The Catawba College Center for the Environment will launch its Sustainable Communities Leadership Institute in October 2006 to advance sustainability in the state and the region.

What is the Institute?

The Sustainable Communities Leadership Institute is a program designed to educate and equip current and emerging leaders in the state to become effective change agents on issues spawned by rapid growth. Its purpose is to create a network of leaders and community action groups capable of transforming communities in sustainable ways. Sustainability is defined as “living so that the current generation meets its needs without compromising future generations’ ability to meet their needs.”

A strong component of the Institute includes instruction in intensive collaborative community leadership. This approach provides leaders with tools and techniques for bringing diverse stakeholders together to focus on the vision they have for their communities. David Chrislip, co-author of Collaborative Leadership: How Citizens and Civic Leaders Can Make a Difference and co-founder of the Denver Community Leadership Forum is working closely with the Center staff to design the leadership sessions.

Catawba students will have opportunities through Institute workshops and conferences to learn from thought leaders and leaders in the state who confront sustainability issues on a daily basis.

The Institute seeks to enable a strong, informed regional constituency that will speed the transformation to sustainability and to create a network of communities that are informed, capable and motivated to promote positive change. Sustainable communities will be able to attain economic security and, at the same time, maintain the integrity of ecological systems for future generations.

What will the Institute offer during 2006-2007, its planning year?

Webcast
Buildings are responsible for almost half (48%) of all greenhouse gas emissions annually, according to the U.S. Energy Information administration. A total of 76 percent of all electricity generated by U.S.
power plants goes to supply the building sector.

That fact has spurred Weaver Cooke Construction and the Center for the
Environment at Catawba College to host a live web-cast on the relationship between the built environment and air quality. It is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 20, at the Center for the Environment facility on the Catawba College
campus.

Called "The 2010 Imperative: Global Emergency Teach-In," the live web-cast from the New York Academy of Sciences will run from noon until 3:30 p.m., followed by discussion, networking and refreshments. Individuals should arrive at 11:50 because the web-cast will begin promptly at noon.

Read more.

Institute Meetings
February 16, March 25, and April 11
Read full story and details

Fall Retreat
The Institute will hold a three-day retreat in October for the first participants, who will include the Advisory Council and select leaders from North Carolina. During this retreat, participants will explore the environmental challenges the state faces and seek to understand the driving forces behind them. They will also learn about how leaders in successful communities are addressing these challenges in sustainable ways.

Two follow-up sessions are scheduled during the fall. They will, among other things, explore the lessons learned from successful civic leadership development programs and define the workshops and forums for the spring of 2007.

The general public will be able to join Institute participants in four mini-conferences and a Sustainability Fair during the spring.

What prompted the Institute’s formation?

Communities throughout North Carolina and the Southeast are experiencing rapid growth and the challenges that increasing numbers bring. The Southeast currently has the largest population of any region in the United States. It also has some of the country’s fastest-spreading cities. Moreover, North Carolina is one of the three fastest-growing states in the region. Forecasters predict that the current N.C. population of 8 million-plus will swell to 11 million in the next 15 years.

The state is also home to 1/3 of the nation’s wetlands, 1/3 of the country’s coastline and 460,000 miles of waterways. In addition, the Smoky Mountains National Park includes 1,500 flowering plants and more tree species than are found in northern Europe. Undeveloped land is being consumed at an alarming rate, raising serious environmental challenges.

This situation is complicated by adversarial politics that has proved destructive in the past. Long-term sustainability can be better realized through a process like collaboration. More inclusive and well informed engagements lead to better decisions that meet the needs of a community or region and provide a means for people to exert control over the forces that impact their lives. Working together offers a constructive alternative to a divisive civic culture, instability in policy-making, alienation from public engagement and lack of trust in governing institutions.

The Sustainable Communities Leadership Institute is being developed to help communities address the challenges of rapid growth in sustainable ways.

Who is eligible to participate?

Diverse participants from North Carolina will be selected by reference, application and solicitation. (The program will provide a model that other states may follow and may expand to include neighboring states in subsequent years.) Tuition will be charged, but a number of need-based scholarships are available.

Interested individuals may call Willa Mays at 704-637-4295 for more information.

Who endorses it?

A number of state and regional leaders, who share the Center’s goals of transforming the region toward sustainability, have agreed to serve as advisors to the Institute:
• Katy Ansardi, Executive Director, Sustainable NC
• Philip Blumenthal, President, Blumenthal Foundation
• William Holman, Executive Director, NC Clean Water Management Trust Fund
• Edward Norvell, Legal Counsel, Conservation Trust for North Carolina
• Dyke Messinger, President, Power Curbers, Inc.
• Linda Rimer, N.C. and S.C. Liaison, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• Larry Shirley, Director, NC Office of Energy
• Wanda Urbanska, President, Simple Living TV Network

In addition, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation and the Alcoa Foundation have committed substantial funds to the enterprise.

For more information, please write centerforenv@catawba.edu or call 704-637-4295.