Project Summary

Along the Suncoast, a coalition of environmental groups and interested citizens will host a forum on the environment. The forum will include chances to take personal and collective action about our environment, and visioning about how we can work together to preserve our environment.

About me

I work for SCOPE, a nonprofit with the aim of building civic engagement. The idea that people should have a personal stake in their community just makes sense to me. The more I have formally learned about this through SCOPE, the more it reverberates as true. SCOPE tries to bring people together around whatever issue they care about. This time, the issue our community is excited about is the environment. Since one of SCOPE's most effective roles is as a connector, we were able to get a number of environmental organizations involved in planning for this forum. Some other organizations that are involved include our local estuary program, which is focused on improving the water quality in our bay, and the Selby botanical gardens, whose representative wants to think about how we can engage the community in a synergistic way. The local Chamber of Commerce and the County office of Sustainability are also involved. They realize that more reverence for the natural environment can mean an enhanced quality of life for all of us. On the policy side, we have involved the Mote Marine policy institute and the Sarasota Network for Climate Action, both groups focused on changing local public policy. The key to inviting many of these organizations to the planning table was one of our board members, who has a commitment to the environment and a personal connection to many of these groups. He has given much of his time and effort to helping our idea of a natural forum become a reality.