Sustainable Tennessee

Yesterday was the final day of the three day Summit for a Sustainable Tennessee here at Lipscomb University in Nashville.

Each of the working groups Air, Water, Land, Sustainable Energy, Solid Waste/Recycling, Healthy Communities, Quality Growth, Natural Infrastructure made presentations with recommendations that had been voted on in each group session held Thursday and Friday. These recommendations will form the basis of an agenda that will be presented to the state legislature, the general public and the all the various statewide policy boards.

You can view the results of the weekend summit by viewing the Draft Sustainabillty Document here

A few ideas for a better summit in the years to come:

Get the governor to show up to the event.
Better public relations to get more people to know about the event.
The website for the summit needs to be up to date at least 4 months before a statewide event such as this, and there also needs to be updated current information on the website.

The cost of the event was one thing that kept many people away. I know at least 20 people who would have attended had it not been for the high cost. More sponsors are a good thing which would help alleviate the cost. Focusing more on early registration for a lower fee (which is why having the website ready for registration more than a month before the event is key) Also, developing a volunteer system where people staff tables and keep the conference on track by helping out in exchange for getting into the conference for free would be great. The Green Festivals do an amazing job with their volunteers and something similar would be nice to see here too.

I think that would also attract more young people and a more diverse, non-white crowd to the event. Issues such as environmental justice affect many people of lesser means and it would be nice to see those people represented more at the summit.

All in all though, the folks at the Tennessee Environmental Council and the Tennessee Conservation Voters did a great job in putting the summit together. It was great to see so many different people from all the various environmental organizations working together under one roof for a few days. Hopefully, this will translate into action and policy changes on a statewide level.

You can support these organizations by donating your time, energy and money to help further their good works.

Tennessee Environmental Council

Tennessee Conservation Voters