harvest abundant rain to help ease the pressure on mainland water sources and even water small gardens exclusively with harvested rain.
Plant choice---the right plant for the right place---is equally important. Choosing plants that will thrive despite the challenges in our environment becomes more important and challenging than ever. Knowing the various requirements and tolerances of a particular plant allow us to make the best choices when planting. A plant that thrives rather than survives is more able to resist disease and tolerate pest invasion. This means less need for even low-impact disease and pest management.
To find out more information on sustainable gardening in the Florida Keys go to the Monroe County Cooperative Extension Service website with links to various documents specific to our Florida Keys. http://monroe.ifas.ufl.edu/lawn/lawn_fyn.shtml
Each year the Community Foundation of the Florida Keys asks non-profits to nominate their Volunteer of the Year to be honored at CFFK's annual Unsung Hero luncheon. That person was named at CFFK’s February 1 luncheon.
For GLEE, a group made up entirely of volunteers, choosing just one volunteer of the year was a challenge. While we greatly appreciate all of our valuable volunteers, Michael Welber stands out as one whose dedication and talents have helped move the organization to the next level of professionalism. As editor of our free monthly eNewsletter, Michael single handedly creates this valuable outreach tool every month (and always on time!) to bring the latest GLEE and general green information to our readers. Newsletter subscribers are up to 460 in just a few short months, thanks to Michael!
Michael also serves GLEE as our press coordinator, drawing on his experience as founder and former editor of Keys Sunday to navigate the mysterious world of media to help spread our message. And last but by no means least, Michael heads up GLEE's Marathon Green Team that is doing its baseline emissions inventory as part of its pledge to engage in the ICLEI Cities for Climate Protection program. In times of budget shortfalls, Michael's leadership of the volunteer Green Team allows Marathon to do this important work, which we believe will reap great rewards for the city by reducing operating costs as well as global warming pollution as the team moves forward through the process.
GLEE wholeheartedly thanks Michael for his invaluable service and is very proud to honor him as our Volunteer of the Year! -- Jody Smith Williams, GLEE Vice-president