CERF 2023 Keynote

Sunday, 12 November | 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM PT

Albert George & John Carr

Resilience Initiative for Coastal Education (R.I.C.E.)

The keynote will discuss the power of community partnerships and engagement using citizen science and other innovative data visualization tools to mitigate climate change, sea level rise, and aquatic debris risks in traditionally underserved communities in the South Atlantic Bight region of the U.S.

About the Presenters 

Albert George

Albert George had the honor of serving as the first Director of Conservation for the South Carolina Aquarium and is also the Co-Founder of the Amazon Reforestation Project. Prior appointments include Director of Education for the Georgia Aquarium, Inc., Strategy Management Consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton, and Research Associate for the Center for Marine Environmental Science and Biotechnology.

Mr. George completed his B.S. in Marine Biology and Chemistry from Savannah State University and the P.R.E.P. program at Yale University concentrating in marine physiology cellular molecular genetics. He then completed a program of study from the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government/MIT in addition to completing a Master of Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is also the founder of the Georgia Green Economy Summit and the Resilience Initiative Coastal Education (RICE) which has worked to promote green economy growth and resilience strategic planning in the state of Georgia and the Lowcountry of South Carolina.

John Carr

John W. Carr Jr. is a native of Charleston, South Carolina, and a long-time member of the Maryville-Ashleyville Neighborhood Association.

 

He is the Heir of the Ancestral Property at 1039 Main Street in Ashleyville, located in the most historic part of Charleston. This area was previously known as the Township of Maryville, an independently governed township widely known as "A Model of Black Self Government. This totally African American-owned and oldest township in South Carolina was chartered in 1886 and incorporated by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1888. This township grew, developed, and thrived as a town until 1 May, 1936, when its charter was revoked. Mr. Carr's grandfather, Thomas Tobias Car, Sr, was the last mayor of the Township of Maryville.

 

Mr. Carr is honored to partner with the Marshland Restoration Project by way of providing his property to the volunteers of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and the South Carolina Aquarium so they can easily access the marshland, which is located in Ashleyville between his historic home and the historic 1680 Charles Town Landing Settlement.

 

In his cultural affiliation with The United Sabaean Nation Worldwide, Inc., he practices animism and ancestral origin. Therefore, he has a huge appreciation for the work being done in this project in restoring and preserving natural nature. Mr. Carr is a retired Air Force Reservist and currently a Longshoreman with International Longshoremen's Association Local 1422. He is married to Wiya Boynton-Carr, and they are enjoying raising his 17-year-old son John Wesley Carr, IV.