Leadership Asheville, a program of UNC Asheville, extended its signature Buzz Breakfast Series to a new season, offering three Winter Buzz Breakfast talks in 2020. Each panel brings new perspectives to answer the series question of “How resilient are we as a community?”
Climate resilience was the first topic, on many minds in the room the morning Jan. 28, just hours before the City of Asheville declared a “climate emergency,” becoming the first community in North Carolina to do so. The panel featured experts from the city, county, and federal offices, moderated by Jim Fox, director of UNC Asheville’s National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center (NEMAC).
Fox started by defining resilience – the ability to recover from and withstand impact.
“This is across all systems,” he said. “We are getting this capacity across all levels of government, so this is going to make it a lot more real as we are moving ahead.”
That movement and momentum became a theme for the morning.
First on the panel was Deke Arndt, chief of the Climate Monitoring Section at NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, who’s work with the repository of the world’s weather data results in a play by play of the climate system, from big rain to droughts, landslides to wildfires, which impact places and people.
Buncombe County’s Sustainability Officer Jeremiah LeRoy (LA31) spoke about the county initiatives around clean energy and ambitions goals that start with “getting our own house in order,” and have led to the innovative Blue Horizons Project.
The City of Asheville Sustainability Officer Amber Weaver (LA38) made it more personal, asking the audience, “How do we want to prepare ourselves and our loved ones and humanity for what is coming?” One of the answers she shared came printed to tables in the City of Asheville’s Climate Resilience Resource Guide.
“If we all do one thing, we all become a more resilient Asheville,” said Weaver, and for the audience of more than 100 in the room for the first Winter Buzz Breakfast, those things could add up substantially.
“You in the room represent the heart and soul of our community. Leadership Asheville is about everyone taking a step forward, and leading by example either personally or in groups” said Fox. “Know that we’re all very personally invested in making a difference, so no matter where you are on this journey of did you know, or why should I care, or what can we do about it, we would like to serve as resources to help that conversation.”
The conversation and Leadership Asheville’s Winter Buzz Breakfast Series continues Tuesday, Feb. 18, with a focus on social resilience. The panel will feature Buncombe County Sherriff Quentin Miller, Dogwood Health Trust Chief Strategy Officer Brian Myers, and Buncombe County Health and Human Services Director Jan Shepard. The winter series wraps up on Wednesday, March 25, with City of Asheville Assistant City Manager Cathy Ball, Mountain Housing Opportunities Executive Director Scott Dedman, Asheville Housing Authority Executive Director David Nash, and Asheville Housing Authority Advisory Committee Chair Crystal Reid discussing housing and economic resilience.
The 2020 Winter Buzz Breakfast Series is presented by The Van Winkle Law Firm.
For more information and to purchase tickets for the Buzz Breakfast Series, visit https://leadershipasheville.unca.edu/buzz-breakfasts.
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