Home

Emergy Society Bylaws

International Society for the Advancement of Emergy Research
(ISAER)

The Emergy Society

NAME:

The name of this organization shall be the International Society for

the

Advancement

of Emergy Research (ISAER), otherwise known as

the Emergy

Society.

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this society is to foster and promote the scientific

understanding

the concept of emergy, which was first developed

by H.T. Odum, his students

and

colleagues. The society will

accomplish this end by sponsoring research,

setting

standards, and

facilitating communication (both informal discussion and

scientific

exchange) among the international community of scientists actively

engaged in

emergy research and in the public at-large.

ORGANIZATION:

ISAER is organized as a nonprofit society and shall be operated

exclusively for

scientific, literary, and educational purposes.

Not withstanding any other provisions of these articles, the

organization is

organized

exclusively for one or more of the purposes

as specified in Section 501

Internal Revenue Code of

1986, and shall not carry on any

activities not permitted to

be carried

on by an organization exempt from Federal

income tax under IRC

501 (c)

(3) or corresponding provisions of any subsequent

tax laws.

No part of the net earnings of the organization shall inure to the

benefit of any

member, trustee, director, officer of the organization,

or any private individual

(except

that reasonable compensation may

be paid for services tendered to or

for the

organization), and no

member, trustee, officer of the organization or any

private

individual

shall be entitled to share in the distribution of any of the

organization's

assets on dissolution. In any taxable Year in which the

organization is a private

foundation as described in IRC 509 (a), the

organization

shall distribute its income for

said period at such time

and manner as not-to

subject it to tax under IRC 4942, and

the

organization shall not (a) engage in

any act of self-dealing as defined

in IRC 4941

(d), (b) retain any excess business

holdings as defined in

IRC 4943 (c), (c) make any

investments in such a manner

as to

subject the organization to tax under IRC 4944,

or (d) make any

taxable

expenditures as defined in IRC 4945 (d) or corresponding

provisions of any

subsequent Federal tax laws.

MEMBERSHIP:

Membership is open to those whose activities are consistent with the

purpose of

the

organization, i.e., members must have an interest in

emergy research, be

engaged in

emergy research, the application of

emergy research or be seeking

the training to

allow them to begin

engaging in such activities. All members are

entitled to vote in

the

affairs of the corporation, to serve as members of the

Executive

Council and to be

counted toward a quorum in any meeting of the

membership. There shall be four

classes of membership: regular,

student,

honorary, and emeritus. Regular membership

is open to

those persons who are

professionally engaged in emergy research or

its

application in management.

Student members must be students in

good standing at

any level of educational

activity and have an

interest in learning the emergy

methodology. Honorary

membership

may be conferred by the Executive Council upon

persons recognized

for outstanding work or interest in the field of emergy research

and/or education.

Any ISAER member who is at least 70 years of age

may request

emeritus

membership. Honorary and emeritus members

shall not be required to pay

dues.

Application for membership shall be in writing in such a form as the

Executive

Council

shall prescribe, and shall be submitted to the

Secretary. The Secretary

shall confer

membership upon approval of

the Executive Council or its

representative and receipt

of dues by the

Treasurer.

DUES:

The Executive Council can set dues using emergy measures to insure

equal

ability to

pay or in any other fair and equitable manner. Dues

are due and

payable to the

Treasurer at, or before, the beginning of

the calendar year.

Members who owe dues

for two years will

automatically be dropped from

membership, if still delinquent after

the annual business meeting.

MEETINGS:

Meetings for business will be held annually during the spring and they

may be

held as

virtual meetings, either entirely or in part. The society

will support face-to-

face

interactions of the international community

of emergy researchers at the

Biennial

Emergy Research Conferences

held at University of Florida, until such

time as these

meetings are no

longer held at least once every other year. At this

time ISAER will

take up the responsibility of holding meetings of the international

community at least

every other year. The Executive Council of the

Society can

decide to hold annual

meetings at any time, if and when

the needs of the world-

wide emergy community

require additional

opportunities to exchange knowledge.

The emergy society

conference

will be held jointly with the biennial emergy

conference when both fall

the same year. One must be, or become, a member

of the society

to give a scientific

presentation at the meeting, unless invited by

the

Executive Council or its

representative. As a general rule, invitations

will be

extended to all nonmembers who

have emergy research to

present.

