Willamette University Center for Sustainable Communities Events Archive
- Fall 2007
- Spring 2008
- Fall 2008
- Spring 2009
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Fall, 2007
September 17
Democratization of Geographic Literacy
Dr. Michael Goodchild (UC Santa Barbara)
co-sponsoring
September 18
International Marine Policy and Sustainable Fisheries
Dr. Juan Saurez de Vivero (University of Seville)
co-sponsoring with Willamette University College of Law
October 17
Sustainable Building Design
Nathan Good on
co-sponsoring with Salem Audubon Society
October 24
Sustainability Council 4th annual Campus Sustainability Day
co-sponsoring with Willamette University
November 1
Climate Change and Hemispheric Glacial Retreat
Dr. Hester Jiskoot (University of Lethbridge)
sponsoring lecture
November 10-11
3rd annual Willamette Sustainability Retreat
co-sponsoring with Willamette University Sustainability Council
November 13-14
Symposium on Sustainability, Development, and the Pacific Rim
co-sponsoring with Willamette Center for Asian Studies
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Spring, 2008
February 23rd
Sustainable Saturday Film Festival
Grand Theater in Downtown Salem (Noon - 8:30 p.m.)
Admission: $3 per program or $10 day pass
|Schedule and showing information|
The Center for Sustainable Communities is co-sponsoring this event.
February 28
“Evolution: The Last 3000 Million Years”
Dr. Lynn Margulis Talk
Willamette University's Hudson Hall (7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.)
“Independence of any individual from the rest of the biosphere is equivalent to its death.” Renowned biologist Lynn Margulis will talk about how life evolved and its implications for the future of life. Dr. Margulis is Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts. She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1983 and received the Presidential Medal of Science in 1999.
The Center for Sustainable Communities is co-sponsoring with the Friends of Straub Environmental Learning Center
March 10th
Dempsey Lecture
Global Warming: Is the Science Settled Enough For Policy?
Dr. Steven Schneider
Smith Auditorium (8:00 p.m. )
|Dempsey Lecture Invitation and Directions|
Biography
Stephen H. Schneider (born c. 1945) is Professor of Environmental Biology and Global Change (Professor by Courtesy in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering) at Stanford University, a Co-Director at the Center for Environment Science and Policy of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and a Senior Fellow in the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. He has served as a consultant to Federal Agencies and/or White House staff in the Nixon, Carter, Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Clinton and George W. Bush administrations.
His research includes modeling of the atmosphere, climate change, and "the relationship of biological systems to global climate change." He has helped draw public attention to the issue of climate change. He is the founder and editor of the journal Climatic Change. He has authored or co-authored over 450 scientific papers, proceedings, legislative testimonies, edited books and book chapters; some 140 book reviews, editorials, published newspaper and magazine interviews and popularizations. He was a Coordinating Lead Author in Working Group II IPCC TAR; and is currently a co-anchor of the Key Vulnerabilities Cross-Cutting Theme for the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). During the 1980s Schneider emerged as a leading public advocate of sharp reductions of greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming. In 2007 the IPCC shared the Nobel Peace Prize with former US vice president, Al Gore, "for efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change."
Abstract
In the Fourth Assessment Report of the UN-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize), Working Group I states that warming is “unequivocal” and it is “very likely” that human activities are responsible for most of the warming of recent decades. The same report says warming to 2100 is “likely” to be 1.1 – 6.4 degrees C. Working Group II says 1.5 – 2.5 degrees C warming could commit 20-30% of known species to extinction (but only assigns this about a 50% chance). So, what is settled? Some projections are well established, some have competing explanations, yet others are speculative. Thus policy is a risk management judgment, just like most other complex socio-technical systems problems.
The number of people in the world is increasing, and they will undoubtedly demand higher standards of living that likely will be fueled by cheap, available energy sources such as coal for electricity generation and petroleum for gas-consuming large automobiles—sources which emit large amounts of green house gases. There is strong consensus that if this is the case, the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere will double or triple by 2100. Many potentially serious impacts (although not all are negative) are expected. These impacts will be unevenly distributed with the most severe effects being experienced in poorer, warmer places, high mountains and polar regions or in “hurricane alley.” Local, regional, and international actions to put in place both adaptation and mitigation policies are already beginning and much more could be done if there were political will to substantially reduce the magnitude of the risks.
April 1st
"Fair Trade for a Fair World"
Straub Environmental Learning Center (7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.)
