Newspaper Page Text
ECO
BRIEFS
■
4 ▼ Tickets are available for Adanta
Bicycle Coalition’s annual Blinkie
Awards on May 19, 6 p.m., at the
Trolley Barn, 963 Edgewood Ave. in
Inman Park. It’s the first in-person event
since early 2020 for this non-profit
dedicated to reclaiming Atlanta’s streets
as safe places to ride, walk and roll. The
2022 Blinkie Awards will celebrate some
of Atlanta’s most dedicated
sustainable transportation
advocates — and will see the
release of the organization’s
new name and brand.
Heavy hors d’oeuvres and
beverages will be served. Get
tickets and find out more at
atlantabike.org.
The PATH Foundation, a
local non-profit that plans
and builds multi-use trails
across Georgia, has opened the West Wieuca PATH. The .6-mile-long trail segment
marks the completion of the final trail segment in the 5-mile-long Chastain Park trail
network that connects residents with PATH’s 300+ miles of trails in the surrounding
communities. PATH collaborated with the City of Atlanta and partnered with the
Chastain Park Conservancy to actualize the ambitious trail network. For more info,
visit pathfoundation.org.
The community is invited to purchase plants in support of the DeKalb Master
Gardener Project Site at their Spring Plant Sale on Mothers’ Day Weekend, May
7-8, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center, 980 Briarcliff Road. Guests also
will have the opportunity to explore the formal gardens and hike the woodland trail.
Reach out to CallanwoldeMasterGardeners@gmail.com with questions and comments.
m
CHaRM collects 1 million
pounds of recydables in
four months
Live Thrives Center for Hard
to Recycle Materials (CHaRM)
celebrated its Million Pound
Pledge to Earth on Earth Day.
The challenge kicked off in
January with the goal of collecting
1 million pounds of materials to
be reused/recycled/reengineered in
time for the annual celebration of
Earth Day. By April 15 the center
had exceeded its goal by more
than 300,000 pounds.
To collect the equivalent of
500 tons in just less than four
months, CHaRM recruited
help from the Atlanta business
community. The center challenged
businesses of any size and their
employees to participate by
bringing their recycling to CHaRM, where materials were weighed and logged to determine
the total pounds collected from the challenge. The Corporate Challenge alone collected
117,380 pounds of materials.
This year’s Corporate Challenge partners included Alston & Bird, Chick-fil-A, Inc.,
Community & Council Realty Group, Cox Enterprises, Delta Air Lines, EY, Hartsfield-
Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Highland Mortgage, Interface, Monarch Private
Novelis, Printpack, The Home Depot Foundation, UPS and Waste Management.
Capital,
un
The next generation of green leaders
Continued from page 19
Laura Buckmaster, 29
Social media manager, Trout Unlimited
Laura Buckmaster believes people need to get
outdoors to feel inspired to protect the environment.
“I’m super passionate about making big
environmental issues fun and approachable for people,”
said Buckmaster, an outdoor enthusiast who enjoys
canoeing and fly fishing. “If you don’t have a connection
to some of these places, it’s hard to stand up when they
are threatened.”
Buckmaster spent a lot of time on the Chattahoochee
River as a kid.
“My parents put me in a canoe when I was six
months old,” she said with a laugh. “It’s so funny, before
I was even born, they had one little life jacket from REI
hanging in the closet.”
Buckmaster studied environmental issues and
psychology at the University of Oregon, learning how to
rally people around advocacy issues.
After college, she worked as the stewardship trips and outreach director with the Georgia
Conservancy, where she would take 2,000 people annually on nature trips around the state.
Another career highlight was working as a trail restoration fellow on Georgia’s
Cumberland Island, leading a volunteer program to restore 50 miles of trail on the barrier
island.
“We made the first GIS map of the island,” she said. “We wanted to break down those
barriers of accessibility ... We just wanted to get people out exploring.”
Now, Buckmaster is the first-ever social media manager for Trout Unlimited, a national
nonprofit dedicated to conserving, protecting and restoring North America’s coldwater
fisheries and their watersheds. Her job is telling great stories to engage people and support
the organization’s work.
“This is my absolute dream career,” she said.
Buckmaster also recently joined the board of the Southeastern Trust for Parks & Land,
an organization that works to preserve land for conservation, research, education and
recreation.
“Their mission really resonated with me to protect these places, but to protect them for
recreation access as well, because recreation is such an important component of cultivating
stewardship and advocacy,” she said.
Jennifer Duenas, 24
Clean water associate, Environment Georgia
At Environment Georgia, Jennifer Duenas is
advocating for safe drinking water at schools across
Georgia.
“Lead is still an issue in the United States today,”
said Duenas, who was born in Dunwoody and raised
in Lawrenceville. “It leaches into our drinking water
through lead pipes and corroded faucets. Lead is a
neurotoxin that affects the development of a young
child’s brain ... It is very, very bad for our children’s
brains and their success in school.”
She added that about 20% of lead exposure comes
from drinking water. Most schools have at least some
lead in their pipes, plumbing or fixtures, according
to Environment Georgia, which creates a risk of
contamination. So, Duenas is working to educate school
systems across Georgia on the dangers of lead and the
state and federal funding available for testing, removing
lead pipes and installing filtered hydration stations.
“We have been advocating for all of these resources, because the solution is right in our
hands,” Duenas said. “We are trying to get the word out about how dangerous lead is. It’s a
crisis and our children matter.”
Duenas said she had an early love for nature, inspired by summer trips to Asientos, a
small town in the Mexican state of Aguascalientes, where her family is from.
An AP environmental science class in high school really piqued her interest, leading her
to study geosciences at Georgia State University.
During college, she interned for the Georgia State Office of Sustainability. She was also
on the executive board for the student environmental team, which secured funding to start
an urban garden at Center Parc Stadium.
Duenas said her long-term career ambitions include continuing to advocate for clean
water and educating Hispanics on environmental issues.
“I’m really proud of being a Hispanic, young woman rising up within this community,”
Duenas said. “I feel proud that I can be a part of really trying to uplift different voices within
the environmental movement.’ na
22 MAY 2022 | DU
AtlantalntownPaper.com