SSDN‘s Green Minds – Details, episodes & analysis

This episode is a longer one - I just couldn't cut it down any more than just shy of an hour.  Settle in and get ready for a packed episode where co-host Jessica Reid (Sustainability Analyst, City of Raleigh, NC and author of Planet Now) and I chat with Anthony Flaccavento (Rural Urban Bridge Initiative - RUBI) on how we can better communicate about sustainability.  Enjoy this candid episode full of tips!

As always, please send topic ideas to robyn.byers@charlottenc.gov.  Have a great one!  Rural Urban Bridge Initiative

This episode is a dose of laughter straight from our members.  Welcome special co-host for this episode, Dr. Shaleen Miller, and I as we talk about funny moments we've had, and invite two members to share their funniest moments.  Takeaways from this episode, check what other groups have the acronym you're hoping to use before you confirm committee names, search for context clues when talking to someone you don't recognize, Always have a re-usable cup and/or bag on you just in case, and have lemons on hand if you tangle with worms.   

Enjoy! As always, please send topic ideas to robyn.byers@charlottenc.gov.  Have a great one! 

Michael Dexter and Chris Barber, both with SSDN's Southeast Sustainable Recovery Center, explain the basics of the Justice40 Initiative, aimed at distributing at least 40% of federal investments to disadvantaged communities. They also present an interactive mapping tool developed for SSDN's members that compares the various set of criteria that can define disadvantaged communities. 

SSDN's Justice40 Web App: https://uvalibrary.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=9973040fb53f4d0faa91e42f4aca364d note this map will be moved to a different address soon - do not bookmark!

White House: Justice40 Initiative | The White House

Columbia University Capstone Report:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DXhzk3Ys54pifVr_PyxulgQHktGseTJQ/view?usp=sharing 

This episode of Green Minds Podcast features the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) - why they are important and how municipalities can engage. First podcast co-host Laurel Creech speaks with Anne Livingston, SSDN Director of Policy Programs, about her knowledge of IRPs. Then we focus on GA and Georgia Power's IRP process that concluded in July 2022 with guests Alicia Brown, City of Savannah's Clearn Energy Program Manager, and John R. Seydel, City of Atlanta Deputy Chief Sustainability Officer.

The availability of food, fresh and nutritious food in particular, is naturally a primordial preoccupation for communities. Some local governments are taking initiatives to facilitate the production and distribution of food, with a particular focus on the most vulnerable areas.

This episode hosted by Catherine Mercier-Baggett looks at the work conducted in the cities of Atlanta (GA) and Winston-Salem (NC). J. Olu Baiyewu and Moriah Gendy, both municipal employees dedicated to increasing food resilience and security in their respective cities, graciously share their experience. 

Atlanta's AgLanta: https://www.aglanta.org/

Winston-Salem's Think Orange Program: https://www.cityofws.org/3050/Think-Orange-Food-Resilience-Campaign 

On this episode of Green Minds, co-host Laurel Creech talks with two cities who received SSDN's Community Collaboration Catalyst Micro Grants aimed at providing small pots of funding to local governments to overcome barriers to systemic inequities alongside dedicated community partner organizations. Learn how the cities of Richmond, VA & Nashville, TN leveraged collaborative partnerships to work innovatively impact community-led and equitable approaches to sustainability. This SSDN grant was made possible with support from The Kresge Foundation,

MaryPat Baldauf (Columbia, SC) nominated the session hosted by Tobin Freid (Durham County, NC) and KatieRose Levin (Cary, NC) as her favorite highlight of SSDN's 2022 annual meeting. The peer learning session was on Addressing Urban Heat Islands and Heat Mitigation Strategies - an appropriate topic with summer unofficially starting with Memorial Day in the Southeast.

Resource mentioned in this episode: 

• UHI Mapping Initiative (Columbia): https://cpac.columbiasc.gov/urban-heat-island-mapping-initiative/
• Extreme Heat and UHI (Durham County): https://www.dconc.gov/county-departments/departments-a-e/engineering-and-environmental-services/sustainability-office/climate-resilience/extreme-heat/-fsiteid-1#!/
• Cool Roadways Partnership: https://globalcoolcities.org/cool-roadways-partnership/
• Tree Equity Score (American Forests): https://treeequityscore.org/

This episode of the Green Minds Podcast is hosted by Laurel Creech (Nashville, TN) and features food waste awareness and mitigation in recognition of April being Earth Month and many states and cities recognizing the month as Food Waste Awareness Month. This episode kicks off with NRDC's Darby Hoover and Nashville's Linda Breggin on a national food waste perspective then we visit the cities of Asheville, NC; Hollywood, NC; and Orlando, FL on how these Southeast cities impactful initiatives are reducing food waste.

Sustainability spans across a multitude of disciplines, and the variety of individual backgrounds of sustainability professionals are a reflection of this reality. 

In this episode, we visit with Casi Callaway (Mobile, AL), Glen Hadwen (Fort Lauderdale, FL), Lennie Massanelli (Little Rock, AR) and George Santucci (Town of Boone, NC) to discuss their unique paths. 

This episode of Green Minds focuses on the sustainability organizational and staffing structures of four different size cities in the SSDN network and both their differences and commonalities: Susannah Troner of Miami-Dade County, FL; Helen Peplowski of the City of Winston-Salem, NC; George Santucci of the Town of Boone, NC; and Rebecca Harvey of Boynton Beach, FL. We discuss their histories, their current staffing, and future growth plans of each of these diverse cities.