winter 2015 16 - marstel-day€¦ · thank you for all you do to protect our planet’s water,...
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Solutions From Sea to Stars Focuses on Climate Change
As COP 21 negotiated and adopted the world’s first universal climate agreement, I
contemplated the role of the small business in climate change resilience and adaptation. In
the United States alone, the Small Business Administration reported that small businesses
made up 99.7 percent of all U.S. employer firms accounting for almost 50 percent of private
sector employment and 98 percent of firms exporting goods (SBA.gov).
While I applaud big business for making significant commitments to reduce their carbon
footprints, to effect lasting and profound change we need to change more than just
technologies – we also need to change the culture. To facilitate that cultural shift we need
small business to have an active role and serious consideration in any climate change impact regime, especially of COP21’s
magnitude, because of the impact of small businesses. View the Clean Technica article here.
We invite you to watch our new video (click here) and let us know what you think on Twitter @marstelday, LinkedIn, or
Facebook. We welcome your thoughts and appreciate you sharing Solutions from Sea to Stars with everyone who cares
about the environment and conservation.
Thank you for all you do to protect our planet’s water, natural resources, and wildlife.
Wishing you all the very best.
Rebecca R. Rubin
Founder, President, and CEO
Impact of Climate Change on Mountain Home AFB - A White House CEQ Pilot
The White House’s Council on Environmental Quality
(CEQ) and the Department of Defense, selected
Mountain Home Air Force Base (MHAFB) as a pilot
project to “build climate preparedness.” As we
mentioned in our previous newsletter, we identified several vulnerabilities
to operations and the environment regarding imminent water scarcity for
several of our clients. Using our data as a decision-making tool, the Air
Force chose the top five installations where water scarcity could adversely
affect mission operations and national defense readiness. We created a
deep-dive Water Resource Management and Sustainability Plan (WRMSP) study for MHAFB and, with the support of our
Community Partnership program activities there (see article on the next page), we identified 16 challenges and proposed
management actions to help alleviate them.
Building upon new and existing partnerships with local, county, and state governments along with Boise State University;
our WRMSP study team has laid the foundation to reduce overall demand on water resources and alter water use behavior
by implementing an applied conservation program. The combination of the community partnerships and the deep-dive
WRMSP study will provide education and outreach on the impact of climate change within Idaho, best practices on reducing
water consumption, and best practices for water conservation. These efforts should help alleviate the impact of climate
change on MHAFB and assist the surrounding communities in minimizing the climate impact on water availability.
Environmental Gaming
How can we integrate actions to mitigate climate change into organizational development strategies?
What environmental drivers increase the risk of adversely impacting society and the economy? Our
answer to these questions, and more, take the form of a new business practice based on an in-depth
analysis of the increasing importance of climate change and the environment to private, public, and
governmental organizations. We have created Environmental Gaming to help leaders and decision
makers interactively investigate the large-scale and long-term impacts caused by environmental events and trends. These
include short-term emergencies, such as flood hazards and wildland fires, but also decade-scale changes in landscapes,
climate, and resource availability.
Our flexible approach allows organizations to explore their response to wide-ranging scenarios and events - from tactical
approaches to emergencies or supply disruptions to strategic planning. The service includes developing client-specific
scenarios involving stakeholder networks, client missions and operations, natural factors, and feedback mechanisms. Our
clients then explore these in a hosted game to inform creation of robust, adaptive strategies. Marstel-Day developed pilot
scenarios for water shortages and flooding events in the Central Plains, deep-water drilling accidents in a climate-altered
Arctic, and drought- and wildland fire-threatened electrical infrastructure in California.
Marstel-Day In the News:
Marstel-Day Wins Major Contract
Award
The contract win with the Mobile District of
the US army Corps of Engineers provides us
access to $99 million in contract capacity for
our land-use planning, environmental, strate-
gic planning, and conservation services support
to our multiple Federal Gov’t clients. Although
the Gov’t considers us a large company, this
contract allows us to compete as a small busi-
ness for task orders that can be applied to it.
