The week of April 13-21, 2019 was officially designated as SDG Week in our region. During SDG Week, educators, students, non-profits, government leaders and agencies, businesses, and community members will be working together to promote the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Events

• Social Justice + Sustainability: How Are They Connected? Lecture by Rev. Angel Kyodo Williams. 6:30 – 8:30 PM. Livak Ballroom, Davis Center. UVM. Presented by the Sustainability Learning Community. No registration necessary.

• Resilience: Vision for a New America. Film screening followed by Q&A with Rev. Angel Kyodo Williams. 3:30 – 5:30 PM. Livak Ballroom, Davis Center. UVM. No registration necessary. Looking at human rights under threat in the current political climate in the US, this film portrays diverse individuals in a country undergoing an enormous identity crisis. No registration necessary

• Making Eugenics Visible: A Van Tour of the Queen City and Her Connections. 1 - 4 PM A bus tour which will leave from Gateway Plaza in South Burlington. Join Judy Dow, local educator, artist and scholar, as she tells the story of French Indian Burlington in the 1920s and 1930s. We’ll visit Tammany Hall, The Ten Commandments, the Old Beehive, the Home for Friendless Mothers, Moccasin Village and other Burlington sites relevant to this period of time. Limit 17 participants- that is the capacity of the King Street Bus.

• Centennial Woods Natural Area Bio-Blitz. Rescheduled for April 17
• Uncovering the Untold Story: A Community Conversation. 3:30- 4:30 PM at Champlain Elementary School. How can we integrate indigenous ways of being and knowing across the curriculum authentically and with relevance? We need to break down the barriers of political correctness, presumptions, miseducation and fear in order to tell a more inclusive, culturally appropriate and complete story of place. Who are the missing voices? What is the untold story of the land? Join us for an informal conversation amongst educators that surfaces our fears and hopes and threads meaning through time. This is the beginning of a conversation we all need to have that may spark a needed change in what and how we teach. Community Conversation hosts: Judy Dow, Abenaki descent educator, Aziza Malik, 5th grade teacher at Champlain Elementary and Shelburne Farms educators Aimee Arandia Østensen and Kestrel Plump.
• Students from Burlington High School’s City & Lake Semester will be offering five “SGDs Teach-outs” at local elementary and middle schools. NOTE: This event is not open to the public.

• Half-Earth Vermont Tea. 3:30-4:30 PM on the UVM campus. 277 Jeffords Hall on the UVM campus. Come join three Vermont residents involved in the introduction of Half-Earth to Vermont for an informal discussion on the role of biodiversity in ecosystems, E.O Wilson’s global initiative to save half the planet for nature, emerging Half-Earth plans in the state, and steps everyone can take to preserve biodiversity using the half-yard, half-school, half town, and half-watershed rubric. The conversation will be hosted by George Schenk, founder of American Flatbread and owner of Lareau Farm, Eric Hagen, Field Naturalist graduate student at UVM, and Curt Lindberg, coordinator of Half-Earth Vermont. Coffee, tea, and refreshments will be available to enjoy during our coffee-house style conversations. “To strive against the odds on behalf of all life would be humanity at its most noble.” This quote from famed naturalist E.O. Wilson captures his commitment to the preservation of global biodiversity and is one of the most important initiatives of the modern age. His clarion call to conserve half the land and sea to safeguard the bulk of biodiversity, including ourselves, is starting to gain some traction in Vermont.
• Community Health and Wellness Fair. 5 - 8 PM at Burlington High School. Hosted by the District Equity and Access Leadership Team (DEALT). All are welcome! A free community meal will be provided for all attendees with vegetarian and gluten-free options available. Nearly 50 health and wellness organizations in the greater Burlington area will be in attendance with information on health topics, community resources, games, activities, and prizes. Several brief presentations will be available for those who are interested in learning more about maintaining healthy lifestyles and supporting those of family, friends, and partners. Follow this link for more information. No registration necessary.
• 350 Burlington Action Night. 6 PM – 8 PM at 350 Vermont (22 Church St, Burlington). Join the Burlington node of 350VT to create activist art, do phone banking, develop effective tabling materials, write letters and generally engage in activities that support current climate justice initiatives.