ATTENDANCE:

Attendance at business meetings shall be limited to members in good

standing,

except

visitors may attend (but not vote) with the approval

of the Executive

Council or its

representative.

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL/OFFICERS:

The Executive Council of the international organization shall consist

of eight

representatives, who will be elected by the membership of

the society. The

Executive

Council shall be elected for eight year

terms and the Presidency shall

rotate among

the members. The order

of Presidents will be determined by the

newly elected

Executive

Council. There shall be no limit on the number of terms

a Council

member

can serve. The nominating committee will be responsible for

assembling the slate of

candidates, who will stand for election every 8

years. If a

council member can no

longer serve or resigns, a special

election shall be held to

elect an individual to serve

out the remainder

of the member’s term. The officers

of ISAER shall be a President,

President-elect, Secretary, and Treasurer. The

Secretary and Treasurer

are members of

the Executive Council and shall hold

permanent

positions for the time required to

firmly establish the society. The

Trustees will determine when the society is firmly

established and

after this time

the Secretary and Treasurer will be elected by the

Council from its members and

hold 4 year terms of office. During

their tenure on the

Executive Council, the

Secretary and Treasurer will

each serve as President. The

President shall perform

all official duties

for the International Society for the

Advancement of Emergy

Research (ISAER). If the President is not available, the

President-elect

or a

member of Executive Council designated by the President shall

the

representative. The President shall appoint one member of the

Society to serve

Program Chair for the annual meeting, if and

when ISAER takes on the

responsibility

of organizing Emergy

Research Conferences. The Executive Council

shall elect one

member

of the Society, who is not a current member of the

Executive Council,

serve as Historian for their 8 year term. The Historian shall

function as an

ex officio

member of the Council, except as noted

below. Decision-

making by the Executive

Council shall be by simple

majority vote, although

Council members are charged to try

to reach

consensus on all matters critical to

the well-being of the Society. If a

Council

vote becomes deadlocked on a

question that could not be

resolved by consensus, the

Historian shall become a

full Council

member for the purpose of casting the deciding

vote. A member of

the Executive Council can be replaced if they miss two consecutive

meetings

without acceptable excuse and/or the rest of the Executive

Council agrees to

remove them from office for this or another just

cause. If the President resigns

or is

unable to complete the term of

office, the President-elect immediately takes

over as

President. The

Executive Council shall have the power to fill all other

vacancies in

any

elected or appointed office, except as specified below under the

powers of the

Trustees. These vacancies will be filled only to the end

of the

particular member's

term. The Executive Council may create

standing and ad hoc

committees as needed. A

quorum, which

consists of a simple majority of the

Executive Council members, must

be present before business can be transacted

or motions made or

passed. The

Executive Council is empowered to transact

business and

conduct meetings

electronically, where a quorum is determined by

the

number of members who

participate remotely.

DUTIES OF THE OFFICERS/EXECUTIVE COUNCIL:

The President shall preside at all meetings of the membership and of

the

Executive

Council and perform all other official functions for the

society. If the

President is

unable to preside, the President-elect or a

President pro-tem chosen

by the Executive

Council may conduct the

meeting.

The Secretary shall:

1. maintain an up-to-date list of the members which shall be made

available to

the

membership;

2. maintain and have available a copy of the By-Laws available for

the

information of

any member;

3. record minutes of all ISAER business meetings and Executive

Council meetings;

4. handle correspondence for the Society;

5. prepare an annual report for each ISAER business meeting.

6. when scientific meetings are held, work with the meeting

organizers and the

Program Chair to issue an announcement of the

meeting and call for papers;

The Treasurer shall:

1. collect, disburse, and account for all monies, including those

pertaining to

dues and

meetings;

2. maintain bank accounts;

3. maintain records of dues payments by ISAER members;

4. report changes in paid membership to the Secretary;

5. prepare a Treasurer's report for each ISAER business meeting;

6. oversee the filing of tax documents for the organization, if

necessary.

Until such time as regular scientific meetings are sponsored by ISAER,

communication

among members will be fostered by the maintenance

of a web

site. The contents and

activities available at the ISAER

website will be approved

by the Executive Council.

