Impact Earth: Advocacy, Episode 1

Mary E. Guss

Indian Tribes and Rising

Sea Levels Mary E. Guss is currently a

part-time attorney, doing contract work with Indian tribes.  She received

her B.A. from Reed College in Portland, Oregon, majoring in philosophy, and her

law degree in 1976 from Lewis & Clark.  She then traveled to Alaska to

clerk for the Ketchikan Superior Court judge for a year. Instead, she stayed

and practiced law there for three decades, over half of it as a solo

practitioner doing a wide variety of legal work.  Guss also served as the

part-time federal magistrate judge for Ketchikan, owned a bookstore for a short

while, and volunteered with the Girl Scouts, the local public radio station,

the community band and Youth Court.

In 2008 she went back to school, pursuing a long-time interest in

indigenous peoples law.  She obtained an LLM from Arizona’s Indigenous

Peoples Law and Policy Program in the spring of 2009 and was shortly thereafter

hired to work for the program.   Her work included serving as IPLP staff

attorney, writing wills for Tohono O’odham clients while teaching a tribal

will-writing clinic, as well as coordinating the Lunch in Indian Country CLE

series with the state bar.  Topics she has spoken on for this program

include Tribes and Climate Change, the Cobell Land Buyback and tribal will

writing. Currently she sits on the Salt River Pima Maricopa tribal appellate

court and does will writing for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian

Reservation.

Down to Earth: Tucson, Episode 6

Michael Catanzaro, Energy Manager City of Tucson

Sparking Sustinability in the Desert: Tucson as a True Energy Efficient City , Michael Catanzaro became the first Director of Sustainability for the University of San Diego (USD) in 2010. He helped the university achieve an energy consumption reduction of more than 28% (10M kWh), water consumption reduction of more than 30% (38M gallons) and carbon emissions reductions of 15% (4873 MTCO2E). He also opened the first full-time Electronics Recycling Center on a college campus, which diverted more than 4 million pounds of electronic waste from landfills. He helped develop the university’s first climate action plan and was a founding member of the San Diego Climate Collaborative. This work led to a top 10 ranking in 2017 for US university sustainability programs. He is currently the Energy Manager for the City of Tucson and is installing more than 14 megawatts of solar across City of Tucson facilities and recently started a revolving loan fund for the City.

This episode made possible by the generous support of City of Tucson Department of Environmental Services

Alan Davis, Director The WhyNot Initiative

Diagnosis of Our Plutocracy Crisis:The Excessive Wealth Disorder Alan has had a lifelong interest in tax policy. He did his senior thesis at USC on a guaranteed income flat tax, continued studying tax at NYU Law School, and in 1974 founded New York Citizens for Tax Reform. Currently he is a member of the Patriotic Millionaires, which promotes increasing taxes on the wealthy to achieve a fair and growth-oriented tax system.

Alan S. Davis is the Director of the WhyNot Initiative, a private family foundation’s social change program to address problems with the democratic process, income and wealth distribution, universal healthcare and tolerance. He was founder and CEO of Conservatree Paper Company, the leading distributor of recycled paper, and founder and CEO of ASDavis Media Group, a publisher of more than 40 travel guidebooks. He and his wife, Mary Lou Dauray, live in San Francisco and have six children and 10 grandchildren. Alan has a B.S. in business from USC and a J.D. from NYU Law School.

Dr. Carolyn Lukensmeyer, Executive Director Emerita National Institute for Civil Discourse

All Ideas Welcome Here: Restoring Functionality and Civility in American Politics, Dr. Carolyn J. Lukensmeyer is the Executive Director Emerita of the National Institute for Civil Discourse, an organization that works to reduce political dysfunction and incivility in our political system. As a leader in the field of deliberative democracy, she works to restore our democracy to reflect the intended vision of our founding fathers.

Dr. Lukensmeyer previously served as Founder and President of AmericaSpeaks, an award-winning nonprofit organization that promoted nonpartisan initiatives to engage citizens and leaders through the development of innovative public policy tools and strategies. During her tenure, AmericaSpeaks engaged more than 200,000 people and hosted events across all 50 states and throughout the world. Dr. Lukensmeyer formerly served as Consultant to the White House Chief of Staff from 1993-94 and on the National Performance Review where she steered internal management and oversaw government-wide reforms. She was the Chief of Staff to Ohio Governor Richard F. Celeste from 1986-91, becoming the first woman to serve in this capacity. She earned her PhD in Organizational Behavior from Case Western Reserve University and has completed postgraduate training at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland.