Rebecca said, “Winning one of the Small Busi-
ness REAT contract awards with their access to
the $99 million capacity pool is huge for us.”
Marstel-Day Wins Three 2015 EBJ
Environmental Awards
We won three prestigious business achieve-
ment awards by the Environmental Business
Journal for the company’s work in the environ-
mental industry. Rebecca and Lee attended the
Environmental Industry Summit XIV and re-
ceived the awards for:
Business Achievement: Small Firms - for
growth and in contracting capacity
Project Merit Award: Water - for developing
the Water Resource Management and Sustain-
ability Plans (WRMSPs) for five AF installations
New Practice Area - for our innovative Environ-
mental Gaming practice
Rebecca said, “The outstanding awards be-
stowed on us by the Environmental Business
Journal highlight the exceptional work our
employees provide to our clients and to our
conservation mission.”
In this Newsletter:
Impact of Climate Change on MHAFB - White House CEQ Pilot
Marstel-Day In the News
Environmental Gaming
Community Partnerships and Cli-mate Change
100th Anniversary of the Migratory Bird Treaty
4th Annual Green Gala
CLEAR Plan
Featured Employee - Claire Reyn-olds
President and CEO Rebecca R. Rubin
WINTER 2015-16
By U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Debbie Lockhart - F-
15E Strike Eagles at Mountain Home AFB
Community Partnerships and Climate Change
In the current era of limited funding, organizations have begun to seek out partnerships as a means to share resources and services in
an effort to reduce costs. Our Community Partnership teams have provided facilitation and agreement development services for 25 Air
Force and four Army installations. Four additional Army and three new Marine Corps installations have requested our services for this
year. Throughout the past four years, we have identified more than 350 potential and coordinated more than 90 signed agreements
for Department of Defense installations and surrounding communities.
The impacts of climate change have played a role in developing some of the major partnerships between the military installations and
their surrounding communities. Specifically, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) mandated a pilot project at
Mountain Home Air Force Base (MHAFB) in Idaho with a focus on partnering with community stakeholders regarding the decreasing
availability of water in that region. Other examples of community partnerships focused on resilience and adaptation actions to mitigate
the impacts of climate change include expansion of sustainable water resources and improvement of water quality in drought prone Oklahoma and Texas. A California installa-
tion is in the process of building a Green Rail system to alleviate annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Additionally, five installations have begun new or significantly im-
proved recycling programs. Community Partnerships have shown the ability to improve quality of life, reduce the impacts of climate change, and save money.
Marstel-Day’s 4th Annual Green Gala
We held our fourth annual Green Gala event
on December 8, 2015, at the Olde Silk Mill in
Fredericksburg, VA. Notable attendees included
local government officials, area business
leaders, local non-profit organizations, local
university leaders, friends of Marstel-Day, and
our sponsors from Proxio (Platinum level) as
well as our Gold and Silver level sponsors.
During the evening’s festivities, Marstel-Day
analyst Ms. Gretchen Gorecki received the Sherri
Goodman Award for Conservation Achievement
from Ms. Goodman herself. The award is named
for The Honorable Sherri Goodman, former
Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for
Environmental Security and the founding Chair of
the Marstel-Day Advisory Council. The award
embodies the nominee’s work leading to
significant environmental benefits, commitment
to conservation, creativity, and mentoring others.
University of Mary Washington (UMW)
junior, Maggie Magliato, accepted the “Innovation
in Environmental Stewardship Award” during the
Green Gala. Marstel-Day established the $2,500
cash award in 2014 to reward a rising senior at
UMW. Additionally, the Green Gala supported the
conservation efforts for two non-profit
organizations: Tree Fredericksburg and the
National Wildlife Refuge Association. Green Gala
sponsorship and the proceeds from a silent
auction provided donations for the organizations
to support their respective missions, which include conservation efforts to mitigate
the impacts of climate change.
