Wellnet fosters green business development
The Delmarva Community Wellnet Foundation will host a fundraiser launch party for its newest program, Energize Delaware Now, at 6 p.m., Friday, July 16, at the Milton Theatre. Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary Collin O’Mara will be the keynote speaker, and there will be presentations and opportunities for networking.
The event will include ho’s d’oeuvres, beer, wine and an ice cream sundae bar provided by Cape favorites Nourish, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Bin 66 and King’s Homemade Ice Cream. Award-winning singer and songwriter and Rehoboth Beach Jazz Festival 2008 performer of the year Doug James will provide the evening’s entertainment. Ticket donations are $39 per guest.
O’Mara will talk about how Energize Delaware Now (EDEN) programs can contribute on an economic and a practical level. O’Mara has been instrumental in implementing regulations and policies that reflect the new green infrastructure that Gov. Jack Markell promised as part of his election campaign.
Previously, O’Mara served as a clean tech strategist for the City of San Jose, Calif. He became one of the primary architects of San Jose’s Green Vision in 2007. The program is a 15-year plan to transform the Silicon Valley into a world center of clean-technology innovation that links economic growth and environmental sustainability. San Jose attracted 50 companies, created 3,000 new jobs and saw $2 billion in new investment during the launch of O’Mara’s program.
EDEN’s mission is to promote renewable energy and the use and recovery of renewable resources like energy, water, agriculture and waste streams from food and industrial processing. EDEN has a project-oriented approach for demonstrating its philosophy. The nonprofit organization acquires financing to fund demonstration projects for teaching green economics in the schools, recovering organic material for composting and providing solar systems for chicken farmers.
EDEN’s goal is to show that byproducts from human consumption of renewable resources can become viable products in the marketplace for which there is real demand. EDEN projects identify practical and economic solutions for environmental challenges while working in harmony with the environment.
“Right now, economic recovery is foremost in peoples’ minds. We know that businesses in renewable energy and renewable resources create more jobs than other industry sectors,” said D.C. Kuhns, executive director of the Wellnet and a veteran of the renewable energy industry. “EDEN’s primary goal is economic development for Delaware. If we can demonstrate a reduction of costs in our consumption of water, the harvesting of food, or the processing of construction materials by recovering and reusing some of the byproducts from these sectors, then we contribute to economic recovery, and we preserve our precious resources for future generations.”
Dr. Kim Furtado, a founder of the Wellnet and currently a program director, stated: “Our goal as a grassroots nonprofit foundation is to tap into Delawarean’s common-sense solutions for economic recovery. We have leadership in place for success at the state level. We have homegrown ingenuity, and we know that environmental transgressions have serious costs, especially to our health.”
The EDEN project is based on the idea that economic success is most stable when it is achieved within sustainable practices for the environment. “There is no passage to the Garden of Eden or future era for prosperity and abundance if business as usual ignores environmental costs,” said Furtado.
Lori Lake, owner of Green Delaware, an online resource that focuses on regional economic development and community education pertaining to everything green, is also a program director for EDEN. “We have designed our message to be project oriented. It is one thing to talk about or provide education for environmental solutions. The EDEN project takes it one step further - to demonstrate the economic business model in a practical pilot program - solve an environmental problem and create jobs in the process. That is what EDEN is all about.”
In addition to O’Mara’s keynote speech, the evening’s agenda will include presentations on four EDEN projects, which all work toward catalyzing business and economic solutions to environmental problems, creating economic recovery and jobs.
The Milton Theatre is located at 110 Union St. in Milton.
Advance ticket purchases and reservations are recommended at a $39 donation per guest; visit thewellnet.org or call 302-542-3400
