sustainABLE: USGBC West North Central’s new regional forum exploring USGBC’s four pillars: sustainability, resiliency, health, and equity in relationship to current events and our ability to change future outcomes with proper foresight, adaptability, and innovation. You’re the experts – let’s discuss!
November 24, 2020
Learn more and register here.
With a pandemic, wildfires and social unrest consuming our headlines, many of us are left wondering how we got here, and how we can advance better communities for everyone moving forward. None of the overwhelming issues facing us in 2020 grew in a vacuum, nor will their solutions be found in a silo.
We continue to see the disproportionate negative impacts from these and other regional and national events on communities that have historically been disenfranchised through government and industry decision making that have lead to environmental racism and inequity.* We know that building professionals along with community partners need to be leading conversations around dismantling historic patterns of development that have created unhealthy and environmentally degraded communities.
Who do we need at the table, what conversations need to occur, and what actions will positively transform us to a healthy, resilient, environmentally and socially just local and global community. Join us as our panel of experts delve into the intersection of healthy and environmentally just communities.
* CEED Environmental Justice Definition: Environmental justice means that all communities have a right to a healthy environment where we live, work and play. In order to reverse the long history of government and industry decision making that has led to environmental racism and inequality, EJ communities must be placed at the center of our environmental agenda.
Panelists:
Huda Alkaff, Ecologist, Founder and Director, Wisconsin Green Muslims
Huda Alkaff is an ecologist, environmental educator, and the founder and director of Wisconsin Green Muslims, a grassroots environmental justice group formed in 2005 to connect faith, environmental justice, and sustainability through education and service. For two decades, Huda advocated for environmental justice, initiating Muslim and interfaith programs on energy and water conservation. Huda received recognitions from the 2015 Obama’s White House Champions of Change for Faith Climate Justice Leaders, the 2016 Sierra Club Great Waters group Environmental Hero of the Year, the 2017 Environment America’s Voices for 100 percent Renewable Energy, and the 2018 Wisconsin Association for Environmental Education Eco-Justice Award.
Ben Passer, Director, Energy Access and Equity, Fresh Energy
As Director of Energy Access and Equity, Ben directs Fresh Energy’s work to advance equitable outcomes across Minnesota’s energy system, and also supports the organization’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. He joined Fresh Energy as a Policy Associate in May 2015. Ben holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Minnesota and a Juris Doctor from William Mitchell College of Law (now Mitchell Hamline School of Law). He is a member of the Minnesota Bar and serves on the Board of Directors of Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy.
Kechia Smith, Director of Programs, Bridging the Gap