It’s Time to Take Action on Climate Change
It’s Time to Take Action on Climate Change with VIBE
Climate change is one of the biggest threats facing humanity and it has massive implications for our livelihoods. Scientists recommend limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees, but according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world must cut emissions by 45% over the next 8 years to meet that threshold. Buildings are responsible for about 40% of our carbon emissions, which means that efforts to make our built environment more sustainable need to be a big part of the solution. For this reason, it is critical that individuals, commercial real estate stakeholders, cities, and communities remain committed to taking action.
What is VIBE and Why was it created?
The Verdani Institute for the Built Environment (VIBE) is a non-profit organization founded by our parent company, Verdani Partners. Verdani is a separate ESG consulting firm focused on advancing environmental sustainability, and sound social and governance practices in the built environment for our global clientele. But beyond the work Verdani does for clients, we wanted to strech towards an even wider impact helping fight climate change via the build environment. When the last administration withdrew from the Paris Climate Accord, we became concerned with the lack of federal action on environmental issues which originally motivated us to create VIBE. Through VIBE we will continue to provide resources for the green commercial building sector including resilience practices, education, workforce training, and global collaboration.
VIBE's Work Progrees to date
For the past 6 years we have made steady progress using scarce resources including donated time and support from local and global volunteers who also believe in our cause. We've also grown our partnerships and outreach campaigns with the help of a impressive Board of Directors, and hiring part-time Interim Executive Director, grants specialist, and graphic designer. On Earth Day 2021, we launched our childrens books "Earth's Climate Heroes" which continues to track robust sales on Amazon. And currently we're writing a 12-book series on ESG topics affecting the commercial real estate industry.
Time is of the Essence
With only have 8 years left to make significant carbon emission reductions by decarbonizing the built environment on the path to Net Zero before our impacts are irreversible. Time is of the essence! Therefore, we need your help to raise sufficient funds for VIBE to continue our impactful work propeling our projects forward and making a significant impact addressing the climate crisis!
Please Donate Generously!
Your planet friendly donations will help to:
· Educate and inspire thousands of people
· Catalyze action for fighting climate change
· Create a thriving and more resilient planet for future generations
· Invest in our initial programs that include education, collaboration, resiliency, and tenant engagement
VIBE prioritizes four key areas of focus to fight climate change:
1. Sustainable Properties
2. Resilience & Risk Management
3. Education & Research
4. Collaboration
1. Sustainable Properties
Tenant Engagement Recognition Awards Program
Tenants are responsible for 60-70% of a building’s energy consumption. In order reduce resource consumption and lower operating expenses, it is crucial to gain the participation of tenants in sustainable behavior. Tenants will be scored on the implementation of sustainability practices in the following categories:
· Alternative Transportation
· Energy Smart Practices
· Water Smart Practices
· Waste Smart Practices
· Sustainable Procurement
· Indoor Environmental Quality
· Health and Wellbeing
· Resilience and Emergency Management Strategies
· Training and Education in Sustainability and Climate Action
· Innovation
Participants will receive a ranking from 1 to 5 stars based on the points earned for each initiative. The highest-ranking tenants will receive national recognition for their efforts.
2. Resilience & Risk Management
Climate Risks and Resilience Website & Mobile App
The app will create a simple way to determine building and property climate risks associated to a particular location, enabling increased resiliency and better preparedness for impending disasters. It will also be designed as a platform to create ongoing awareness and collaboration on climate related issues. The app will provide specific measures to improve building resilience to regional risks identified and will have the ability to send notifications and reminders. We also hope to leverage crowdsourcing tools so local communities can communicate with one another to increase their survivability when facing imminent climate disasters.
3. Education
Sustainability education is one of our highest priorities. We are planning for VIBE to become a key information resource for sustainability in the built environment for students, professionals and schools around the world. We believe that our education initiatives can scale the understanding of sustainability issues and help drive immediate action on climate change. All the funds from the books and lectures will be used to help us achieve our non-profit's goals. Our initial projects include:
· A 12 textbook Sustainable Real Estate Series - currently in development releasing 2022 thru 2023
· "Earth's Climate Heroes" Children’s Book - released on Earth Day 2021
· Online Sustainability in the Built Environment Courses
Sustainable Real Estate Textbook:
We have been working with over 100 contributors, including many global sustainability experts, to crowdsource curated content for a series of 12 educational textbooks about sustainability in the built environment. The book will cover key topics from sustainable urban planning to green building certifications, sustainable real estate management for large real estate portfolios, key sustainability strategies, building resilience, and case studies.
Online Sustainable Built Environment Course:
We also plan to create a coordinated online course that uses the book as a main curriculum resource. Each book will be accompanies by an online lecture that explains and tests users on its content. We plan to translate the content into several languages as a core sustainability course for students and professionals around the world.
"Earth's Climate Heroes" Children’s Book:
Verdani's founder started working on this book with her young children in 2016. While trying to explain climate change to them, she realized the need for a book to help kids understand what was happening to the environment around them. In the story, the kids realize that the planet is getting sick. They see that adults are not taking action and start taking matters into their own hands. The kids are transformed into Earth's Climate Heroes and join forces with other kids around the world to save their planet. The book teaches about scientific concepts around climate change and the everyday actions we can take to fight it. It also tells stories of young people from all over the world that are making a positive impact. Since its release, the book continues to be shared through a social media campaign with the hashtag #Earths ClimateHeroes to inspire people on a global scale to mobilize and act to save the planet.
4. Collaboration
Online Open Source Sustainability Forum (OSS):
As part of our goal to create innovative tools and platforms to facilitate global collaboration on key sustainability topics, projects, and issues, we have created an online Open Source Sustainability (OSS) Forum for research and sustainability projects. The forum is a tool for supporting collaboration and information sharing on key sustainability issues so people from different parts of the world can share information, lessons learned, and best practices and reduce the need to reinvent the wheel so we can make progress around sustainability initiatives much faster. A special thank you to Verdani Partners and Kilroy Realty for funding the first phase of the OSS project.
Learn more about our mission, projects, and team on our website:
Make A Difference
Donate to our fundraising campaign this holiday season to make a difference for a more sustainable, resilient, and thriving future!
Please note that we are only able to accept donations from the US at this time.
Thank you!