Dave Hutchens, President and CEO UNS Energy Corporation

A Vision for a Greener Tomorrow: Leadership Toward Renewable Energies, David G. Hutchens is President and Chief Executive Officer of UNS Energy Corporation (“UNS Energy”), parent company of Tucson Electric Power (“TEP”) and Unisource Energy Services (“UES”). He also serves as Executive Vice President of Fortis Inc., overseeing Western Utility Operations including UNS, FortisBC and FortisAlberta.

Mr. Hutchens has been with UNS Energy for 20 years. He advanced through various management positions overseeing wholesale energy trading and marketing and, in January 2007, was named Vice President of Wholesale Energy and UNS Gas, an operating subsidiary of UES. He became Vice President of Energy Efficiency and Resource Planning in May 2009, rose to Executive Vice President in March 2011 and was named President in December 2011 before assuming his current role in May 2014.

He earned a Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Arizona and is a former nuclear submarine officer in the U.S. Navy.

Mr. Hutchens joined the Board of Directors of UNS Energy in December 2013, the FortisBC Board of Directors in January 2015, and the FortisAlberta Board of Directors in July 2016, as well as Edison Electric Institute. He is past Chair Western Energy Institute’s Board of Directors and is current Chair of Sun Corridor, Inc. He also is a member of the Southern Arizona Leadership Council, the Tucson Conquistadores, Salpointe Catholic Education Board of Directors.

He is a native of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

This episode made possible by the generous support of Tucson Electric Power

Greta Gill, MSN, CNM, Director Midwifery

Center El Rio Health; Medical Director, The

Midwifery Center at TMC for Women

Dr. Sigrid “Siri” Williams

Midwifery Practice: Celebrating

Life Together     

Greta Gill is in her 20th

year of midwifery practice. In her career, Greta has attended

community and hospital births in California and Arizona. In

addition to pregnancy and birth

care, she has also provided primary women’s health care through

the lifespan. She has been

on the medical staff at Tucson Medical Center since 2008 and led

the development of the Midwifery

Center at TMC in

2019. Greta is passionate about both midwifery led care, as well as effective

team

based and integrated systems for best outcomes.

This episode made possible by the generous support of Tucson

Medical Center

Michaele Pride, Associate AIA, NOMA,

Professor of Architecture at the University of New Mexico

Innovative Levels of

Community Design: Focus on Health As

an architect and urban designer, Michaele emphasizes principles of

collaboration and public engagement in her teaching, research and

professional consulting. Michaele’s current work focuses on the

intersection of design and public health—seeking ways to create healthier and

more equitable communities. 

Michaele serves as Director of the school’s Design and Planning

Assistance Center (DPAC) and is a co-convener of the HIVE Network at UNM

(Health, Inclusion, Vibrancy and Equity) to address adverse determinants of

health and wellbeing. Related to this, she led the Central Corridor

Neighborhood Study in Albuquerque. Michaele also coordinates the MS

Architecture track in Public Health and the Built Environment.

After the 1992 civil unrest in Los Angeles, Michaele co-founded

the Design Professionals’ Coalition, to serve neglected communities of

South LA. In 1996, she left private practice to become the inaugural Director

of the Downtown Design Center at the University of Kentucky. Prior to

UNM, she was at the University of Cincinnati, where she served as the

Director of the School of Architecture and Interior Design from 2003-09.

Michaele has served on the Cincinnati

City Planning Commission and on the Healthy Places, Healthy People steering

committee for the Con Alma Health Foundation. Michaele has served on

several national and international design and awards juries, including design

competitions for the Oklahoma City Memorial and the new US Embassy in

London.

