by Franchesca de la Cruz and Trina Sargalski
"The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand." -Carl Sagan
It's truly great that we have a day to celebrate Earth. A day that has influenced positive environmental changes; a day that always brings more awareness and collective action within communities. Earth day is a reminder that our planet needs to be celebrated and preserved every day. It’s the only planet we know that provides us all the resources we need to sustain life.
What do you think is the best thank you gift you can give Earth?
It’s choosing to recognize and understand our impact on the environment. Are you aware of our human-influenced climate change, natural resource depletion, energy consumption, overpopulation, pollution, deforestation, and loss of biodiversity? These are just some of the challenges the planet, our home, is facing.
The future of our planet depends on our actions, not our awareness.
The majority of people are aware of global warming. Living in the U.S. we hear it in the news, see it on social media, even experience it in natural disasters. Although the urgency of awareness is very present, there isn’t enough action.
If, like many people, all of this kind of overwhelms and/or depresses you to the point that you just want to get in bed and stay there forever, fear not. We’ve got a panel of six amazing people who are not superhuman (although we think they’re superheroes), who’ve taken real steps to making living in Miami and on Earth more sustainable. They’re here to drop their knowledge, answer your questions and guide you on next steps, wherever you may be on the sustainability path.
The panel is on Saturday, 4/21, in the Charcoal Garden Bar + Grill Conservatory. Led by moderator, Catherine Kaiman of Earthjustice, the talk will focus on the urgency of building sustainability awareness, influencing policy change, and encouraging community action. It’s not like we have a lot of time to procrastinate on these things, people.
Our panelists will discuss why action is needed and how our local citizens can get involved at any level, from the local/ community level to influencing policy change at the local and national level. They’ll share information, encourage, inspire, and move our local community from awareness to action.
Panelists include:
Anastasia Mikhalochkina, Founder of Lean Orb
Kelly Cox, Staff Attorney and Program Director of Miami Water Keeper
Saira Fida, Co-founder of Debris Free Oceans
Ian Wogan, Co-Founder & Arborist of True Tree Service
About our experts:
Moderator: Catherine Millas Kaiman, Earthjustice
Cady Kaiman is an associate attorney with the Florida regional office based in Miami. Cady is a public interest distinguished graduate of the University of Miami (UM) School of Law and also the Miller School of Medicine, where she received a Masters in Public Health. She co-founded UM’s Environmental Justice Clinic and served as its Lecturer/Practitioner-in-Residence/Supervising Attorney before coming to Earthjustice.
During law school, Cady was Editor-in-Chief of the Race & Social Justice Law Review and co-founder of the school’s Law Students for Reproductive Justice Chapter. Her articl,e Environmental Justice and Community-Based Reparations, 39 SEATTLE U. L. REV. 1327 (2016), was published in the Seattle Law Review.
Anastasia Mikhalochkina, Founder of Lean Orb
An environmental advocate, Anastasia creates conversations about waste optimization, industrial composting and circular design. She's a founder of the local company that offers plant-based packaging in the hospitality sector. Her mission is to change the culture around single-use plastics while promoting waste solutions that bring the South Florida region to the forefront of the environmental movement. Follow them on Twitter and Facebook.
Kelly Cox, Miami Waterkeeper
Kelly serves as Staff Attorney and Program Director for Miami Waterkeeper, where she works on a wide range of programs and with its talented volunteer legal team to ensure swimmable, drinkable, and fishable water for South Florida. Kelly is adjunct faculty at the University of Miami and she enjoys teaching the next generation about important environmental issues in Miami-Dade and beyond.
Saira Fida, Co-Founder of Debris Free Oceans
In Miami, Saira co-founded and serves as the Board Treasurer and program lead for sustainability consulting services of Debris Free Oceans (DFO), a non-profit organization dedicated to eradicating marine debris from our beaches, reefs, and oceans. DFO hosts a myriad of events, the most popular being the education and outreach events. These range from education programs in the local public schools, which explain the issues to the students of our community, to bringing these same students into the outdoors to directly see the issues and assist with clean-ups (shorelines and, when possible, the deeper oceans through scuba diving events). Saira incorporates sustainability into her daily life and her passion is to educate the community on how the transition from convenience living to making sustainable choices can be seamless and effortless.
Ian Wogan, Co-Founder & Arborist of True Tree Service
Ian has initiated and been involved in a wide range of arboriculture-based projects, including mangrove management, native habitat restoration, hurricane preparation and post-storm recovery efforts, tree mitigation, adaptive tree management strategies in the urban environment, specimen tree restoration and management planning and land-use/development consultation.
Most recently, Ian is pursuing registration with the American Society of Consulting Arborists and has been elected President of the Tropical Arborist Guild. He has been working closely on projects with the city of Miami to guide solutions in the management, protection & restoration of the urban canopy.