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Fire Souls

Fire Souls are community members with a strong interest in sustainable development and community change who are willing and able to work hard to implement ideas.

Evie Kirkwood

Chris Kaehr

“My office does not have a roof,” says Chris Kaehr, Grounds Crew Leader at IUSB and winner of the Center for a Sustainable Future's Campus Sustainability Award for 2010. From the start sustainability has been his concern. Chris has seen his mission to protect the earth from all the trash and poisons that threaten it. He has instituted many eco friendly changes at IUSB and he continues to work and research to make the grounds more sustainable. more...

 

Eco-Video


What does Sustainability mean?

A current and popular short animated explanation of sustainability.

 

Sustainability Fellows

Each year the Center chooses 2 to 4 fellows who work with the faculty and staff on a variety of sustainability projects and initiatives.  Sustainability Fellows include professionals and practitioners involved in sustainability work as well as faculty members from other institutions.

2009-2010 Fellows

Sara

Sara Stewart Uzelac

Sara is a member of the Clinical Faculty at St. Mary’s College with specializations in Community Health, Neurology, Endocrinology, Oncology and Pediatrics.  She is also an active member of the Center’s Agriculture, Food and Values Working Group. 
In the summer of 2008, Sara wanted to do something to improve the health of the community, an outgrowth of the research she has been doing for her Master’s Degree.  She owned a small plot of undeveloped land on the south side of the city, so she decided she and her children would turn it into a garden and make the produce available to any of the local neighbors who wished to harvest it.  When she started the garden, many people told her that in that neighborhood it would just get torn up and destroyed.  However, Sara did not believe this and she was right.  Just the opposite happened.  The garden became a center of neighborhood pride, and then a center of city pride.  Neighbors began to help weed, folks from across the city began to donate supplies and help water, and everyone enjoyed the harvest. 
During 2009, Sara developed her initial idea into the Unity Gardens, a network of 12 gardens throughout the city. Her Fellowship activities include plans for the project to involve organic and sustainable farming education, garden to table instruction, and workforce development.
The garden website is at http://sbcg.org and the Unity Garden blog can be viewed at http://www.theunitygardens.blogspot.com       

Sam

Sam Miller

Sam is the Vice President of Strategy and Marketing for JF New, the regions premier ecological consulting, restoration, and native plants firm.  Sam received his MBA from the University of Michigan, and his MS in Innovation and Product Development from the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University. He is also a LEED Accredited Professional. 
Sam is passionate about sustainability, a passion that led him to his position at JF New.  He is the leader of their innovation team, and has helped the company to use sustainability as a platform to drive innovation at the company. 

Sam has taught a graduate course on Sustainability and Innovation at IU South Bend, and will be working with faculty to set up a Sustainability and Innovation Working Group for the Center.  During his Fellowship he will continue to develop the Sustainability and Innovation course, including a possible textbook or other teaching materials, and continue his service on the Center’s Advisory Board.

Tom

Tom Butler

Tom Butler is a 96' Graduate of Indiana University's Master of  Environmental Science Program and has a double concentration in Water Resource Management and Hazardous Waste Management.  For the past year, much of his work has focusing on research into the potential for cogeneration of energy from biofuels and wastewater management systems in our region. Mr. Butler's consulting firm, The Sustainable Life Center in Elkhart, IN, has worked on business planning, environmental permit negotiations, patent writing assistance, intellectual property partnerships, community relations, advocacy and grass roots economic redevelopment, and grant writing. He has consulted with three algae technology development companies and has focused on recycling nutrients and saving energy with new low energy based biological remediation systems for agriculture, municipalities and industry. 

He is currently collaborating with Center faculty on algae technology research for food, fuel and wastewater remediation.

JF

Javaughn Fernanders

Javaughn is a local artist and recent graduate of the Masters of Liberal Studies (MLS) program at IU South Bend.  She is also employed as an Assistant Leisure Services Supervisor for the St. Joseph County Parks. A talented and creative photographer, she has used her skills to depict Images of African-Americans in Nature for her MLS Project. Her posters and her website are both moving and informative.  As a Fellow, she will be preparing her posters for exhibit and beginning to show them regionally. Currently working in collaboration with the Civil Rights Heritage Centerm she will be organizing exhibits in the Shurz Library at IU South Bend as well as at the Civil Rights Heritage Center itself.  Her work can be viewed at http://jfmls.shutterfly.com/.
Javaughn is also interested in developing a socially responsible enterprise to bring underserved communities closer to the local natural environment.  A second part of her Fellowship with the Center is to develop a business plan for a local eco-tourism company that focuses on the St. Joseph River.  Plans include using revenue from River Tours to assist with on-the-job training of area young people, recruited from underserved areas in Michiana, as river guides, and will subsidize trips for Title 1 classrooms to tour the river. 
Her exhibit, "Black and Green is Beautiful," opened March 9 at the Studebaker National Museum.