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NextGen Committee Awards $100,000 Grant to Ducks Unlimited de México

The NextGen Committee of the Ray C. Anderson Foundation has awarded a $100,000 grant to Ducks Unlimited to support the efforts of its sister organization, Ducks Unlimited de México A.C. (DUMAC), to improve infrastructure improvements and conserve blue carbon through coastal restoration and protection of 94,016 acres of the Seri First Nation Reservation in the area of Canal del Infiernillo in the mid-Pacific coastal state of Sonora, México.

Most immediately, the Committee’s grant to DUMAC will allow a team of local engineers and biologists to move forward in partnership with Seri leaders to make sanitation infrastructure improvements in the town of Punta Chueca, where 95% of the homes lack running water and 45% of the septic systems are degraded, causing organic runoff that pollutes the surrounding coastal seagrass beds and mangroves.

Read the full story.



Updates from the Center

Year in Review: The Center’s 2020-21 Annual Report Is Now Available

In an academic year fraught with many challenges—from Covid-19 to catastrophic weather events—the Center’s 2020-21 Annual Report offers bright spots. Discover students working to improve micromobility access in Clarkston, an academic/nonprofit partnership to develop an ECO District in a challenged neighborhood, industry impact in the area of socially sustainable development, and more. We are proud to share news of how our faculty, staff, students, and partners are contributing to creating a world in which businesses and communities can prosper.

The Center Launches the Drawdown Georgia Business Compact!

The Center proudly announces the launch of a Compact that will leverage the collective impact of Georgia’s business community to achieve net zero carbon emissions in the state by 2050 through a just, competitive, and sustainable transition. The eighteen founding members include Alternative Energy Southeast, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Atlanta Gas Light, Autodesk, Better Earth, Cox Enterprises, Delta Air Lines, Eversheds Sutherland, Goodr, Google, Interface, Last Bottle Clothing, Norfolk Southern, Southwire, The Coca-Cola Company, TK Elevator, UPS, and YKK Corporation of America. Learn more about the Compact and discover insights shared at a panel on climate action and business leadership in Georgia (the first event in the launch series).

Scheller MBA Ranks Top Five in Sustainability Education Eight Years in a Row

In Corporate Knights’ 19th annual Better World MBA ranking, Scheller College ranks No. 4 in the U.S. and No. 19 in the world for sustainability education in business. Programs were evaluated across key performance indicators, including core course integration of sustainability, research publications per faculty member on sustainability topics, percent of total faculty publications on sustainability topics, number of citations per faculty for those publications, sustainability-focused research institutes and centers, faculty gender diversity, and faculty racial diversity. Read the article.

Looking for more ways to stay connected to the Center? You can follow the Center on Instagram and LinkedIn!
News from The Ray


Teaming Up with Geotab to Plan for Freight Electrification

To support the movement towards electrification in the transportation sector, we need accurate data to begin the planning for charging infrastructure. This is especially vital in the implementation of freight and truck stop electrification. In a new partnership, The Ray joins forces with Geotab to determine the optimal locations and design for EV charging stations, and to help make EVs more accessible through a fleet electrification study. Read the full story.

Transforming Right-of-Way Development with ESRI

Since its inception, The Ray has been inspired by the opportunity to maximize State DOT-owned land on roadsides and highway medians, otherwise known as the "right-of-way" (ROW). In 2020, they partnered with the University of Texas at Austin and the Webber Energy Group to conduct a research report to examine the benefits of installing solar in the ROW.

The findings revealed that putting solar panels at these exits across the continental U.S. could generate up to 36 terawatt hours (TWh) a year—enough to power 12 million passenger electric vehicles—with the value of the energy generated by roadside solar panels estimated at $4 billion per year.  Read the full story.

Updates from Drawdown Georgia


If you're interested in engaging in our state's energy future, the hearing for the 2022 Georgia Power Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) offers a unique opportunity to get involved. This recent Drawdown Georgia blog post is an excellent introduction to the IRP and outlines ways you can participate to make sure your voice is heard. Read more.

Did you tune into the webinar "Climate Solutions That Go Beyond Carbon: Reducing Food Waste"? It's not too late to enjoy this inspiring conversation--click here to view the recording of this event featuring moderator Ciannat Howett, director of sustainability initiatives at Emory University; Jasmine Crowe, founder & CEO of Goodr; Natasha Dyer, community programs manager for the City of Atlanta; Suki Janssen, solid waste department director for Athens-Clarke County; and Polly Sattler, senior sustainability & resilience planner at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.



This fall we celebrated the one-year anniversary of Drawdown Georgia. A lot has happened in the past 12 months - join us in celebrating through this brief video that highlights all of the conversations shared, the ideas sparked, and the new projects launched during the project's first year. 

Launching Drawdown Georgia as the first state-centered effort to solve for climate change was a challenging and truly meaningful undertaking for the Foundation and our partners at Dialogue. That's why it's a special honor to announce that this work has been recognized with an Award of Excellence from the Georgia Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. Learn about the award-winning launch strategy here.
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News from the Biomimicry Institute

Biomimicry Launchpad Program Awarded $50,000 for Supporting Women Innovators in STEM


U.S. Small Business Administration funding will help the Biomimicry Institute continue supporting women innovators in creating nature-inspired design.

The Biomimicry Institute is proud to announce that its Launchpad program was selected by the U.S. Small Business Administration to receive a $50,000 award in the Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC). The award recognizes the Launchpad’s past and future work supporting women innovators in STEM and will be used in furthering the program’s mission of training early-stage, nature-inspired innovators in areas such as entrepreneurial mindset, green business skills, and effective science communication practices.  Read the full story.

Nature's Guidance for COP26

As the Biomimicry Institute's co-founder, Janine Benyus said during an event at The New York Times Climate Hub, nature’s patterns and processes can show humans ways to make any of their activities and systems more sustainable and more supportive of the rest of the living community.

In this collection, the Biomimicry Institute offered a selection of biological strategies to inform efforts to meet each of the four stated goals of COP26. They are starting points and leads that can point in many other directions. Where will they take you? Read more.

Ecocentricity Blog: Energy Burdens

While my family and I light a fire to create a mood, many in our community are struggling to afford to keep their whole houses warm. What is to be done?

The holiday season is fully upon us, and goodness was I ready for it this year. The cool air, the warm drinks, the twinkling lights, the out-of-office email responses...I’m here for all of it. Okay, maybe not all of it. I’ll still take a hard pass on the excessive consumerism that accompanies the last six weeks of the year. I’ve already recycled that blog a few times though, so I’ll actually write something new this year.  Read the full blog.

Upcoming Events
January 28, 2022 - Blair Beasley, director of climate strategies for the Ray C, Anderson Foundation, will be the keynote speaker for Alabama Coastal Foundation's Sustainability Summit.
March 19, 2022 - Captain Planet Foundation's 30th Annual Gala.
Ongoing - Drawdown Georgia maintains a comprehensive events calendar for public events pertaining to climate solutions in Georgia. Click here to view and submit events of interest.
 
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