When scientific

meetings are held, the Program Chair,

in conjunction with the local

organizing committee, and with help from officers of

the Society shall

plan and carry

out the meeting. The Program Chair shall be

responsible for implementing the Society

policy with respect to

meeting conduct

and content. With the approval of the

Executive

Council, the Program Chair shall

have the power to initiate new ideas

meeting format, topic selection, and any

other area he/she believes

will add to free

information exchange in an informal

atmosphere. The

Program Chair shall receive and

review abstracts, and have final

responsibility for all aspects of each ISAER scientific

meeting. The

President-elect

presides at ISAER and Executive Council meetings and

performs other official

functions, if the President is not available. The

immediate Past-

President shall

chair the Awards and Nominating

Committees. The Historian shall

maintain the

historical documents of

the Society, be present at all meetings of the

Executive

Council and

serve as the tie-breaking vote when the Council becomes

deadlocked.

In addition to the duties described above, all members of the

Executive

Council may have additional duties.

STANDING COMMITTEES:

The standing committees shall be the Nominating, Awards,

Communications,

Standards and Local Arrangements Committees.

The Nominating Committee is

appointed by the Executive Council and

it shall propose nominees for elected

positions. Any member may ask

to be nominated or volunteer for service on the

Executive Council.

These names will be circulated to the membership in an

efficient

and

effective manner prior to the election meeting. The Executive

Council

will

designate a Past-President to Chair this committee. The Awards

Committee is

appointed by the Executive Council and it shall oversee

the

development and

distribution of all awards including support for

travel and

research. The

Communications Committee shall oversee all

the ways the ISAER

communicates with

the membership and with

others. Duties include providing for

the maintenance of the

ISAER

website, providing input to the structure and

activities available on

the ISAER

website, ensuring the flow of relevant

information to the

ISAER Newsletter and to the

public, sponsoring ISAER

publications.

The Standards Committee will assemble and

keep current a list of

best practices for use in Emergy Synthesis, Emergy Analysis and

Environmental

Accounting. This duty will include but is not limited to

assembling and

keeping

current a catalog of emergy per unit values, i.

e., transformities, specific

emergies,

and emergy to money ratios.

When ISAER begins to hold annual

conferences,

the Local

Arrangements Committee shall select an appropriate facility for

the

meeting in conjunction with the Executive Council and the Program

Chair. The

Executive Council and the Program Chair shall choose the

chair of the Local

Arrangements committee. The Local Arrangements

committee usually serves for

one

meeting.

ELECTIONS:

Election of the members of the Executive Council shall be by majority

vote of the

electorate. Voting may be done at the Biennial Emergy

Society meeting and/or

electronically by e-mail. Voting by e-mail will

be by a secure password protected

link

and ballots will be secret.

Votes will be counted by the Secretary and the

names of the

new

members shall be announced. In case of a tie, the current

President

of the

Society shall cast the deciding vote.

AMENDMENTS:

Proposed amendments to the ISAER By-laws may be offered at the

annual

meeting.

Amendments shall be circulated to members by an

efficient and

effective manner at

least three weeks prior to meeting

dates. Adoptions of these

amendments shall be by

two-thirds of the

members voting at the meeting.

ACCOUNTING:

The annual accounting period will end December 31 each year.

TRUSTEES:

The Society has four Trustees listed on our incorporation document,

whose

primary

duty is to insure the health and continuance of the

organization. The

Trustees are

legally responsible for the organization’

s actions. The Trustees are

responsible for

determining that the

organization is able to carry out its stated

purpose and functions.

The

Trustees also carry the responsibility to decide if and

when the

organization will

be dissolved. The initial Trustees are Dr. David R.

Tilley, Dr. Daniel E. Campbell, Ms.

Elisabeth C. Odum, and Mr.

Thomas E.

Campbell, Esq. The number of Trustees can be

no less

than 3 and can be

increased according to the needs of the Society.

New

Trustees can be added and

Trustees who retire or can no longer

carry out their duties

will be replaced from

candidates nominated by

the current Trustees and approved by

the Executive

Council.

DISSOLUTION:

In the event of dissolution, any assets of ISAER shall be given to the

International

Society for Systems Sciences to be used to support an

Emergy

Research special

interest group. If this is not possible,

remaining ISAER assets

will be distributed to a

like-minded fund,

foundation or corporation organized

and operated exclusively for

the

purposes specified in section 501 (e) (3) of the

Internal Revenue

Code.

_______________________________________________________

By-Laws of the Emergy Society