A workshop offered on the importance of fair trade for a socially sustainable future. This is the first in a series of workshops developed by the The Friends of Straub Environmental Learning Center and Willamette University's Center for Sustainability. Click here for a flyer containing the dates of all the workshops, and here for an individual flyer concerning the "Fair Trade for a Fair World" workshop.
April 4th
Presidential Climate Change Commitment Summit
If you would like more information please contact Andrea Carlson at 503-370-6654
April 8, 2008
"Sustainable Business Practices"
Straub Environmental Learning Center (7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.)
Learn about opportunities for business sustainability from the Marion County Environmental Services and local Salem businesses that have taken steps to become more sustainable. This is the second in a series of workshops developed by the The Friends of Straub Environmental Learning Center and Willamette University's Center for Sustainability. Click here for a flyer containing the dates of all the workshops, and here for an individual flyer concerning the "Sustainable Business Practices" workshop.
April 10th
Symposium on Sustainability, the Environment, and Faith Communities
“Is God ‘Green?’” The Impact of Religion on Environmental Issues
The Center for Religion, Law and Democracy and the Center for Sustainable Communities will sponsor a conference on April 10, 2008, on the involvement of religious communities in environmental issues.
The conference will feature a keynote by a representative of a national environmental organization that has been involved in religion and environmental issues (to be announced). The keynote will be followed by two panels of representatives from the religious, environmental and academic communities who will discuss the reasons for this heightened interest in environmental issues, the motivations and roles of religious groups in affecting environmental policy, and how these potential political realignments impact the larger policy formation process.
For more information on this event click here.
April 12th
Styrofoam Recycling Event
Sparks Parking Lot (10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.)
The United Methodists of Salem-Keizer, Compost Oregon, Willamette University and Marion County Public Works — Environmental Services will hold a Styrofoam recycling collection event on April 12. Styrofoam may be dropped off at Willamette University’s Sparks parking lot, near the soccer field. The event is 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. or until the collection trailers are full. This event is for clean and dry block packing foams, meat trays, and Styrofoam egg cartons. Foam blocks with tape and construction foams will not be accepted. Packing peanuts will also not be accepted.
The foam will be taken to a Portland business that has the ability to recycle Styrofoam, which is not recyclable through curbside programs in Marion County. The company removes the styrene gas and mixes the foam plastic with other types of plastic which is then sold to a company that makes picture frames.
April 15, 2008
"Household Sustainability"
Straub Environmental Learning Center (7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.)
Make sustainability a part of your everyday life by learning your home or apartment more environmentally friendly. This is the third in a series of workshops developed by the The Friends of Straub Environmental Learning Center and Willamette University's Center for Sustainability. Click here for a flyer containing the dates of all the work workshops, and here for an individual flyer concerning the "Household Sustainability" workshop.
- Siting
- Technology variations and their respective benefits
- Rule of thumb costs
- Evaluation of your organization's opportunities
- Solar: rooftop and ground-mounting
- Biomass: anaerobic digestion and gasification
- Small wind: state of the industry and technology review
- Financing and incentives: power purchase agreements, tax credits and tax credit pass-throughs, and renewable energy credits.
April 17th
Grand Opening of the Centers for Academic Excellence
Hallie Ford Museum of Art (5:00 pm - 8:00 pm )
Please join us for an evening of celebration as President Pelton introduces Willamette University's Centers for Academic Excellence: the Center for Ancient Studies and Archaeology (directed by Lane McGuaghy), the Center for Asian Studies (directed by Juwen Zhang), the Center for the Study of Religion, Law and Democracy (directed by Steve Green), and the Center for Sustainable Communities (directed by Joe Bowersox). These four centers join the preexisting Public Policy and Research Center (directed by Fred Thompson). The directors will give an overview of each of the Centers and be available to answer questions. The Centers are designed to promote cross-disciplinary interaction as well as provide increased opportunities for faculty development, research and scholarship, and provide undergraduates and graduates with opportunities to develop specialized projects in a variety of academic fields. Each center also hosts conferences, colloquia and symposia as well as bring visiting scholars, speakers and practitioners to our campus community. Campus administrators and faculty feel the creation of these centers, rare for a small independent university with a liberal arts focus, will establish Willamette as a place of distinction.
April 22, 2008
"Biodiesel Workshop- Large and Small Scale"
Straub Environmental Learning Center (7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.)
