Facilitated by
Cynthia Barnett and Maribel Balbin

Friday, March 16, 2012
Light Lunch served at 12 Noon (room 2106)       workshop begins 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm
MDC Wolfson Campus, Room 6100
5 hours of Professional Development Awarded
3 hours workshop; 2 hour project

REGISTER NOW - Reference # 697397

Water is one of the most pressing environmental and social concerns on the planet today. Healthy water ecosystems are being degraded, exploited and misused. Yet, tangible solutions to water crisis are in reach. This workshop will explore how humans have viewed and manipulated water historically, and how these beliefs and actions have impacted our current water availability and ecosystems at the local, national and global scale. Facilitators will lead a discussion on the idea of a water ethic for Florida, America and the world, along with solutions to conserve this rapidly vanishing natural resource.

Objectives:
Examine causes of the current stresses on healthy water systems in the United States

Describe how a water-rich nation has squandered its water resources

Examine the history of water in the southeastern United States, specifically how it relates to Florida

List key water-supply issues facing America and the world community

List several solutions to address the coming water crisis

Discuss how local communities have come together to create a shared water ethic

Explain conservation as a water supply source by understanding the importance of quantifiable conservation practices

List economic benefits of gallons saved allocation for future population growth  

Integrate sustainability issues into curriculum based on identifying connections between humans and the natural world

Plan of Evaluation
Evaluation will include completion of workshop and participant must develop a discipline  specific lesson plan that incorporates key concepts of sustainability and water issues. Lesson plan is due to the director of Earth Ethics Institute within three weeks of the workshop .

--About our Facilitators--

           
   Cynthia Barnett           Maribel Balbin

Cynthia Barnett is a long-time journalist who has reported on freshwater issues from the Suwannee River to Singapore. She is the author of Blue Revolution: Unmaking America’s Water Crisis, the first book to call for a water ethic for America. Her previous book, Mirage: Florida and the Vanishing Water of the Eastern U.S., won the gold medal for best nonfiction in the Florida book awards.

Ms. Barnett, who has worked for newspapers and magazines for 25 years, is senior writer at Florida Trend, where she covers investigative, environmental, public policy and business stories. Awards include a national Sigma Delta Chi prize for investigative magazine reporting and eight Green Eyeshades, which recognize outstanding journalism in 11 southeastern states. She earned a bachelor’s in journalism and masters in environmental history, both from the University of Florida, and was the recipient of a Knight-Wallace Fellowship at the Universtiy of Michigan, where she spent a year studying freshwater supply.

Maribel Balbin is a Program Manager in the Miami-Dade County Office of Sustainability responsible for green economy initiatives and water resources issues. In this position she is responsible for the implementation of the Vibrant Economy goal area of GreenPrint, the County’s sustainability plan.  She recently developed and implemented the County’s Green Business Certification Program, an initiative of GreenPrint.  She previously served as the County’s first Water-Use Efficiency Manager, in that capacity she developed the first goal-based water conservation plan in Florida. The plan’s implementation has resulted in unprecedented water consumption reduction in Miami-Dade, allowing for the elimination or deferral of costly infrastructure projects and earning national recognition.   Prior to joining the County, Maribel spent 10 years at the South Florida Water Management District.