Subject: USF Engineering student seeking USDA Grant for Aquarium Study- - ERRWeaver

Subject: USF Engineering student seeking USDA Grant for Aquarium Study- - ERRWeaver

This is complete disclosure, as the grant is due July 16^th and I welcome your insight, directions, suggestions, or comments to complete this. Mahmood H. Nachabe is my Major Professor and has agreed to be the PI, as he has previously been funded by this USDA Program.

In 1989, after the Aquarium was built, a Nonpoint Source Management Program grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) funded the Stormwater/Nonpoint Source Management Section of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Water Management District to complete the detailed data collection of stormwater from the parking lot. Data collection continued until 2005.

My dissertation work is compiling this data into the EPA Stormwater Management Model to simulate similar applications leading to support Urban Agriculture (UA). When I contacted the Aquarium about this project, I met with the Horticulture Curator who helped with the original research. She is interested in restoring the original sampling equipment and associated weather station to collect new data from the parking lot to support further research and community education.

To support this, I am preparing an application to the National Institute of Food And Agriculture; U.S. Department of Agriculture: Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grants: Program Water for Agriculture Challenge Area (attached PDF). This work will include five primary efforts:

1. Establish new SWMM simulations science to define non-point pollution reductions through swale plantings and similar filtration BMP/LID technologies.
2. Install sampling equipment for small UA installation to use stormwater runoff resulting from established filtration technologies for food irrigation.
3. Collect and analyze food produce derived from UA installation to determine suitability for human consumption.
4. Conduct three community engagement workshops to present results and create community support to establish UA guidelines for non-point pollution reductions in Tampa Bay neighborhoods.
5. Prepare graduate course case study data to support a new course, possibly to add to Entrepreneurship MS or Global Sustainability MA degrees.

To support these numbered items above, these corresponding efforts are in process:

1. XP Solutions Inc. has provided a student license for their $14,000 XPSWMM software. The existing data has been compiled and I am completing the first simulations and sensitivity analysis now. A publication will be submitted for journal review this summer. This grant would include a request for license extension, as in-kind support.

2. Locher Environmental Technology provided an estimate for restoring the sampling equipment and weather station: $68,000. = 60-Water new event samples for analysis.

• Dr. Rama Raje Urs supportive partner - project plan and USDA requirements
• Florida Aquarium supportive partners - primary site location

3. Collect and analyze food produce derived from UA installation to determine suitability for human consumption = 60-Water and 54-tomatoes analysis samples

• Jill Roberts supportive partner - produce microbial analysis
• Marie Bourgeois supportive partner - produce toxicity analysis
• Zachary Atlas supportive partner - water toxicity analysis
• George Philippidis supportive partner - water nutrient analysis

4. Conduct three community engagement workshops to present results and create community support to establish UA guidelines for non-point pollution reductions in Tampa Bay neighborhoods.

• Jennifer Marshall supportive partner - workshops, stakeholder analysis
• Others participants include R. Craig Lefebvre

5. Prepare graduate course case study data to support for the The Social Entrepreneur pilot course new course, possibly to add to Entrepreneurship MS or Global Sustainability MA degrees.

• Dean Petersen, Joseph W. Dorsey supportive partners - graduate course development.

As noted above I welcome your guidance and recommendations for completing this process. I believe having the College’s of Engineering, Public Health, and Global Sustainability as collaborators with the Aquarium will be a significant partnership. Further, both Hillsborough County and The City of Tampa use SWMM for stormwater infrastructure analysis.

Thank you in advance for your time considering this. I welcome any suggestions, and will telephone you Tuesday morning to meet and discuss at your convenience.

Regards,

Eric

Eric R.R. Weaver
Civil Engineer Doctorate Candidate
PCGS Research Associate
 

http://eweaver.myweb.usf.edu/

(813) 974-8337

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,

committed citizens can change the world.

Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. --Margaret Mead--

Third Party Certification Needed for Sustainable Tourism

There are many laws and principles governing the environment but collectively they do not provide any guarantee that a tourism business will be sustainable.
While there are some national and international laws that impact tourism, such as the climate change convention, biodiversity convention, endangered species act, clean water act, clean air act, and protected areas legislation, they are only a small part of the overall sustainability issues that tourism faces. International laws are often hard to enforce, and national laws don't usually address the day to day operations of a tourism business that makes it sustainable.
One way to address this issue is through voluntary initiatives such as sustainable certification programs. In this way a tourism business can set itself apart from other tourism businesses who do not feel a need to act in an environmentally friendly or ethical way.
Not all certification programs however are equal. In fact, some are little more than "green washing" and fail to even provide third party certification.
For certification to be meaningful it has to be verified by a third party.
Dr. John Izzo recently made the case for third party certification where he states that 80 percent of consumers want to buy goods or services from someone who is "either socially responsible or sustainable". Dr. Izzo goes on to say, that only 16 percent of consumers believe advertising that a business makes about its claims to be socially responsible or sustainable. His suggested solution is third party certification where someone else is saying the business is socially responsible or sustainable.
View Dr. John Izzo's comments below:
The gold standard for certification in the tourism industry are the certification programs recognized by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) that meet the GSTC Criteria.
This GSTC criteria has been carefully developed drawing on the best criteria that has global applicability from over 10,000 criteria that were examined. It includes sections on sustainable management, socioeconomic impacts, cultural impacts, and environmental impacts.
The GSTC criteria was built on decades of prior work and experience around the world, and they take into account the numerous guidelines and standards for sustainable tourism from every continent. During the process of development, tourism businesses were widely consulted throughout the globe, in both developed and developing countries, in several languages. The result is a global consensus on sustainable tourism.
In Florida we have been working with the Florida Green Lodging program to assist in their third party certification, to explore new criteria that would address the unique needs for coastal habitat and marine environments, that are the Florida environment, and to encourage them to upgrade their program to meet the GSTC criteria.
The Florida Green Lodging program includes about 700 hotels in the state that make up 25 percent of all accommodations and 45 percent of all beds. The program has made major contributions by reducing waste, improving water conservation, energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and communication and education of sustainability issues.
Some Green Lodging programs, like the Tradewinds Resorts ,and Disney's Vero Beach Resort, go much further than the required Green Lodging criteria. For example:
The Tradewinds Grand Island Resort and Guy Harvey Outpost are actively supportive of Tampa Bay Watch with their employees given time off to help build oyster domes, plant sea grass, protect sea turtles, and other environmental projects. The Guy Harvey Outpost has a program to support sustainable fishing. When you order fish, it comes with a tag that can be scanned with a mobile phone revealing where the fish was caught, when it was caught, how it was caught, and who caught it.
TradeWinds Island Resorts, St. Pete Beach The Disney Vero Beach Resort has become a leader in sea turtle conservation where they were one of the first to install turtle safe lighting. Their conservation team monitors the beach marking turtle nests, participates in research efforts with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Serivce, provides an extensive education program for guests to assist in protecting turtles, and they host the Tour de Turtles event each July. Disney has also contributed $1.26 million in recent years to sea turtle conservation. Disney Vero Beach Resort specifically puts a high emphasis on nature and conservation.
Disney's Vero Beach Resort, Vero Beach, FL To learn more, view the video with my interview with JoAnn Shearer of the Florida Green Lodging program.
Tourism certification programs that meet the GSTC criteria are now available for tour operators, accommodations, and destinations.
There is still need for many other areas of tourism certification that meet GSTC standards, such as cruise ships, restaurants, zoos and aquariums, and other attractions.
Tourism business can further sustainable practices by becoming certified through a program that meets the GSTC criteria.
Consumers can play an important role in choosing those businesses that meet the GSTC criteria, or in the alternative if GSTC business are not available, choosing those businesses that have other third party certification.
Dr. David W. Randle - Director USF Patel College of Global Sustainability Sustainable Tourism, Managing Director International Ocean Institute Waves of Change Blue Community Initiative, and President & CEO WHALE Center
Earth Dr Reese Halter is a broadcaster, biologist, educator and author of The Incomparable Honeybee and the Economics of Pollination.

Making Tampa More Walkable

Subject: Florida Crossroads / The Estuary Project

Hi,

I saw this article about your interests in making Tampa More Walkable.  I was the geek behind the scenes that moved Deleney Creek for this Job years ago.  Now, I retired and went back to school, as a USF Student again.

The Tampa City Council reviewed $9 billion planned on the Tampa Bay Express project.  This is a waste of money and many community neighborhoods are fighting it, including The Heights and Old Seminole Heights.

What about a Moving Sidewalk?  Imagine if downtown was car free, and new parking towers near the interstate provided valets and direct access to a continuous walking loop around downtown.  Let’s propose to Hillsborough County to use the MOSI site as a Research Park.  Build a real recycling center (they need a new transfer station anyway) and test a real moving sidewalk system that recycles/cleans water by moving people.

WE CAN DO THIS NOW.  Put the MOSI Property into a 501c3 that owns all the Patent Rights we develop.  We lease land for USF for their new Stadium, add Sundome Inc. and Lightning Inc. to STARS USA Inc.  We build a tower parking garage for USF students and a moving sidewalk over Fowler.  It would be a perfect demonstration project before you build one downtown.  Temple Terrace will want a loop too.

Then Tampa and Hillsborough County would have the Community demanding the $9 Billions of transit funds build more mass transit instead of express lanes.

Regards,

Eric

Eric R.R. Weaver
Civil Engineer Doctorate Candidate
PCGS Research Associate

http://eweaver.myweb.usf.edu/

(813) 974-8337

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,

committed citizens can change the world.

Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. --Margaret Mead--

First Scientific Journal Publication: June 2015

Passions as Planned since time began ;-)

Mr. Weaver dreamed about DOING this after a death experience brought deeper understanding and cleared his passions in 1980!

He was first hired at USF in June of 2005 as an RA with Dr. Jermier for the Journal Organization & Environment, while pursuing an MBA.  During this time, he helped Dr. Jermier complete the first Strategic Plan for the Dr. Kiran C. Patel Center for Global Solutions, as requested by Dr. Mark Amen, the Academic Director.  Then in 2006, he helped to complete the Sustainability Analysis of USF: Advocating The Creation of a USF Office of Sustainability.  This plan proposed to reconfigure the university recycling systems to fund the Office of Sustainability.  In May 2008 he became an RA employed by the Patel Center sponsored the Journal Organization & Environment.  By this time, Dr's Nord and Jermier had convinced Mr. Weaver to pursue a PhD, and he was accepted to Public Health and Engineering where he proposed a Dual-Degree.

Today, Mr. Weaver continues this dream now as the TA for the MA Program at the Patel Center; AND works with the Office or Sustainability.  He has now completed all his doctoral course work and beginning his engineering research as a Civil Engineer Doctorate Candidate.  Last week he published Sustainable Development for People or Profit?  in the Journal Suburban Sustainability.  Please support our developing scholars at the Patel Center by reading his work and creating a Community of Practice in Tampa Bay. 

Weaver, Eric RR (2015) "Sustainable Development for People or Profit?," Suburban Sustainability: Vol. 3: Iss. 1, Article 2. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5038/2164-0866.3.1.1019

Available at: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/subsust/vol3/iss1/2