The Urban Development Boundary is perhaps the most important tool in our planning arsenal to preserve the "green belt" of farms, nurseries, wetlands, and large lot homes that separates the Everglades from Miami-Dade County's sprawling urban core. However, the protections offered by this vital planning tool are not set in stone, and as we enter into 2018, a variety of new developments threaten to undermine it, from the current ongoing Evaluation and Appraisal Report process which threatens to expand the boundaries of the UDB into the low-lying and ecologically valuable land of the Urban Expansion Areas to the Miami Dade Expressway Authority (MDX)- SR836 extension project plans to extend the Dolphin expressway beyond the Urban Development Boundary (UDB). At the same time, we are now at a crucial junction for comprehensive change to the county's Development Master Plan to promote smart and sustainable growth well into the future. 

I strive to make our collective quality of life better in South Florida and I feel putting environmental protection and conservation of our resources at the forefront of everyone's mind is the best way to extend the time we have in paradise. Let's all understand that the health of the environment is inextricably linked to our economy and health."
-- Laura Reynolds

Laura L. Reynolds is the founding and managing member of “Conservation Concepts, LLC”, an environmental consulting and advocacy firm which provides a broad range of services meant to maximize the effectiveness of environmentally focused organizations, including conducting advocacy campaigns, organizing litigation, drafting and managing grant applications and much more. Through the combination of her unique expertise, broad network of connections and her dedicated staff, Laura’s firm Conservation Concepts LLC has helped to amplify the pro-environmental voices of her clients across the region.

Laura received a B.S. in Marine Biology & Environmental Science in 1999 and afterwards completed multiple undergraduate and graduate research projects at the University of Miami and Florida International University. Over the course of her ten-year career in research and education, Laura began to realize the great disconnect between science and environmental policies. She also learned that many residents, business leaders, and government officials were unaware of strategies that could promote economic growth while simultaneously ensuring environmentally resilient communities, leading to the development of a true sustainable basis for wealth and prosperity. Her education led her to become involved in non-profit advocacy, serving as Executive Director of Tropical Audubon Society for 8 years. Prior to her service in this leadership role, she served on Tropical Audubon’s Board of Directors as Chair of Education & Outreach and as Vice-President for 4 years. During her tenure with Tropical Audubon, Laura applied her understanding of the hydrologic interactions and habitats of South Florida to successfully promote positive conservation and development decisions across many levels of governance.

Over the past 20 years, Laura has worked tirelessly to bridge the gap science and policy while simultaneously helping to educate the public and business leaders about critical conservation issues. She has cultivated a deep level of knowledge on the litany of environmental issues which affect South Florida, and strives to share that knowledge as effectively as possible through speaking engagements, public forum debates, article-writing, and activism.
​
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/conservationconceptsllc/
​Twitter: https://twitter.com/ConserveConcept

Oceana works in the United States to win policy victories that will restore and maintain ocean abundance and biodiversity. U.S.-managed waters are among the most extensive national waters in the world, and Oceana is dedicated to making sure those waters are healthy and productive for generations to come. Oceana’s campaigns utilize grassroots organizing, in-house scientific experts and litigators, strategic communications, and political engagement to strengthen and maintain responsible fishery management practices, prevent climate change and pollution, prevent seafood fraud, and reduce illegal and unregulated fishing. 

Salome Garcia is the Campaign Organizer for Oceana in South Florida. She has worked on environmental policy advocacy with a specific interest in Ocean conservancy since 2012. Before joining Oceana, Salome worked alongside Food and Water Watch Colorado on a campaign to pressure Senator Bennet to protect the Environmental Protection Agency. She also founded Age of Aquarius, an organization in South Florida which advocates for the advancement of environmental stewardship and highlights scientific research in the world’s only underwater research laboratory of its kind, Aquarius Reef Base. She has a Bachelor's degree in International Relations and Political Science with emphasis on Environmental Policy. Salome’s specific passion lies within international ocean policy; her goal is to inspire communities to shift the way we fundamentally view our oceans and motivate positive change towards a more sustainable future. 

Solar - A tool for recovery and resiliency? The importance of including solar in ways both small and large as we plan for a sustainable future.