• Centennial Woods Natural Area Bio-Blitz. 8 AM – 5 PM (come anytime!). Help us document the biodiversity of this popular UVM Natural Area in the City of Burlington. Facilitated by the Aiken Scholars from the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. Meet at the Centennial Woods trail head.
• Zero Hunger Information Session and Table. 9 AM – Noon. Room 103, Aiken Center on the UVM Campus. U.N. Sustainable Goal #2 is to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture. Join Rubenstein School student Margaret Barch and Hunger Free Vermont to learn about hunger issues in Vermont and beyond. Hunger Free Vermont seeks to end the injustice of hunger and malnutrition in dignified ways for Vermonters of all ages. Stop by the table outside Aiken 103 any time between 9 AM – noon.
• Culture, Equity and Sustainability - Shelburne Farms educators are taking the SDG Week to New York City. The workshop focuses on reducing inequities in K-5 systems. Note: This event is not open to the public.
• RCE Americas Youth Network Virtual Conference. Noon – 2 PM, online. This conference will give youth leaders from across the Americas an opportunity to exchange ideas with the intention to expand initiatives on their campuses and within their local communities. The theme of the conference will focus on strengthening partnerships and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on campuses and within communities. The deadline for registering as an attendee is Sunday April 14th. Hosted by RCE Greater Atlanta and RCE Georgetown.
• Banana Land. Film Screening. 7 PM at the Davis Center on the UVM Campus. Join the Real Food Working Group, the Peace and Justice Center and the Human Trafficking Activism and Awareness Club for a free screening of Banana Land, a documentary exposing the truths of the banana industry in Latin America. No registration necessary.

• Making Eugenics Visible: A Van Tour of the Queen City and Her Connections. Tour time: 1 – 4 PM. Meet at the loading dock at the Aiken Center on the UVM campus. Join Judy Dow, local educator, artist and scholar, as she tells the story of French Indian Burlington in the 1920s and 1930s. We’ll visit Tammany Hall, The Ten Commandments, the Old Beehive, the Home for Friendless Mothers, Moccasin Village and other Burlington sites relevant to this period of time.
• Champlain Valley School District Educator Workshop on SDGs - Sharon Davison, Global Goals Ambassador and Kindergarten teachers along with Jen Cirillo from Shelburne Farms are offering an afternoon session on the SDGs and K-12 education. Note: This event is open to K-12 educators in the Champlain Valley School District.

• Old Spokes Home Grand Opening: 331 N. Winooski Avenue in Burlington. 10AM – 9 PM. Old Spokes Home is a bike shop and 501(c)(3) nonprofit “creating access to bikes and the opportunities they provide for our whole community. We work out of our new location at 331 N. Winooski Avenue to get everyone, regardless of income, on a bike. We believe bikes are a simple solution to complex problems. We believe there is a bike for every person and every purpose. We believe bikes aid in positive personal and cultural transformation. Bikes connect people to their community, to their own bodies, to their physical environments. Bikes heal. Bikes empower. Bikes mobilize. We believe everyone should have access to bikes. We believe everyone deserves to feel the joy that a bicycle provides. That's why we're here.” Check out their website

Hosted by the Rubenstein School, UVM Sustainability Faculty Fellows Program, and Shelburne Farms
Location: ArtsRiot, 400 Pine Street, Burlington, Vermont

The Greater Burlington Sustainability Education Network (GBSEN) invites educators, researchers, leaders, and community members from across the Burlington area to attend an engaging afternoon of connection, conversation, and networking. The goal of this gathering is to explore how we can promote the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, both locally and globally, and strengthen partnerships within our emerging network.

In addition to helping spark sustainability connections and exciting new learning opportunities throughout the Burlington area, the afternoon gathering will feature a presentation by a group of four UVM students who have been interviewing sustainability leaders throughout our community.

ArtsRiot, with its mission of destroying apathy through community engagement, is an ideal setting to convene this “sustainability mixer.” Light fare will be provided, and stimulating conversation is guaranteed. So come join us after work on April 18th, and we’ll see what emerges!

A team of eight volunteers representing the Great Burlington Sustainability Education Network traveled to Puerto Rico over Spring Break to assist with ongoing hurricane relief efforts there. Much of the island was severely impacted by Hurricane Maria on September 20th, and many farms, forests, and communities were devastated. Ongoing relief efforts have been making a big difference, but six months later there continues to be a tremendous amount of work to be done.

The GBSEN team, which included Walter Poleman, Kimberly Wallin, Tatiana Abatemarco, and Tatiana Gladkikh from the Rubenstein School, partnered with Centro para la Conservación del Paisaje to work in solidarity with Puerto Ricans as they restored watersheds, farms, and structures in communities that surround El Yungue National Forest in the northeastern part of the island.

Our partners in Puerto Rico are in the process of preparing an application to become an RCE, the first in the Caribbean!

Edgardo and Colibri orient the team

Planting terraced crop a new farm in Arroyo

Cross-cultural team on Barcelona Farm