Come learn how to become part of the growing effort to utilize post-consumer recycled waste as fuel. This is the fourth in a series of workshops developed by the The Friends of Straub Environmental Learning Center and Willamette University's Center for Sustainability. Click here for a flyer containing the dates of all the work workshops, and here for an individual flyer concerning the "Biodiesel Workshop- Large and Small Scale" workshop.
April 24th
Integrating Energy and Climate Policy: From Oregon to Washington D.C.
Presented by Ralph Cavanagh
Hudson Hall, Willamette University (7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.)
Energy policy expert Ralph Cavanagh will talk about the inextricable link between energy and climate change policy and what we must do to curb global warming. A graduate of Yale Law School, Cavanagh is co-director of the Natural Resource Defense Council’s energy program. He recently served on the prestigious National Commission on Energy Policy. His many honors include the Heinz Award for Public Policy and the Bonneville Power Administration’s Award for Exceptional Public Service.
The Center for Sustainable Communities is co-sponsoring with Straub Env. Learning Center
| More Information |
April 29, 2008
"Green Cuisine"
Wilson-Hines Room, Goudy Commons, Willamette University (7:00 p.m.)
Come learn about cooking and eating sustainably from top chefs and local farmers as they explain the basics of "green" cuisine and offer delicious samples of sustainable foods. This is the fourth in a series of workshops developed by the The Friends of Straub Environmental Learning Center and Willamette University's Center for Sustainability. Click here for a flyer containing the dates of all the work workshops, and here for an individual flyer concerning the "Green Cuisine" workshop.
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Fall, 2008
September 9th & 30th
Understanding Climate Change:
Science, Policy and Climate Risk Assessment
Presenter: Joshua Skov
Co-sponsored with the University of Oregon
Executive-Style Morning Sessions for Government Managers and Vendors.
The workshops are designed to teach the essential elements of sustainability to inform future decision-making and leadership efforts.
This workshop will focus on three main topics: 1) What climate change is and how will it affect our region. This section will include an introduction to the fundamental terms and science of climate change. 2) What regulations and policies are coming soon. This section will review precedent setting policies from international and regional arenas and finish with local and state frameworks. 3) What it means to assess regulatory risk and physical risk. This section will introduce the basics of greenhouse gas emission inventories–or "carbon footprints"–and background on how changing regulations and climate conditions will change the context and expectations of your work.
September 26th-27th
Willamette University Sustainability Retreat
History and focus: In order to aid planning and assessment efforts, participants in the 2006 retreat identified a set of sustainability indicators for the campus community. Over 2007-2008 academic year, the Sustainability Council, with a lot of help, compiled the data needed to calculate these indicators and produced the first annual report. Come help us: 1) think about how these indicators inform the priorities identified at the 2007 retreat; and 2) "assess the assessment."
October 2nd
Green Building
Presenter: Jerry Yudelson
Paulus Lecture Hall
7:00 pm
Open to public and free
Co-sponsored with the Friends of Straub Environmental Learning Center
Profile: Jerry leads the consulting team at Yudelson Associates. A former national board member of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and a registered professional engineer, he is an expert in the LEED green building rating system. Jerry provides Yudelson Associates’ clients with expert guidance on creating, developing, designing and marketing green building projects and green products, with a focus on market entry strategies.
He has more than 25 years of technical and business experience with renewable energy systems, green building design and environmental planning; leading more than 250 business, technical and marketing consulting assignments. As Sustainability Director for a large regional engineering firm for five years, Jerry assisted project teams with sustainable design and consulting services for commercial and institutional building projects, with a special focus on commercial offices, higher education, housing and public facilities. At Yudelson Associates, he facilitates "ecocharrettes" and green building visioning sessions for clients. As a national trainer for the USGBC, Jerry has trained more than 2,500 people in the LEED rating system. For the U.S. Green Building Council, he chairs the Steering Committee for Greenbuild 2004, 2005 and 2006, the world’s largest green building conferences. In 2000, Jerry co-founded the Green Building Services consulting unit of Portland General Electric.
Long active in public affairs and professional services marketing, Jerry brings a unique capacity for effective communications to each project. In 2004, Jerry’s work was recognized by the “Better Bricks” award of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, as “Green Building Advocate” of the year. He was also named in 2004 as one of the top 25 Green Building Leaders in the Northwest by Sustainable Industries Journal.
October 7th
Fundamentals of Sustainability:
Concepts, Decision Tools and Program Development
Presenter: Joshua Proudfoot
Co-sponsored with the University of Oregon
Executive-Style Morning Sessions for Government Managers and Vendors.
