Sustainability 2018 | January 9, 2018 |
6:00-8:30 PM | CIC Venture Cafe | One Broadway, Cambridge, MA
About the Event
The Boston Area Sustainability Group (BASG) is kicking off 2018 with a unique double feature on January 9th to engage youth and adults alike. Let’s activate what we know about sustainability and elevate our game in how we channel our passion and energy into impact!
Our guest facilitators leading the January 9th sessions will be Lauren and Patrick Belmonte, Haven Hatch, and several of the educators from Change is Simple, an environmental science education non-profit. As certified sustainability managers, environmental scientists, and learning design experts, they will provide tips, tools, and strategies for using words and actions in service of achieving our sustainability goals.
Programming will start with an afternoon workshop at the CIC for 3rd to 5th graders and teachers from the greater Boston area led by the Change is Simple team. Using giant maps, bunches of fruit, a mathematical approach, and personal experience, students will learn about sustainability from an interactive Global Food System perspective. Workshop space is limited and will be by invitation-only from a pool of teacher nominations.
From 6pm to 8:30pm in the Venture Cafe, Change is Simple will run a workshop open to all and particularly for anyone eager to improve how they practice and share the many messages of sustainability at home, at work, in our communities, and elsewhere. Regardless of our place in the world, each of us plays a role in communicating the importance of sustainability as we mentor others, lead teams, and go about our business and daily lives, even as we continue to learn ourselves.
Let’s make it a great start for 2018! Hope you join us on January 9th. – Carol, Holly, and Tilly
Our Event Facilitators
Lauren Belmonte – Co-Founder / Co- Director, Master Level CiS Certified Educator
Lauren wears many hats at Change is Simple, including those of environmental scientist, certified sustainability manager, grant writer, development director, and educator. Her work before committing her passion to Change is Simple included environmental permitting, wetland delineations and rare species habitat surveys, renewable energy projects including Cape Wind, LEED construction projects, as well as environmental compliance activities for the MA Military Division. Lauren has 11+ years of environmental and sustainability experience and 8 years working with youth. She is a graduate of Merrimack College with a BS in Environmental Science.
Patrick Belmonte – Co-Founder / Co-Director – Master Level CiS Certified Educator
Patrick leads the design of the Change is Simple curriculum, learning tools and strategy which he has taught in over 700 classrooms at nearly 100 different schools over the past 6+ years. After earning his degree in Marketing/Communications from Western New England University, Patrick spent several years running his own business. Other experiences prior to founding Change is Simple include roles in marketing at LEGO Corp., Mullen Advertising and Westport Communications. Patrick is an avid surfer and mountain biker, and is passionate about sustainable technology and design, recently building a solar powered hydroponic growing system and an electric motorcycle.
Haven Hatch – Program Director & Lead Educator Master Level CiS Certified Educator
Haven graduated from Endicott College with B.S. in Environmental Science. She feels passionately that education is one of the greatest avenues to reach and inspire others about climate change and sustainability. Her understanding of how children learn and her experience in the environmental and outdoor learning world are at the heart of what gets kids excited about Change is Simple’s lessons. In September, Haven trained with former Vice President Al Gore to become a Climate Reality Leader. She is currently working towards her Master’s degree in education, with a concentration on learning design.
Our “Global Food Systems” Workshop Co-Sponsor
The “Global Food Systems” workshop is co-sponsored by Cambridge Energy Advisors principal Eric Grunebaum, a long-time BASG collaborator who focuses on catalyzing solar and efficiency projects for commercial and institutional buildings using impact investor funding. Prior business development engagements have been with Greentown Labs and a European green chemistry startup. In his spare time, he is helping transform a 9-acre brown-fields site adjacent to affordable housing in Cambridge into a new park.
BASG 