| A new "space race" has begun except instead of going to the stars, it's a race to reimagine earth's spaces, the infrastructure where we all live, work, and play. Climate change is upon us and building innovation must move beyond concept to reality.
Local community news outlet, The Bungalower, even invited Midjourney AI to imagine what new buildings might look like--Click HERE to view.
Join us next week, AUG 9 for Hot Topics:
Superhero Buildings: Our Secret Weapon to Save the Planet
|  | Bring your questions and comments for the panel shown below, discussing how new construction and improvements to existing buildings can dramatically reduce energy use as well as provide climate protection.
The Moderator is WFTV Meterologist George Waldenberger.
Panelists include: Ashley P. Van Stone, City of Orlando Sustainability Project Manager; Philip Fairey, Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC), UCF; Lisa Pearcy, CEO, 15 Lightyears; Philip Donovan, Little Architects; designed the sole FL Green Public school in Osceola County
| | VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
The Hot Topics team needs help with checking in attendees, etc. Contact Pat Grierson for more information.
Also needed, event photographers and writers to summarize the program. Contact Susan Windmiller for more information.
| | | The Post Secondary Education Outreach subcommittee just completed the first of two events at Full Sail this summer. Denise Burton and Cynthia McMillon presented "Building Resilience to Mis/Dis Information" as part of Full Sail's Learn and Grow seminar.
Shown below L-R: Mary Montanus, Cynthia McMillon, Denise Burton |  | | The Vietnam Veterans of America hold bi-annual conventions in cities across the nation. An important part of the convention is the election of national officers and regional directors. Long standing practice has been to ask the local League of Women Voters to handle the voting/counting process (from the creation of ballots to the final summary of votes). This year the convention voting is to be held at the Rosen Center on August 11, 2023. Our league has been asked to handle this voting process. As explained by Scott DeArman, Chair-Elections Committee, VVA, the League of Women Voters is selected because of our reputation for professionalism and experience with the voting process. The VVA and the LWV have enjoyed a great partnership for many years. We on the Voter Services Committee consider the invitation to work as an honor and a way to give back to these deserving veterans.
We are still in need of approximately eight more volunteers. If you are interested and able to commit to a Zoom training session (date to be determined soon) and a full day on August 11, 2023, please list yourself on the Volunteer page on our website HERE |  |  | "We need to make every single thing accessible to every single person with a disability." Stevie Wonder
The DEIA Committee would like to acknowledge the 33rd anniversary of the passing of landmark civil rights legislation, the American with Disabilities Act, signed by President George H.W. Bush on July 26, 1990. While we know there is more to be done to protect and enhance the lives of people with disabilities, the ADA established clear standards and requirements for accommodating people with disabilities and protecting their civil rights.
The ADA prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public. The purpose of the law is to make sure that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else.
Learn more about the ADA and how you can support accessibility needs by referring to this fact sheet produced by the ADA National Network:
FAQs About the ADA | | | | Traditionally, members with the League of Women Voters of Florida would be out and about this summer with clipboards in hand trying to register voters at parades, libraries, grocery stores and other local community events. Then they’d collect those paper registration forms and send them to local supervisors of elections offices to get those people on the voter rolls. But the League shut down those activities on July 1.
That’s when the latest elections reform law passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis went into effect – the third such elections bill passed in Florida in the past three years.--Florida Phoenix
| | |  | | Julie Wettstein
Jeff George
Reygan Carner
Amy Gordon
Nancy Griffith
|  | Lee Rambeau Kemp gave a generous donation to the LWVOC Fund
Susie Haralson gave a generous donation to the LWVOC Fund
Mary E. Himes gave a generous donation to the LWVOC Fund
Kimberly Cohen gave a generous donation to the LWVOC Fund
Honor or recognize someone with a donation.
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- An amendment to limit government interference with abortion-- The coalition "Floridians Protecting Freedom" has launched a citizen-led ballot initiative campaign to give women the right to seek abortions up to viability. Learn how to become a Reproductive Freedom volunteer here.
- The East Central Florida region is made up of Brevard, Glades, Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, St. Lucie & Volusia Counties. We are gearing up for the next wave of volunteer organizing and we need your help. Contact admin@wvswfl.com, the regional organizer with answers to these questions and for more info:
1. How much time each week do you have available for volunteering?
2. Where are you located?
3. Is there a HUB in your area?
4. What type of volunteer efforts are you looking for? (Event canvassing, sorting/curing petitions, setting up a HUB, hosting a petition party)
| | |  | Statewide call to action: The League of Women Voters supports the Florida Right to Clean Water campaign, a citizens' initiative to amend the Florida Constitution with the right to clean and healthy waters. If our current laws were working, then we wouldn’t have manatees dying in record numbers, 80% of our 1000 springs impaired, and harmful blue-green algae and red tide in greater frequency and duration. A constitutional right takes precedence over legislation that permits pollution, restricts fertilizer bans, and allows radioactive materials to be used in our roads. Create a legacy for the future of our waters
The Right to Clean Water! In support of establishing our basic right to clean and healthy water, LWVOC has committed to helping get the citizen initiative on the 2024 ballot.
| | |  | Climate First Bank is our Platinum Sponsor. The bank will be supporting LWVOC Hot Topics events for 2023. Climate First Bank is the world's first FDIC-insured community bank founded to combat the climate crisis. Climate First Bank offers a complete, full-service portfolio of simple and easy-to-use traditional banking products designed to do good for people and the planet. Please follow this link to learn more: climatefirstbank.com | |