Want To Become A Sustainable Floridian? Sign Up For Extension’s Volunteer Program

If you are concerned about environmental issues such as climate change and renewable resources, want to live a more sustainable lifestyle and have a positive impact in our community, here’s a great volunteer opportunity:  Pinellas County Extension Service is offering its next Sustainable Floridians Master  Volunteer training from September 15 – October 27, 2011 at Extension’s offices in Largo.  Orientation will be held on August 23, so now is the time to submit your application.

The Sustainable Floridians Master Volunteer Program is a University of Florida-led initiative designed to teach community members about green and sustainable practices.  Its mission is to train and inspire a core of volunteers to deliver information to residents on the significance of sustainability, the value of lifestyle choices and their impact on the environment, and the challenge to share the responsibility for protecting Earth’s limited resources.  The intensive, seven-week training program is designed to create knowledgeable and motivated volunteers for the Pinellas County Extension Service who can support sustainable education programs in the community through events, schools and outreach activities.

I had the pleasure of participating in the inaugural Pinellas County training program this past spring (Pinellas is one of six pilot counties for this project).  What a great experience!  Led by Ramona Madhosingh-Hector, Regional Specialized Agent on Urban Environmental Sustainability, and Extension Director Mary Campbell, we volunteers-in-training were introduced to both practical and thought-provoking information about how to individually and collectively reduce our ecological footprints and live more environmentally sustainable lifestyles. 

Training topics included ecological principles, energy and water conservation, land use and transportation, with some classes led by Extension agents who specialize in these areas.  We were assigned readings on each week’s topic, participated in a group project, and started tracking our gas, electric, and water consumption with the goal to reduce them by applying the principles we’ve learned.  We also created personal action plans to implement sustainable lifestyle changes.  After completing the course, we are required to contribute 30 volunteer hours for master certification and must maintain that contribution yearly for recertification. 

The volunteer opportunities are endless, and include helping with Extension workshops, manning booths at local events, assisting with a variety of local initiatives promoting sustainable practices, and youth programs.  In fact, my blog on Clearwater Patch is part of my volunteerism with the program.  My fellow classmates are involved in a variety of interesting and innovative projects, some of which I hope to feature in future blog posts.

The sustainable living skills I’ve learned through the Sustainable Floridians program are not just good for the environment, but also for our household budget.  For example, just by making a few easy and no-cost changes, we’ve already lowered our by over 1/3 compared to this time last year.  Motivated by this success, we are working on other energy-saving measures to lower it even more.  We’ve also successfully adopted other easy lifestyle changes to lower our water and gasoline usage and reduce trash. 

To apply for the next Sustainable Floridians Master Volunteer training program or to learn more about it, visit Extension’s website at http://pinellas.ifas.ufl.edu/sustainability/sustainFloridians.shtml.  I hope to have the pleasure of working with you to lower Pinellas’ collective ecological footprint, preserve and conserve our natural resources, and make our community all the better for it!