Featured Employee: Claire Reynolds, Focused on Climate Change
Ms. Reynolds provides GIS support to Marstel-Day’s Air Force Program, focusing on climate
change effects as they relate to Water Resource Management and Sustainability Plans
(WRMSPs). She previously supported Compatible Land Use Strategies (CLUS) within Installa-
tion Complex Encroachment Management Action Plans (ICEMAPs). She uses GIS to identify
potential water resource challenges as well as potential solutions to reduced water availa-
bility associated with Air Force installations’ missions and the surrounding communities. Ms.
Reynolds is responsible for data acquisition, spatial analysis, environmental research, and
stakeholder identification.
Ms. Reynolds has a BS in environmental science from the University of West Florida, where
she focused on environmental policy and GIS. Additionally, she earned an MS in environ-
mental science from the University of West Florida focused on aquatic biogeochemistry and water quality. Ms. Reyn-
olds received a GIS certificate from the University of West Florida Geodata Center.
Featured Employee: Claire’s Quotes
“Clean and abundant water is an essential part of
successful communities and military resilience.”
“Climate change is actively impacting water sup-
ply, availability, and quality. Whether it comes in
the form of intense droughts or the threat of rising
seas, climate change is important to consider as an
impact to military missions. I am excited to be able
to incorporate GIS techniques into our deep-dive
analysis for the Water Resource Management and
Sustainment Plans to provide the Air Force with a
way forward to become as resilient as possible in
the face of a changing global climate.”
Fort Buchannan’s Needs and Capacities Conference
for Army Community Partnership program.
(L-R) The Honorable Ms. Sherri Goodman, Ms.
Gretchen Gorecki, and Ms. Rebecca Rubin.
(L-R) Jonathon Levin - UMW Provost, Dean
Richard Finkelstein (UMW), Ms. Maggie
Magliato, and Ms. Rebecca Rubin.
Green Gala sponsors with Ms. Rebecca Rubin.
100th Anniversary of the Migratory Bird Treaty
As we walk throughout our
parks, along our streets, and
peer out our windows; we
hear the sweet sounds of
spring in the form of song-
sters and other birds that
have returned home after the winter. But, as we look at the calendar and notice that
it’s still February, we wonder how this is possible since, technically, winter remains in
play. Part of the problem comes from the warming weather that has thrown the
migratory birds’ “calendars” out of sync. Additionally, climate change may have
caused their food supply to appear earlier necessitating the birds’ early return.
The effects of climate change on migratory birds such as loss of food sources, loss of
vegetation cover from predators, and destruction of habitats represent some of the
challenges facing these beautiful creatures. Our work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service on the 100th Anniversary of the Migratory Bird Treaty this year (click here)
helps to build public awareness through outreach and engagement, promote the
Centennial activities taking place across the U.S. and Canada, and increase support
for the continued conservation of migratory birds well into the next century.
Climate, Environment, and Readiness (CLEAR) Plan
In a leadership role, we joined forces with the University of Mary Washington, the
National Academy of Environmental Design, Atlantic Builders, the Virginia
Environmental Endowment, and the PNC Foundation to develop the CLEAR Plan for
the Greater Washington Region (GWR - Planning District 16). This community
resilience program helps address GWR’s many capacity-related challenges that
impact its ability to preserve habitat, protect and restore water quality, build
resilience from future climate effects, and promote a strong economy. We continue
to work closely with UMW to achieve milestones such as initial development of the
plan, the 2015 plan update, and many outreach initiatives. The company has created
a conservation stakeholder matrix that identifies organizations in the George
Washington Region important for engagement on regional issues. Marstel-Day
worked with the City of Fredericksburg in 2015 to identify greenhouse gas emissions
strategies for the next steps the city can take based on current emissions.
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