It has been an exciting year.
2013 was the first full year of operation for Sustainable America. The generous support and clear vision of Nick Tiller, our founder and chairman, provided us with a simple mandate: to improve the sustainability of America’s food and transportation fuel systems. The two are intimately connected. Food production – both in field machinery and irrigation – relies heavily on diesel fuel, and food availability depends on strong transportation networks and consistent and reliable fuel supplies. Fuel supplies, increasingly, are influenced by the amount of food crops (particularly corn and soybeans) used in their production.
We spent the year working on five fronts, which you can read about in more detail in our 2013 Year-End Report:
• We built an educational and outreach effort that has brought our messages to thousands of people.
• We built a series of programs to directly affect the availability of food and fuel by focusing on waste reduction.
• We built an investment program to identify and support early-stage entrepreneurs who are developing the next generation of sustainable technologies.
• We built a dedicated and engaged Board of Directors with extensive background in our areas of expertise.
• We built a staff of highly-skilled personnel to deliver it all.
All of this building has allowed us to produce some impressive accomplishments over the past 12 months. Our engagements forged strong partnerships with municipal, commercial, and non-profit entities in Connecticut and beyond. We have assembled networks that can deliver zero-waste events in Texas, reduce idling in Ohio, educate concertgoers in Connecticut, and engage college students and entrepreneurs in Massachusetts. Moreover, these partnerships have positioned us to accomplish even more in the coming year.
You can read more about our 2013 efforts and accomplishments in our 2013 Year-End Report.
In 2014, we will extend our efforts and our reach, making measurable reductions in the amount of food and fuel wasted and increases in the amount of compost or renewable fuel created. We will grow our investments in early-stage sustainable food and fuel companies five-fold. We will engage with more organizations and individuals, develop more and deeper partnerships, and hone our efforts to increase our reach and effectiveness.
The issues of food and fuel sustainability are complicated and varied. Issues of supply, production, distribution, and use will all need to be tackled if we are to make progress. Sustainable America is positioned to make a difference.
Best,
Jeremy Kranowitz
Executive Director
Sustainable America
