Committees

Outreach
Continuing Education
Publications

Outreach Committee

This Committee connects with individuals, groups, and communities to encourage them to start environmental education programs where they live.

We share our expertise, knowledge, and materials to guide and support them through the process of launching a program.  They can adapt the EFM model to address issues in their community, whether they are sustainability, climate change, water, energy, or to inspire environmental advocacy (this committee was previously called the Committee to Inspire Advocacy).

Contact the committee chair, Heather Furmidge, at Partnering@MarinEFM.org.

Continuing Education Committee

This function combines those previously performed by the Issues Development and the Community Education Committees (IDC and CEC, respectively). Continuing Education identifies issues of potential interest or concern to the Environmental Forum membership, and to our community as a whole, and encourages education and learning around these issues. The primary means of education is assumed to entail designing and producing programs that develop the Forum’s and the community’s knowledge, capacity, and motivation to engage in dialogue and conversation on the topics, and to be sufficiently well-informed to function effectively as advocates and activists in regard to them.

Community Education events are intended to address local and global interests and concerns, and may address local and global environmental concerns through any means deemed appropriate, including field trips, seminars, workshops, classes, ‘Op Ed’ submissions to the media, fairs, and special events, as well as to co-sponsor such events with other organizations. While the emphasis should be on creating events that draw current and former members of the Environmental Forum, these events are also meant to provide a public service to the community, and to further the community’s progress toward a sustainable future.

One periodic means of fostering learning in the community is through Forum Conversations on the Environment. At one time, these were called “First Thursday” events, and were produced roughly once a month. That proved too demanding a schedule for events to attract a sizeable enough audience to warrant the effort. The current strategy is to have fewer events, ideally on a quarterly basis, with greater advance preparation and publicity, so that they generate a “buzz,” and accomplish more in the way of actual learning.

Continuing Education may also make recommendations to the Board of the Environmental Forum regarding certain topics or issues and how they might best be conveyed to the community. On occasion, this might include recommending that subjects should be included in the Sustainable Earth Forum or Sustainable Communities Seminars.

Contact the committee chair, David Weckler, at idc@MarinEFM.org.

Publications Committee

The Environmental Forum of Marin's Publications committee is responsible for the printed and electronic communications of the Forum. It compiles the newsletter for its membership, a copy of which is linked to the website, and it regularly distributes eNews – an electronic newsletter covering current environmental actions and news about our members and their activities. Other responsibilities of the Publications Committee are the annual Year Book, the EFM Directory, and our Annual Report.

The Publications Committee also arranges for the design, printing and distribution of our materials. Contact the committee at: Newsletter@MarinEFM.org