This Thursday, April 22, marks 51 years since the onset of the modern day environmental movement where a public consciousness first emerged about the state of our planet. Last year on the 50th anniversary with the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic, it became obvious that the Earth's health clearly is out of balance. This time it's impact rapidly spread around the globe in a matter of 3 to 6 months and affected us all directly. Suddenly it became clear to me how interconnected we all are, and how we can use this to our advantage to heal the Earth.
In high school I made a commitment to devote my life's work to protecting the environment and developing sustainable solutions. The picture on my left shows me at my high school graduation in 1992 with my message to the world on my cap. I went on to college to study Environmental Science (B.A.), Anthropology, Economics (M.S.), Ecology (PhD coursework), Sustainable Development in Costa Rica, and Geospatial Technology (GISP).
In high school I made a commitment to devote my life's work to protecting the environment and developing sustainable solutions. The picture on my left shows me at my high school graduation in 1992 with my message to the world on my cap. I went on to college to study Environmental Science (B.A.), Anthropology, Economics (M.S.), Ecology (PhD coursework), Sustainable Development in Costa Rica, and Geospatial Technology (GISP).
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I founded my first company, Mapping Sustainability in 2004 where I used geospatial technology to work on environmental projects. As I look back, the project I am most proud of was our work to map the urban forest cover and conduct a street tree inventory for the city of Boston back in 2005. Our geospatial analysis enabled the City of Boston to assess the existing tree canopy, establish goals for urban forest cover to mitigate against climate change, and identify neighborhoods most in need of forest cover to ensure environmental justice. Mayor Menino announced ambitious goals to establish Boston's first Urban Forest Plan at an event with the first Environmentalist Nobel Peace Prize Winner 2004, Dr. Wangari Maathai, who earned her accolades for the Green Belt Movement that is acting to empower women to reforest Africa by planting trees. My husband Jim and I had the honor of meeting her and sharing with her our success in using geospatial technology to map trees. We gave her the idea to utilize the same technology to show her progress planting trees in Kenya and identify deforested areas, because accountability was necessary for her to secure funding to push her reforestation efforts forward. I never would have imagined that this one event of us coming together, sharing knowledge and expertise could have such a positive effect. Only two years later in 2007, Dr. Maathai was the keynote speaker at the leading Geospatial Technology annual conference showing how the technology has allowed them to convince government leaders to support their reforestation work.
This year's Earth Day theme is, "Together, we can Restore our Earth" (Earthday.org). Right now, I find hope in the meaning of togetherness. We need each other to share knowledge to solve the complex global environmental problems that lie ahead of us and to cooperate to combat COVID-19.
This upcoming week I hope to follow up with blog posts and Instagram posts about how Castronovo Chocolate helps restore ecosystems and protect the environment by looking in depth at some of our different origin chocolates. I believe we can mobilize to "Act Now" and build a sustainable future for not only ourselves but also for the natural world. In the words of my hero, Jane Goodall, "Together we can, together we will!"
Happy Earth Day everyone, let's have an inspiring week and celebrate with chocolate!
This year's Earth Day theme is, "Together, we can Restore our Earth" (Earthday.org). Right now, I find hope in the meaning of togetherness. We need each other to share knowledge to solve the complex global environmental problems that lie ahead of us and to cooperate to combat COVID-19.
This upcoming week I hope to follow up with blog posts and Instagram posts about how Castronovo Chocolate helps restore ecosystems and protect the environment by looking in depth at some of our different origin chocolates. I believe we can mobilize to "Act Now" and build a sustainable future for not only ourselves but also for the natural world. In the words of my hero, Jane Goodall, "Together we can, together we will!"
Happy Earth Day everyone, let's have an inspiring week and celebrate with chocolate!
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