On March 26, 2008 Toyota and the National Audubon Society launched a joint venture: TogetherGreen. Toyota donated 20 million dollars and employee time to the venture and National Audubon Society committed its national resources and 103 years of environmental experience. During the next five years this joint venture will implement a series of national conservation initiatives to build future leaders in conservation, increase volunteer action, and achieve lasting conservation results.
TogetherGreen includes three program components:
Innovation Grants -- to fund dozens of on-the-ground projects each year that employ creative approaches and engage diverse communities to help achieve measurable land, water and/or energy conservation results. Grant requirements will broaden project participation and promote innovation by uniting Audubon's national network with environmental and community partners.
Conservation Fellowships -- to train and foster up to 200 promising environmental leaders who can serve as role models, expert guides and organizers for engaging new and diverse audiences in effective conservation action.
Volunteer Days -- to be offered at Audubon Centers and other locations nationwide, providing hands-on opportunities to address environmental problems and take part in restoration activities.
Below are the list of events scheduled under the South Florida Audubon Society Year 2 TogetherGreen Grant followed by descriptions of Year 1 and Year 2 goals and expected outcomes.
2009 - 2010 TogetherGreen Volunteer Days Events
July 14 to October 31, 2009
Sea Turtle Disorientation Volunteering at beaches in Broward County, Florida
October 8, 2009
Tree Planting and Water Conservation Education at
Hugh Taylor Birch State Park, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Twenty girls and ten staff including the science instructor from PACE School for Girls, Broward County, will participate in the tree planting along with TogetherGreen partners Kids Ecology Corps and South Florida Audubon Society. Educational activities to generate interest and excitement for rain capture in rain barrels for water conservation will include Rain Barrel Painting as well as installation of rain barrels at PACE School for Girls in Broward.
Saturday, October 24, 2009 (10 am to 12 pm)
International Climate Crisis Day (www.350.org) Rally at
Museum of Discovery and Science.
South Florida Audubon Society is one of the lead nongovernmental organizations demonstrating support of the 350 effort for standards for climate change. The rally will include brief comments by elected officials including congressional representatives and scientist experts on climate change. Outreach and educational family oriented material will be available for the attendees to increase their awareness of the
global Copenhagen, Denmark Conference in December 2009.
November 14-15, 2009 South Florida Living Green Fair
at John U Lloyd State Park, Dania Beach, Florida
This event features exhibits, tree planting, beach clean up games, electric/hybrid/CNG vehicles, water maze, cooking demonstrations, organic gardening, food/wine sampling, and more. This event is geared to families and the expected crowd is 10,000. Hundreds of volunteers will be involved. Educational opportunties related to water conservation, climate change, solar energy, Everglades Restoration and much more will be involved. Visit www.livinggreenfair.com for more information.
February 12, 2010 24-7-365green Environmental Conference
Broward College South, Pembroke Pines, FL
South Florida Economic Foundation and South Florida Audubon Society have partnered for the next TogetherGreen event. Click here for details. South Florida Economic Foundation brings businesses, governments, and the general public together around issues affecting the economic health of our region, the seventh largest Metropolitan Statistical Area in the United States. South Florida Audubon Society brings together individuals and groups advocating for a healthy habitat for birds and other wildlife which in turn enhances the environment for residents.
The 24-7-365green Environmental Conference will focus on improving our natural environment using sustainable strategies while exploring business opportunities for the new green economy. All sessions are designed to enhance South Florida's quality of life. The conference is for business people, educators, nonprofit executives and public officials from the South East Florida Region. Participants will learn ways to reduce our carbon footprint, manage waste, improve air quality, manage water quality, and increase energy conservation.
May 2010 Earth Day
South Florida Audubon Society is involved in the planning and volunteer support for the Earth Day activities in South Florida. TogetherGreen partner, Trash2Treasure, is hosting a week long event featuring Trash2Art at Artserv, Fort Lauderdale. Children and youth will use recycled materials to create usable goods and art. Hundreds of volunteers will help in educating participants in the importance of and how to recycle. Further details to follow.
Forty conservationists in 37 cities and 20 different states will advance their environmental vision and leadrship skills as 2009 TogetherGreen fellows. Doug Young, President of South Florida Audubon Society is among this list. Read a news article about him by clicking here and see his profile with a Click here . Also learn about other individual projects at http://www.togethergreen.org.