Alissa Jean Schafer, manages solar communications and policy efforts for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. Her role includes coalition and volunteer outreach, as well as communications development and campaign management. Alissa is based in Florida and has a special focus on the shaping of solar policy in the South East region.

​Prior to SACE, Alissa had several years of communications experience in a variety of industries, including building materials, surge protection, and, most recently, solar. Alissa is also a published writer and national speaker and blogs about clean energy issues on a regular basis. When not working to spread the sunshine, Alissa can likely be found cycling, doing yoga, or trying to figure out a new way to cook tofu. Originally from Michigan, Alissa is also a 4-H veteran and former state champion in archery. She completed her B.S. in Communications at Aquinas College and her M.S. in Communications at Grand Valley State University, both in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

I will be presenting with my 12 year old son our 8 year journey in building Monarch Waystations in the South Florida area. We believe that Environmental Sustainability begins in our own back yards, and kids have a voice in this process.  We will be sharing all the Monarch garden projects we have worked on with public/private schools, MDC College, homes and churches through small grants like Disney's Friends for Change and Youth Service America. Daniel will briefly share his experience in being featured in a very special HBO documentary titled: Saving My Tomorrow.

Lorna Bravo is the founder and president of Design-Build Green Integration Consulting Company focusing on performance Green Building Consulting. Lorna has more than 18 years of architectural experience in both public and private sectors. She has been responsible for initial project programming, planning, conceptual design development, construction documents, construction administration and sustainable design.
 
Lorna graduated from Cooper Union University in New York City with a BS in Architecture and has a Masters in Construction Management from Florida International University. She is certified by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) as a LEED Accredited Professional. This accreditation verifies her knowledge of green building design, practices, and strategies, and a thorough understanding of the LEED Green Building Rating System, Resources, and Processes set by the USGBC. In 2010, Lorna was certified as a Florida Water Star Certifier. In 2011 she certified the first Gold Florida Water Star Home in the Miami Dade County area, and in 2012 she certified the first Gold FWS commercial property, ”Fire station 22” in Martin county Florida. A top-performing Environmental Youth Instructor credited with combining education, awareness and fostering environmental expertise to proactively educate our future leaders. Highly accomplished in sustainability consulting and ability to build and maintain relationships.  Recognized for being a part of the HBO series  Saving  My Tomorrow, by receiving the “Disney’s Friends for Change Grant” for helping make communities greener and by building and educating on Pollinator habitats in the Miami Dade County Public Schools.
 
Lorna is currently pursuing her PhD at the University of Florida under the department of Environmental Horticulture where she will be researching water conservation in the built environment. She believes the green building movement offers us an unprecedented opportunity to respond to the most important challenges of our time, and she is extremely excited to be part of this challenge.

​Helen A. Brown, is a Principal Planner/Concurrency Administrator in the Planning Division of the Regulatory and Economic Resources Department, for Miami-Dade County.  Ms. Brown has worked in the areas of Planning, Zoning, Enforcement and Permitting during her 32 years with Miami-Dade County. She oversees the administration and management of the County’s Concurrency Management Program, which includes interpreting and implementing growth management policy and regulations.  Additional work includes overseeing and updating of the Intergovernmental Coordination Element, Capital Improvements Element and the Educational Element of the Comprehensive Development Master Plan.  Ms. Brown serves as the County’s representative to Miami-Dade County Public Schools for facility related matters; she also serves as member on Miami River Urban Infill Group; and staff to task forces and committees in developing plans for the County.  She holds a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Florida International University.  

In order to effect change towards a more sustainable lifestyle, small actions taken every day have a huge impact.  The Real Estate Department is dedicated to the implementation of regulations to accomplish sustainable land management alongside environmental and business operations.  In this short presentation, we will discuss actions such as recycling, composting, and disposing of hazardous waste.  We will also discuss small actions you can take at home and how you can get involved in your community to continue to conserve our environment.

Lyanne works as an Environmental Specialist in the Real Estate Department for the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida.  She has a Bachelors in Environmental Studies from Florida International University and a Masters in Policy from Vermont Law School.  Her career goals include protecting natural resources and creating a more sustainable future.