This episode made possible by the generous support of Seaver

Franks Architects

Dr. Temple Grandin, author, speaker and professor, Colorado State University

Understanding Animals: Unlocking the Power of Autism, Dr. Temple Grandin, professor of animal science at Colorado State University, consultant to the livestock industry on animal behavior and autism spokesperson, is one of the first individuals on the autisum spectrum to publicaly share insights from her personal experience of autism and its relation to animals. She has a successful career counsulting on both livestock handling, equipment design and animal welfare. She has been featured on NPR (National Public Radio), national television shows (Larry King Live, 20/20, 60 Minutes, Fox and Friends) and has appeared in numerous articles in Time Magazine, New York Times, Discover Magazine, Forbes and USA Today. HBO made an Emmy Award winning movie about her life and she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2016. Learn more about this extraordinary woman and her amazing life: Colorado State University’s One-of-a-King Mind: Temple Grandin’s Amazing Life with Autism

Athiana Lerma, Caregiver

Celebrating 50 Years of Providing a Hand Up, In 2019, Goodwill® Industries of Southern Arizona is celebrating its 50th Anniversary! Since 1969, Goodwill® has provided a “hand up” for any person who wants to achieve independence through jobs, education and skills training. This means helping individuals realize their potential, see and achieve their steps in the career pathways they set while providing support along the way. In the past 5 years alone, Goodwill® has served over 50,000 individuals; and every single person that Goodwill has served are the reasons why we’ve continued our mission all these years!

When the community supports Goodwill with their donations, their dollars and their volunteerism, they help young people like Athiana as well as thousands more who need support to gain a good footing to kickstart or develop in their careers. Supporting Goodwill makes it so easy to #dogood.

Learn more and watch a video testimonial from Athiana here.

Athiana Lerma was, at one time, a very cynical individual, and a high school dropout with substance abuse issues. Athiana wasn’t very excited to turn her life around until she was introduced to GoodFutures, one of Goodwill’s six youth programs in 2014. Today at 23, Athiana, is now a Caregiver at a local social service agency, supporting a client with down syndrome to participate in the community. The change in mindset was a long, tough road but she is now living her life at her healthiest and most productive with big plans to continue her work with adults with disabilities. She is a lover of cats, is an Arizona Coyote fan and is a proud consumer of vitamins and Trader Joe’s produce.

Casandra Valenzuela, Senior Rentry Programs Coordinator

Cassy has worked in the behavioral health field for over 10 years with people of all ages from birth to adulthood. She has worked with Goodwill’s GoodFutures program for a total of 4 years supporting young adults ages 18-24 and now most recently with formerly incarcerated adults ages 25+. Her passion has always been to work with young adults because she feels like those are the ages that are most overlooked. In addition to work, Cassy is a wife of 11 years and has 2 strong-willed, intelligent and beautiful daughters and expecting a boy this October. In her downtime, she enjoys being with family.

Cassy shares what it’s like working with young adults. “You are considered an adult and a lot of our youth are just expected to know how to handle life and are thrown into a world of new responsibilities with little to no tools. I remember clearly being 18-24 and feeling lost and not really wanting to ask for help because the world makes it seem like once you turn 18 something magically happens and you know how to adult…..WRONG! I have been blessed with the opportunity to assist young people in navigating their lives. I have been a part of the journey with many young people as they decide what they want to be when they grow up, how they plan on getting their (step by step), and have seen most take those steps and become

successful young adults and adults. There are really no words for how that feels, it is pretty awesome. It is not always easy and some are not ready the first time they come into my life and I have had to fight the desire to want to do things for these young people.”

This episode made possible by the generous support of Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona

When facing the challenges on our planet, it is important to focus on the opportunity. Tom Szaky does not look through a lens of seeing waste everywhere but rather the lens of “what can we do with it.”  He thinks about closing loops as the thought leader at TerraCycle – an innovative recycling company that has become a global leader in the recycling hard-to-recycle waste.  We are talking recycling just about everything from diapers (yes – diapers) to cigarette butts to fluorescent lamps and batteries and the list goes on. Using innovative and creative business models, they partner with companies, schools, municipalities and individuals to provide zero-waste solutions and they help with providing support on how to run green events and provide the best possible recycling solutions.  Tom Szaky is fun, funny, intense and on an unstoppable mission to help make our planet a cleaner, safer and healthier place for all of us. Maybe that’s why over 202 million people in 21 countries have joined hands with TerraCycle to help collect and recycle enough waste to raise over 44 million dollars for charities around the world.