Environmentalists to launch EDEN program
The Delmarva Community Wellnet Foundation is inviting the community to learn about its new program, Energize Delaware Now, or EDEN. DNREC Secretary Collin O’Mara will be the keynote speaker for the program’s launch on Friday, July 16, at 6 p.m. at the Milton Theatre. Award-winning singer/songwriter and Rehoboth Beach Jazz Festival 2008 Performer of the Year Doug James will provide the evening’s entertainment. There will be hors d’oeuvres by Nourish, Dogfish Head beer and Bin 66 Wine, as well as time for networking and presentations. Tickets cost $39.
The Wellnet's Executive Director D.C. Kuhns explained that the goal of the program is to foster practical market-based environmental solutions that can result in enduring economic opportunities – namely jobs – through the “recovery and reuse of renewable resources.”
He explained that he and Program Director Kim Furtado joined forces, and the EDEN project came out of their discussions about an idea to create sustainable economic development in the state of Delaware. They decided a non-profit was the best route to get there.
Since Gov. Jack Markell campaigned on the idea of sustainable jobs and economic development, they invited O’Mara to be their keynote speaker.
There are four key aspects of the EDEN project: entrepreneurship, demonstration projects, education and new markets.
“We are do-ers,” explained Kuhns. “We are implementers, We are not the business but the catalysts.”
He explained that the idea of creating business and jobs through the recovery and re-use of renewable resources will be implemented through those four areas: through green business classes and entrepreneur forums, demonstration projects through the Clean EnGen Fund that will provide solar-power systems on poultry houses, wastewater treatment facilities and affordable housing units; teaching the “Green Circle of Life” to students so they can then teach their classmates and parents and the business community; and through their first pilot program, which is called Replenish. It creates a “circular business model to re-claim organic restaurant byproducts, providing compost for local growers – who will, in turn, grow for local restaurants.”
“This is not rocket science,” explained Kuhns. “It’s entrepreneurship where people are taking what other people discard or is an environmental challenge. And those environmental challenges become a business solution.”
As for how and why it can benefit regular people, not just people who are already in the “green business” sector or already in the know, Delmarva Community Wellnet Foundation co-founder Dr. Kim Furtado emphasized the economic benefits of learning how to do things differently.
“We wanted to be part of the solution” explained Furtado. “Everyone’s getting affected by the economy, and all of us are interested in finding a solution to that. We are going to solve some of the environmental problems with economic solutions. We are not looking to the government to bail us out. We see that that doesn’t work.”
She explained that the premise is that an assembly line of renewable energy projects can act as magnet for manufacturing companies, which will in turn help both the environment and the state’s economic stability – an idea the governor and O’Mara have supported. And, for that to happen, those projects have to be attainable for everyday people.
Furtado said the Clean EnGen Fund is a good example of that. Many see what is happening and possibly want to be a part of it, but there are obstacles.
“If you can’t afford to pay your utility bill, how are you going to capture the sun?” she asked rhetorically. “This will level the playing field.”
Lori Lake, owner of Green Delaware, an online resource that focuses on regional economic development and community education pertaining to all things “green,” is also a program director for EDEN.
“We have designed our message to be project-oriented. It is one thing to talk about or provide education for environmental solutions,” Lake said. “The EDEN Project takes it one step further; to demonstrate the economic business model in a practical pilot program … solve an environmental problem and create jobs in the process. That is what EDEN is all about.”
For more information on the EDEN program or to buy a ticket to its launch, visit www.thewellnet.org online or mail donation checks to The Wellnet, 32191 Nassau Road, Unit 3, Lewes, DE 19958.