Craig van der Heiden is a conservation biologist working for Miccosukee Tribe of Indians as the Director of the Fish and Wildlife Department.  In 2005, he completed his Master’s degree, which focused on modeling the habitat requirements of reintroduced black rhino in the woodland savannas of Malawi.  In 2012, he received his Ph.D. in Integrative Biology from FAU for work on the distribution dynamics of crayfish populations in the Florida Everglades.  His current research is on applied conservation biology with a focus on rare and endangered species distribution, restoration & management.

Dita Devi is a painter and poet from Hollywood, Florida of ancestory of India. Her paintings focus on the celebration of people of color, through embracing their heritage and history. She uses chanting and prayer within sacred sites to evoke the natural formation of color in the backgrounds of her paintings as a concept of asking for blessings from the land, and allowing the land's expression into each piece. As a poet, her work incorporates concepts of social justice and care for our planet. She strives to encourage people, through art, to change their own actions and take responsibility for the ways we treat Mother Earth.

Aside from everything else that it represents at the moment, the problem of climate is also a crisis for cultural institutions. These institutions, when driven by a critical imperative, have historically and consistently focused on social problems: the disenfranchisement of certain communities; the use of culture to perpetuate the interests of affluent classes; the commercialization of everything, etc.. By contrast, the problem of climate, where social history and natural history collapse into one another, has been a difficult phenomenon for these institutions to broach effectively. Most efforts have remained at the level of symbolic production, producing images of disaster and/or entreating us to “sense” the changes that are visiting Earth systems. One wonders if this is sufficient, if new and different modes of institutional production don’t need to be urgently invented. In this presentation, I will show a couple of examples of initiatives that are heading in this direction. 

Gean Moreno is Curator of Programs at ICA Miami, where he founded and organizes the Art + Research Center. He was on the Advisory Board of the 2017 Whitney Biennial and serves as co-director of [NAME] Publications. Between 2014-2016, Moreno was Artistic Director at Cannonball, where he developed pedagogical platforms and public commissions. He has contributed texts to various catalogues and publications, including e-flux journal, Kaleidoscope, and Art in America, and has lectured at numerous universities.

www.icamiami.org/ 

Tim Canova is a law professor and activist who is running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Florida’s 23rd Congressional district. He ran last year for this House seat in a closed Democratic primary against a long-entrenched entrenched incumbent who was then chair of the Democratic National Committee. During his campaign, Tim was proud to sign the Now or Neverglades Declaration, which calls for restoring the natural flow of fresh water from Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades and protecting the coastal estuaries and drinking water for millions of Floridians. Tim has refused to take any corporate money in his campaigns. Although he was a candidate for less than eight months last year, Tim’s campaign broke records for small online donations and came within a few thousand votes of winning.
 
In late 2016, Tim launched Progress For All, a community action group based in Hollywood, Florida to lobby for the public interest on a wide range of local, state and national issues. Among Tim’s top legislative priorities are efforts to protect the Everglades, ban fracking in Florida, stop the Sabal Trail Pipeline, and address climate change through a rapid conversion from fossil fuels to solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources.
 
Tim is a Professor of Law and Public Finance at Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law in Davie, Florida. He previously served as a legislative assistant to the late U.S. Senator Paul E. Tsongas, practiced law in New York City with two large multinational law firms, and was a Swedish Institute Visiting Scholar at Stockholm University. His scholarly work has been published in dozens of peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, monographs, newspapers, and magazines in the U.S. and overseas. He argued for many years against the deregulation of banking and finance and warned of an impending crisis in the bubble economy prior to the 2008 financial collapse.  In 2011, he was appointed by Senator Bernie Sanders to serve with leading economists on a select advisory committee on Federal Reserve reform.
 
Tim received his A.B. degree from Franklin and Marshall College and his J.D. degree from the Georgetown University Law Center. He previously taught at the Chapman University School of Law in Orange County, California, where he served as associate dean for academic affairs and the Betty Hutton Williams Professor of International Economic Law.  He was first granted tenure at the University of New Mexico School of Law and has taught as a visitor at the University of Arizona College of Law and the University of Miami School of Law. 
​
https://timcanova.com/
https://www.facebook.com/TimCanovaFL/
https://twitter.com/Tim_Canova