CFE minutes 111014 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

1 Orange County Commission for the Environment Meeting Summary November 10, 2014 Orange County Central Recreation Center, Hillsborough [relocated from the Richard Whitted Meeting Facility] _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ PRESENT: Jan Sassaman (Chair), May Becker, Loren Hintz, Donna Lee Jones, Cliff Leath, David Neal, Bill Newby, Jeanette O’Connor, Rebecca Ray, Lydia Wegman ABSENT: Peter Cada, Steve Niezgoda, Gary Saunders, David Welch STAFF: Rich Shaw and Tom Davis _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ I. Call to Order – Sassaman called the meeting to order at 7:38 pm. II. Ad ditions or Changes to Agenda – O’Connor and Shaw asked to make some announcements. Sassaman added both items to the updates. No other changes. III. Minutes – Sassaman asked for a motion on the September 8 meeting summary. O’Connor motioned to approve as written; Leath seconded. Approved unanimously. IV. Review of the Environmental Summit/SOE – The CFE reviewed the venue, format, and discussions from the Environmental Summit, and considered what improvements could be made for future meetings of this kind. CFE members agreed that the facility and refreshments were good choices. They also agreed that the speakers were excellent; however it would have been better if they had engaged the audience in a conversation. Hintz said he had hoped to see high school students and teachers. Newby said he had hoped to see more environmental advocates. Sassaman said he felt the meeting went well for a Saturday morning event. He asked what others thought about holding an annual or biennial summit and including social justice issues on future summit agendas. Sassaman said summits could be held without there having to be a state of the environment report, and pointed out the on-line version of the SOE report could be updated as new information and data became available. Finally, Sassaman suggested the CFE develop better methods of public outreach, including an improved webpage, newspaper articles, and an electronic newsletter. Wegman said she likes the idea of the annual or biennial summit, but pointed out the difficult work of putting the program together. Ray said she would like to see the next edition of the state of the environment use a web-based format that enables people to access information more easily. She noted the Mecklenburg County report is available is a web-based format. CFE members discussed how best to engage high school science teachers and whether they could incorporate the SOE status and trends in their classroom teaching. Hintz said it would be difficult to include this in an already-crowded science curriculum. Sassaman suggested the idea of a contest for students to find information in the SOE report. Jones