See below some recent happenings & announcements. For the latest updates see the Latest News and follow us on our socials.
Everglades Literacy for All: The Everglades Foundation Invests in Education
Preserving and protecting America’s Everglades requires a new generation of Floridians that understand and appreciate its importance. In 2013, the Everglades Foundation partnered with Florida Atlantic University’s Pine Jog Environmental Education Center to enhance this awareness throughout Florida and beyond. Collaborating with school districts, curriculum development specialists and selected schools, the two organizations developed a first-of-its-kind comprehensive Everglades education curriculum for K-12 students. This unique Everglades Literacy Program is based on seven guiding principles linked to specific learning objectives and related lesson plans at each [...]
GSC/WE-LAB Teachers Share Success at Dream in Green’s Mid-Year Meeting
On January 16, teachers implementing the Green Schools Challenge (GSC) and Water and Energy Learning and Behavior (WE-LAB) came together at the program’s Mid-year Meeting to share success stories regarding energy and water conservation and waste reduction at K-12 schools in Miami-Dade County. This program was kindly sponsored by the Carton Council and Miami-Dade County Public Schools. The Challenge began in October with 115 K-12 schools enrolled in the GSC and WE-LAB programs. Over the past four months, teachers and staff have created Green Teams; encouraged [...]
WE-LAB Workshops Educate 1,000 Households
A major milestone was celebrated by Dream in Green (DIG) and its partner Miami-Dade Water and Sewer as it reached its 1,000th household educated through the Water and Energy Learning and Behavior Program (WE-LAB) workshops. Free to participants, WE-LAB workshops (or “labs”) provide engaging science-based, Water-Energy Nexus information to Miami-Dade residents explaining how decreasing the demand for energy and water can positively affect air quality and improve the water supply. Since its launch one short year ago, 35 workshops have been held reaching over 1,000 [...]
The Institute for Regional Conservation: How to Save Everything
The Institute for Regional Conservation (IRC) is dedicated to the protection, restoration and long-term management of biodiversity on a regional basis, and to the prevention of regional extinctions of rare plants, animals and ecosystems. Our mission means that, in a given region, we want to save EVERYTHING! This includes the large charismatic species of national and international concern (think Florida Panther) right down to the smallest and most inconspicuous of native plants (such as the soon-to-be federally listed Florida Bristle Fern). There is no species [...]
The Water, Fuel & Energy Connection
As the purchase of alternative transportation vehicles that use biofuel or electricity continue to gain popularity in the United States, water will become increasingly linked to transportation energy. In fact, biofuels such as biogas or biodiesel that is produced from renewable resources such as plants, vegetable oils, or treated waste, are often criticized for their high water consumption in their production. For example, Corn-based ethanol, which is generally considered an eco-friendly fuel, places a very high demand on water supplies, and on average it takes [...]
Miami Talks About the Future of Water – “We Have to Get It Right!”
On December 10, 2014, American University Center for Environmental Policy and the Everglades Foundation co-hosted a forum to discuss initiatives in Florida and nationwide to address water quality issues from a policy perspective and as a market-based approach. The event is part of a series of dialogue sessions on “The Future of Water,” presented by the Center under the auspices of the William K. Reilly Fund for Environmental Governance and Leadership. The event included a diverse group of leaders from local government, business and non-profit communities including [...]
Business Community Rallies Behind STEM Education
On October 28, 2014, the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce Sustainability, Environment and Energy Committee held a panel discussion on "The Role of STEM Education in the Growing "Green Collar" Economy." Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics - referred to as STEM Education, will play a key role as our nation transitions towards a clean, green economy and sustainable future. Participants learned how community colleges, K-12 schools, and institutions of higher education are working to address the emerging career opportunities in our expanding green economy. Representatives from Miami-Dade College, FIU, [...]
Turning Plastic Bags into Art @ ART BASEL
Ecocouture, the US Green Building Council, the Paradise Key community and Dream in Green are collaborating to bring a "green" art installation to Art Basel in Wynwood as part of Freebee's “FREEDOM” event. This art piece will be created using plastic bags tied together to create visual awareness about the physical space plastics occupy in our oceans. There is an area in the Atlantic Ocean spanning the distance between Virginia and Cuba called the Great Atlantic Garbage Patch. This area, a soup of plastic, contains [...]
Recycling 201: Un-Learning How to Recycle
If the title of this article caught your attention, then it served its purpose. Don’t worry, this is not a bait & switch. An arguably more accurate (though less concise) title might have been “Un-Learning bad habits about recycling through a deeper understanding of what really happens to the stuff you’re sending to the recycling facility that you shouldn’t.” So let’s un-learn a few things about recycling, shall we? Recycling is great when it’s done right. When done correctly, recycling reduces the amount of waste sent [...]
Lets’s Go To the Beach with Surfrider
By Mike Gibaldi, Vice Chair, Surfrider Foundation Miami Chapter We love to go to the beach to surf, swim, paddleboard, chill out with friends and family or just gaze upon beautiful Mother Ocean. We protect what we love, right? The Surfrider Foundation, a non-profit grassroots organization, exists to protect YOUR beach. As our favorite playground, we want to make sure it is safe, clean and accessible for everyone, and stays that way, ALWAYS. Interestingly, we are protecting it from ourselves. Wherever you live, work or play [...]