SFAS Grant Recipient
The South Florida Audubon Society (SFAS) is one of 40 organizations to receive grants in the first year of the five year venture. The $7,000 award has enabled SFAS with community partners to launch three additional first time events that engage existing grassroots nongovernmental organizations, a minimum of 200 corporate employees and hundreds of children and adults from the community. The Kids Ecology Corps has organized two community eco-action projects between Fall 2008 and Spring 2009 with an educational component for 200-300 corporate employees working in Broward County. The events spearheaded by SFAS include: planting sea oats or mangroves, removing invasive exotic plants in local parks, clearing nature trails, cleaning beaches, and/or planting native trees and plants. For the Third Annual Friends of the Everglades' Walk/Bike-a-thon in March 2009 at Shark Valley, Everglades National Park, SFAS led a bird walk to educate the public on declining bird populations (due to effects of climate change in the Everglades including water and habitat/land issues). For many participants the activities and events are first time exposure to green advocacy and education.
TogetherGreen 2009-2010 Year 2
SFAS Grant Recipient
The South Florida Audubon Society (SFAS) is one of 36 organizations to receive a $7,000 grant in the second year of the five year, TogetherGreen Volunteer Days program.
Six events will be held from August 2009 through May 2010 which will help to promote public education and advocacy for the five key areas that we focus on: (1) Global climate change and energy; (2) Wildlife and protected species; (3) Water for the environment; (4) Land conservation and public land manage-ment and (5) Growth management and transportation.
Our chapter of the National Audubon Society will continue to engage volunteers at many events including, "Give Thanks for the Environment Day", November 7 co-hosted with Broward County Parks and Recreation at Anne Kolb Nature Center. Over 30 environmental, conservation and wildlife groups, eco-friendly businnesses congregate to educate and promote advocacy to over 500 children and adults. Bird and nautre walks are included.
In addition to "Give Thanks for the Environment Day", SFAS will partner with at least two other grassroots non-governmental organizations - The Kids Ecology Corps (KEC) and Trash2Treasure and expects to continue with at least one large corporate sponsor. We will plan four first time events engaging hundreds of students from the community. The Kids Ecology Corps will co-organize three community eco-action projects, two Fall 2009 and one Spring 2010 including an education component for up to 300 students and Trash2Treasure will lead a recycling event - Trash2Art, Sprint 2010 for over 100 students. A corporate sponsor will partner with the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center and engage at least 100 employees and guests in an eco-action event involving removal of invasive plants and immediate replacement with the planting of native plants. For many of the students, corporate employees, general public and grassroot volunteers, the activities and events will be first time "green advocacy and education" exposure.
New volunteers and partnerships will include students from the Broward PACE Center for Girls in Distress; Environmental programs of South Plantation High School and Sawgrass Middle School as well as science students from Pioneer Middle School.
To view the National Audubon Society's "What You Can Do to Help" conserve habitat/land, water, and energy, click here.
Conservation and restoration results (related to habitat, fauna, flora):
- 10-15 acres of invasive plants will be removed from three proposed sites and replaced with red mangroves, sea oats, sea grapes and other native species. Trees such as sabal palm and oak are expected to be planted.
- 15-50 -- rain barrels (55 gallon) will be distributed with hose spouts, PVC overflow pipes and filter baskets for water conservation at home. These will be available to participants at rain harvesting workshops being held in conjunction with the invasive removal/native planting activities and through rain barrel painting contests at participating middle and high schools.
At Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, prior to the removal of the invasive plants, there will be a workshop to educate the volunteers on making rain barrels and other methods of water conservation.
"Give Thanks for the Environment Day" educates over 500 children and adults through exhibits, distribution of educational material, presentations, 'edutainment', films, music and interpretive walks/hikes on a variety of environmental art, US Corps of Army Engineers, Sea Turtle Nesting, environmentally-oriented music with themes such as global climate change, water conservation and Everglades Restoration and The Kids Ecology Corps will explain the importance of removing invasive plants and planting native plants and trees. A new partnership has been formed with the Broward PACE Center for Girls in Distress. The PACE Center will provide all the volunteers for one event engaging girls "at risk", most of whom come from under served communities. The additional new volunteers will be students from the Environmental programs of South Plantation High School and Sawgrass Middle School as well as science students from Pioneer Middle School. This will provide "hands-on" field experience related to conservation and habitat restoration. Additional business partners are being sought for sponsorship and volunteers.