The Impact

I had the chance to chat with our very own Mary Dickerson, certification program manager extraordinaire AND the manager of the Sustainable CT Fellowship Program.  Mary's a veritable font of practical knowledge and experience, unmatched administrative prowess and truly a delight to work with.  We covered a lot of ground in our conversation - certification, of course, but we also took a deep dive into the topic of affordable housing and all the work Sustainable CT Fellows have been doing to help Connecticut cities and towns grapple with the issue.   And "What's an insult you've taken as a compliment?" - we went there, too.  Enjoy.

It’s all about riparian zones – from the Latin word for river: RIPA or RIPARIUS  (Et tu, Riparius?).  But a riparian zone, at least to those of us west of the Rubicon, is actually the area on the sides of the river – a buffer that, if preserved and managed properly, goes a long way toward keeping the river clean and keeping whatever the river, or stream, flows into clean as well.  Critical stuff, really.  So critical, in fact, that that the Connecticut legislature passed Public Act 21-19 creating new environmental responsibility and authority for local governments to protect and restore riparian zones. Under the new statute, all “navigable waterways” flowing into Long Island Sound now need to be protected – which affects almost all the municipalities in the state. We were joined by some heavy-hitters on this topic: Charles Vidich, Senior Project Manager in charge of the Regional Plan of Conservation & Development at the Western Council of Governments; Sam Gold, Executive Director of the Lower Connecticut River Valley Council of Governments; and Francis Pickering, Executive Director of Western COG.  Together they facilitated a conversation on next steps toward more sustainable riparian protection and development. 

Today we’re chatting with a friend, a colleague, and an all-around very interesting human being, Joseph Dickerson, the Sustainable CT Community Partnership Manager , and manager of the Community Match Fund. 

Joseph draws on his past experience with city, state, and federal government programs, community development, and entrepreneurship to help guide leaders and community teams as they innovate and grow sustainability projects across Connecticut. 

We were grateful to be joined by Dr. Jonathan Foley, director of Project Drawdown, for Earth Day in April.  Jonathan is a world-renowned environmental scientist, sustainability expert, author, and public speaker. His work is focused on understanding our changing planet, and finding new solutions to sustain the climate, ecosystems, and natural resources on which we all depend.  

Dr. Foley provided an in-depth appraisal of where we stand with respect to climate change and global warming.  And he made the point that there is yet room – indeed, a necessity – for optimism.  

I had the good fortune to sit down – virtually, of course – with Alyssa Norwood, until very recently our Project Manager for Certification & Innovation.  She, along with the incomparable Jess LeClaire, was responsible for bringing so many towns in the state across the finish line of certification.  Alyssa was a founding member of the Sustainable CT team, so I wanted to hear her take on our group’s founding and her part in it, and what she thought was important and inspiring about Sustainable CT.  We ended up talking about many things – from housing policy to what it means to be an end-of-life doula.  Here's our conversation recorded on March 22.

A compelling and informative discussion about engaging community members in the creation of municipal policy and compensating them for the benefit of their lived experience.