Southface Institute: Blog

You Are Here: Navigating the Latest Science on Climate Change

Blog
Climate Change

Photo by Kelly Sikkema, Unsplash Taking a Sobering Look Around  It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land. Each of the last four decades has been successively warmer than any decade that preceded it since 1850. In 2019, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations were higher than at any time in in the past 2 million or more years. Annual average arctic sea ice area has reached its lowest level since at least 1850, and the global …

Tags: Climate Change, IPCC Report

From Andrea’s Desk – Our Statement on Hurricane Ida

Blog

On behalf of all of us at Southface Institute, I would like to offer our deepest sympathies to those who lost loved ones, suffered property damage, and are still experiencing power outages and lack of access to resources and services they need because of Hurricane Ida. Our hearts especially go out to those who feel the environmental impacts more acutely and recover more slowly because of entrenched housing and health inequities. We recognize that humans can never prevent every natural disaster or ensure that everyone will get through one unscathed, but we can take steps to mitigate climate change, which we know is increasing the frequency and severity …

Tags: Andrea Pinabell, Natural Disaster, Resilience

5 Tips for Going Back to the Building Sustainably

Blog

As students return to physical classrooms – many for the first time since March 2020 – and workers are increasingly called to return to their buildings, the sources of our collective environmental impact are shifting to reflect our changing behaviors and needs. While supporting Southface Institute helps increase the health, efficiency, and resilience of our built environment as a whole, there are many other steps you can take as an individual and family to ensure going back to the building …

Tags: School, Waste, green building, transportation

Google Achieves First BIT Building™ Certification

Blog

  ATLANTA, GA—June 28, 2021— Southface Institute announced today that Google’s 6th Street campus in Kirkland, Washington is the first office campus in the world to certify its operations under Southface’s BIT Building program. Successful certification under BIT reflects Google’s adoption of the program’s 16 Best Practices for resource efficiency and sustainability.   What is the BIT Building program? Southface’s BIT Building program gives facility operators and managers the opportunity to implement performance improvements to their buildings no matter the …

Tags: BIT Building, Google Kirkland, Press Release

Looking Back at SUN Day, May 3, 1978: Southface’s Birthday

About Us

Let’s take a look back at May 3, 1978 to learn about Georgia SUN DAY and the origin of Southface. A small group of volunteers formed Georgia SUN Day in 1978. There was a SUN Day committee in all 50 states. While our name evolved from Georgia SUN Day to Georgia Solar Coalition to Southface, our mission and values have stayed remarkably consistent.

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In Gratitude: Leon Eplan, Former Board Member of Southface (1928-2021)

About Us

Southface’s current and former presidents, Andrea Pinabell and Dennis Creech, congratulated board member Leon Eplan for his Volunteer of the Year Award. Leon Eplan, longtime Southface Institute board member from 2001 to 2019 and fourth generation Jewish Atlantan, passed away on April 15, 2021 at the age of 92. After graduating from Emory University, a short stint in the army and marrying his wife Madalyne Buchman in 1959, Eplan had a long career as a city planner and consultant for …

Tags: Staff

Southface Institute Welcomes Three Florida Sustainability Leaders & Launches Southface Sarasota

About Us
Blog

ATLANTA, GA—APRIL 22, 2021— Southface Institute is pleased to announce today the addition of three Sarasota sustainability leaders to its team as it expands work in Florida and officially launches Southface Sarasota, the Atlanta-based national nonprofit’s first satellite location. To lead the new office, Southface selected Amber Whittle, Ph.D., as Managing Director of Southface Sarasota, where she will be responsible for helping local businesses, municipal entities, and community organizations support a more sustainable built and natural environment that promotes business …

Tags: Southface Sarasota, Staff

Historic theatres and other nonprofits to receive grants for green building infrastructure improvements

Blog

ATLANTA, GA – April 15, 2021 – Southface, a leading environmental and community development nonprofit, is pleased to announce the latest partners selected to participate in GoodUse, a grant program which guides nonprofits through resource efficiency upgrades to reduce environmental impact and save money that can be reinvested into core programming. This group of grantees includes three historic theatres, as part of Southface’s partnership with the Fox Theatre Institute, along with schools, social justice organizations and other community-based nonprofits. Opened …

Tags: Gooduse

Nine Examples That the Transition to a Regenerative Economy is Underway

Regenerative Design

This is the third article in a series on the Regenerative Economy. Read Part 1 on Regenerative Design and Part 2 on the Role of Public Policy on Regenerative Practices.   Perhaps you’ve heard the adage, “the journey is the destination.” It’s certainly true of the transition we must make from a linear economy to a regenerative one. Transforming our economy into one that creates more resources than it consumes will take every minute we have before our climate crisis …

Tags: Regenerative economy

A Boys & Girls Club in Sarasota Partners with Southface’s GoodUse Grant Program To Reduce Environmental Impact and Costs

Communities
Green Building

When Covid-19 restricted in-person activities across the country, the Lee Wetherington Boys & Girls Club site in Sarasota, Florida had to temporarily close its doors as it prepared for the protocols it needed to implement to keep its staff and club members safe going forward. Harvey, 7, loves technology and dreams of becoming a mechanical engineer. Aware of the growing need for services, especially among essential workers and high-risk families, the club quickly reopened two weeks later to serve the …

Tags: Boys and Girls Clubs, Gooduse