Conservation Education Day 2010
This event is an important opportunity to educate Tennessee legislators about the 2010 Sustainable Tennessee Agenda and the priorities and to show unity as a conservation community. During the event participants scheduled meetings with their legislators to educate them about the Agenda issues that are most important to them and their organizations, attended Committee Meetings including House and Senate Conservation and Environment Committee meetings, and/or spent time learning about participating organizations and the issues. Over 30 organizations were represented and most set up a display in Legislative Plaza including: BURNT, Community Shares, Friends of Dunbar Cave, Earth Revolution, Friends of Henry Horton State Park, Know Nuclear, Lipscomb Institute for Sustainable Practice, Nature Conservancy, Obed Watershed Community Association, Outpost Solar, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Save our Cumberland Mountains, Sierra Club Tennessee Chapter, Steve Clark and Associates, TN Clean Water Network, Tennessee Conservation Voters, Tennessee Environmental Council, Tennessee Irrigation Association, Tennessee Recreation and Parks Association, Tennessee Wild, TN Citizens for Wilderness Planning, TN Parks and Greenways Foundation, TN Urban Forestry Council, Tennessee Scenic Rivers Association, Tennessee Parks, and World Wildlife Fund. Conservation Education Day also featured a press conference concerning the Forever Green Tennessee initiative – one of the top priorities of the 2010 Sustainable Tennessee Agenda. Bob Tuke, Tennessee Parks and Greenways Foundation & Tennessee Environmental Council Board member announced that a newly formed coalition has organized with the mission to “Forever Green Tennessee.” The coalition represents 28 different civic, conservation and sportsmen organizations. Forever Green Tennessee also includes Governor Winfield Dunn and other prominent Tennesseans. The coalition also urged the legislature to support this allocation of the funds. The following publications featured this issue: Conservation Education Day received a positive feedback from Legislators, who could not help but notice our significant presence at the plaza. Many participants wore green, special name badges, and Forever Green lapel stickers to identify the group and show our unity. Mack Prichard, State Archaeologist and State Naturalist emeritus, said it was the “best showing we ever had on the Hill.” Legislators were encouraging, but cautioned us to keep the vigilant watch to make sure the real estate transfer funds stayed as intended focused on conservation or wetlands, forests, local parks and greenways and agricultural land. Conservation Education Day is an annual event designed to introduce and educate the Legislature about the Sustainable Tennessee Agenda. The event is not the culmination but rather the start of a process that engages the conservation community and supporters of the Sustainable Tennessee agenda with their elected officials, and begins implementation of the initiatives presented in the Agenda. The 2010 Sustainable Tennessee Agenda includes the contributions and support of the Sustainable Tennessee coalition including over 130 individuals and 90 organizations statewide. The agenda is available on the Sustainable TN website (www.sustainabletn.org) |
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