Every year, VoLo Foundation’s Climate Correction Conference gets somewhat glitzier, its speakers a bit more prestigious, the event a little better attended.
One day of main events has become three. Longer presentations have been tightened to fit everyone onto the schedule. More chairs and more tables are brought out because the conference has grown from 200 people last year to 250 this year.
The theme this year centered around the notion that the environment has already engineered answers to the climate challenges facing the planet.
In other words, ecosystems naturally protect us. Mangroves tame storm surge. Woodlands lock away carbon.
The conference speakers, a diverse mix of distinct topics, made convincing presentations to back that up: pay enough attention and natural defenses can and will shape public policies, urban planning, and technological advancements without waiting for future breakthroughs.
Expo-style booths were set up for a day, which allowed the audience to meet and speak with researchers, nonprofit directors, educators, and companies doing climate-focused work.
Workshops were held by environmental nonprofits, including The Nature Conservancy, The Everglades Foundation, and the Ocean Conservancy.
Then mid-week, experts from conservation, media, law, urban planning, and science lead discussions on nature-based solutions, climate communication, urban resilience, sustainable fashion, and environmental policy.
Created in 2014, the VoLo Foundation works to convince people worldwide that solutions to climate change must be based on sound scientific principles — like what nature already does — or the effort will fail.
Founders David Vogel and Thais Lopez Vogel merged their last names to come up with “VoLo,” then created their foundation with a driven mission to be a powerful catalyst for action to fight climate change.
Four years later, the first Climate Correction Conference was held in Orlando.
This week, the power couple sat with WGCU as the conference wrapped up on a stage not 50 feet away to discuss the conference’s origins.
“We said, ‘hey, let's do a conference because we're filling a gap,’ ” David Vogel said. “And we wanted one focus to be on climate solutions. I really give credit to Thais for putting together the team that was able to get us to where we are today.”
And there it was again.
The husband and wife constantly give credit for nearly anything they accomplish to the other or the staff at VoLo Foundation. Always.
“It’s all in the teamwork. It started as a team with Vogel and Lopez — and that's the name Vo-Lo (Foundation),” Lopez Vogel said, pointing to her husband. “He fills in the gap with facts, with data, with science. I fill in the gap with emotion, with art, with the things that make you move, that touch the heart.
“That doesn't mean that he doesn't have a heart and I don't have a mind, but it's usually he's more analytical, and I’m more emotional,” she said. “And he said, ‘Listen, this, together, it has to work, because nothing moves more than facts and data to the people that are analytical, and to those in heart, in art and emotions.”
David Vogel agreed that art is as important as science at their climate conference.
“When I go to scientific conferences, I get bored,” he said. “So, it's really, even as a scientist, it's great to have this mix of some artistic parts. And I think you see that combination in the conference agenda. You have scientific solutions, but you have very emotional-type, happy-artist type presentations.”
Another solution highlighted this year and last: Hollywood has a part to play.
Last year, it was hard not to notice that VoLo was looking to advance its climate change message in movies, television shows, and through media organizations, however subtle the nod may be.
This time, one of those messengers was talking from the stage.
The final speaker was Zay Harding, executive producer and host of “The Visioneers,” a new live-action series on CBS for teens on Saturday mornings that highlights eco-heroes, innovators, and scientists working to protect the planet.
“This is our eighth edition of the climate correction, and it's amazing how we have grown,” Thais Lopez Vogel said. “The amount of people that I see coming again and again, and they tell me, we've been with you since (year) 3,4,5.
“Not one person is going to solve this problem. No one group. It’s not going to be only the scientists. It’s not only going to be the government. It’s not just going to be the big corporations. We have to be together to solve it,” she said. “And that's what I think, that's the message: Collaboration. Giving a seat at the table to people that are not always together (on the stage), like we had community leaders with other scientific leaders with students that were up there.
“It's opening the conversation for everybody.”
Editor’s note: Environmental reporting for WGCU is funded in part by VoLo Foundation.
VoLo Foundation is a nonprofit with a mission to accelerate change and global impact by supporting science-based climate solutions, enhancing education, and improving health.
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Algae-powered concrete earns University of Miami project top prize at Climate Correction Conference
By Trimmel Gomes
Florida News Connection
Concrete is the second most used material in the world after water and the cement industry alone accounts for roughly 8% of global carbon emissions.
Researchers at the University of Miami are tackling the problem by turning algae into a sustainable concrete additive. They are partnering with an aquaculture lab on the university’s campus in Key Biscayne, which grows Florida native algae for research purposes.
Jasmine Rodriguez, a first-year doctoral student in civil engineering, said the goal is to significantly reduce concrete’s climate effects and for her team, it starts with the algae grown just minutes from their lab.
“Which we then turn into a biochar, which is basically like a charcoal material made of that algae,” Rodriguez said. “Which we can then functionalize, which is chemically treating it in order to make it easier to replace in higher contents of cement.”
The Climate Correction Conference, organized by VoLo Foundation, took place earlier this week in Orlando.
The challenge, Rodriguez said, is that replacing too much cement with biochar can compromise concrete’s strength. The team is developing techniques to make the biochar more chemically reactive so it bonds better with cement. The researchers presented their work at the VoLo Foundation climate conference.
Farzad Rezaeicherati, another doctoral student in civil engineering, said the team is exploring multiple strategies to lock carbon into concrete permanently. Beyond replacing cement with carbon-rich algae biochar, they are also experimenting with what is known as carbon curing.
“In this way, we are going to store carbon dioxide in a stable shape in concrete,” Rezaeicherati outlined. “This is another way to reduce carbon emissions through carbon sequestration through these materials that we have.”
The research team received a $25,000 grant through VoLo Foundation’s VISTA Award. The funding will help the group purchase updated equipment to better control the production of biochar.
Rodriguez said while the technology is still in the experimental stage, the long-term goal is to patent their techniques and eventually establish industry partners to bring Florida-grown sustainable concrete to the market.
Editor’s note: VoLo Foundation is a financial supporter of The Invading Sea
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