Facilitating Community Change: Lessons from Climate Adaptation to Guide Extension Engagement

Photo of a house and dock extending out into nothing but lawn: no lake is visible.

This 19-page publication written by Martha Monroe and Annie Oxarart and published by the UF/IFAS School of Forest Resources and Conservation provides Extension faculty in Florida with useful strategies to help communities understand, discuss, evaluate, and recommend potential solutions to current and future problems. While much of the research behind these strategies has been conducted in the context of climate adaptations in vulnerable communities and ecosystems, such as coastal fisheries, rainfed agriculture, and floodplain cities, the principles that underlie these processes are universal. The same strategies and guidelines can be tailored for any issue that requires the public to become more informed, generate options, and understand advantages and disadvantages of various choices. In these situations, Extension agents can facilitate a process of thoughtful deliberation to help communities find common ground and move toward finding solutions.
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fr430

Should We Use Wood for Energy? A High School Unit (FOR270/FR332)

As communities across the South explore options for reducing carbon emissions with renewable energy resources, local wood may become an attractive possibility. Whether using wood for energy is a good idea and how communities go about deciding whether to build a facility depends upon community residents’ understanding of energy sources, biomass supply and cost, and forest management. This high school unit helps students gain knowledge and skills for making decisions about woody biomass. This 210-page curriculum was written by Jessica Tomasello Ireland, Martha C. Monroe, and Annie Oxarart, and published by the UF Department of School of Forest Resources and Conservation, September 2010.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fr332

FOR221/FR283 Wood to Energy: Woody Biomass Basics

FOR-221, a 4-page illustrated fact sheet by Jessica Tomasello, Lauren McDonell, Martha C. Monroe, and Annie Oxarart, is part of the Wood to Energy series. It discusses non-renewable and renewable energy sources in general and woody biomass as a soure of renewable energy. Includes references. Published by the UF School of Forest Resources and Conservation, June 2009.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/FR283