In this episode of Smart Energy Voices, host Debra Chanil welcomes Elaine Franklin, Environmental Sustainability Coordinator for the City of Hollywood, Florida. Franklin shares how the city is advancing its sustainability action plan through clearer accountability, innovative digital tracking tools, and regional collaboration to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. She discusses Hollywood’s emissions reduction strategy, climate resilience planning, and adaptive reuse projects, including the transformation of the historic Armory into a modern community center. Franklin also highlights initiatives to expand tree canopy, provide community cooling centers, and otherwise mitigate extreme heat, underscoring how sustainability and resilience save both money and lives.

You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in…

●     Lessons from Hollywood’s 2017 Sustainability Action Plan (02:54)

●     Using the Kausal platform for accountability and transparency (03:59)

●     Importance of a living document (06:27)

●     Goals and strategies to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 (09:21)

●     Overview of an adaptive reuse project (14:20)

●     Climate resilience and heat mitigation at the City of Hollywood (16:16)

For full episode show notes, click here.

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Elaine has a master’s degree in conservation biology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She brings years of diverse experience to the role of Environmental Sustainability Coordinator.

Prior to her life in Florida, Elaine developed and delivered an environmental sustainability curriculum to youths in Eswatini/Swaziland, Southern Africa, through her own company. She earned her Permaculture Design Certification in South Africa and guided low-income residents in establishing abundant, diverse and sustainable food gardens in their own yards. She has studied the impacts of human activities on birds throughout the world, most recently coauthoring a paper on the effects of a new transportation project on bird communities in Equatorial Guinea. Elaine is a CLEO Climate Speaker, a facilitator of the En-ROADS climate simulator, a Florida Master Gardener, and an avid cyclist.

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