The workshops are designed to teach the essential elements of sustainability to inform future decision-making and leadership efforts.
This workshop will ground you in the fundamentals of what sustainability is and how you can apply it to your thinking and leadership. First, we will define sustainability and the common themes of interest that are associated with sustainability management frameworks. For each theme, we will explain what they are and why they are important. Examples will be provided as well as some common initial strategies to start your team moving towards your goals. Second, we will teach you about life cycle thinking. Through small group work, you will practice using a simple tool that can help you make better decisions about resource allocation. Finally, we will introduce you to the basics of developing a sustainability management program. This will include discussions of planning, governance and integration across divisions.
October 22nd
Campus Sustainability Day
12:00pm-9:00pm
Various Locations on Campus
The Sustainability Council at Willamette University will host Campus Sustainability Day on October 22, 2008 to celebrate Sustainability at Willamette University and our recognition from the National Wildlife Federation as the campus most engaged in sustainable activities.
The event will begin at noon in the Alumni Lounge with President M. Lee Pelton giving an address and the awarding of sustainability mini-grants. Cake and refreshments will be provided.
In Jackson Plaza there will be a Sustainability Fair from 12:00-2:30 p.m. Participants will include local organizations, companies, and student groups advertising their sustainability activities and projects.
After the fair, Willamette’s Bike Shop will be running activities on Brown Field from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m.
In the evening there will be a showing of the “Future of Food” in Smullin 216 at 7:00 pm.
At 9:00 p.m. the University’s coffee shop, the Bistro, will end the day with a Sustainability themed open-mic night.
November 4th
Sustainability Indicators and Assessment for Government Leadership
Presenter: Joshua Skov
Co-sponsored with the University of Oregon
Executive-Style Morning Sessions for Government Managers and Vendors.
The workshops are designed to teach the essential elements of sustainability to inform future decision-making and leadership efforts.
This workshop provides an overview of key issues related to selecting sustainability indicators and leading an assessment in your organization. Topics include: selecting indicators for both internal operations and mission-related services and activities; leveraging information streams and documents; scaling assessment effort and outputs to organizational capacity and resources; developing quantitative and qualitative indicators; and creating appropriate short-term and long- term performance benchmarks.
November 19th
The Decline of Nature and the Challenges to Sustainability
Professor Emeritus Gilbert F LaFreniere
Collins 210
7:30 pm
This lecture links the major findings of The Decline of Nature (Academica Press, 2008) to recent study of long-term environmental problems known as ultra vire (beyond political jurisdiction) challenges to future sustainability in liberal democratic societies. These problems include biodiversity loss, climate change, and nuclear waste.
Major ideas treated in The Decline of Nature include: (1) the collation of evidence proving that agricultural civilizations since the ancient world have altered ecosystems to the point of civilizational deterioration or collapse; (2) that the ecology-based pattern of historical cycles is a preferred interpretation of history over the Western European ideas of historical providence or progress; and (3) that the history of western attitudes and behavior towards nature since classical Greco-Roman and medieval Western European civilization have been more destructive of nature than those of other civilizations, although all have been destructive of their environments.
The contemporary worldviews of Americans lead to particularly destructive treatment of nature because the mythopoeic (Christian) misunderstanding of Earth’s evolutionary ecosystems as “God’s creation,” when combined with post-Enlightenment faith in inevitable material progress through the spread of capitalistic liberal democracies engaged in the technological exploitation of nature-as-resources to produce “the American dream,” together undermine our attempts to preserve species and ecosystems. Moreover, as population growth, overconsumption, and resource constraints impinge upon economic growth and development, more wealth and technological innovation will be dedicated to energy efficiency, which may mitigate global warming. Unfortunately, the preservation of ecosystems and species through the setting aside of more wilderness areas, wildlife corridors, and national parks are likely to be underfunded during this era of shifting to alternative energy sources.
Sponsored by the Center for Sustainable Communities and the Department of Environmental and Earth Sciences
November 20th & 21st
WU Ecosystem Marketplace
1:00-4:00pm on the 20th, 8:00am-4:00pm on the 21st
Montag Den
December 2nd & 4th
Public/Private Partnerships for Sustainability
Presenter: Joshua Proudfoot
Co-sponsored with the University of Oregon
Executive-Style Morning Sessions for Government Managers and Vendors.
The workshops are designed to teach the essential elements of sustainability to inform future decision-making and leadership efforts.
Large environmental changes can't be made from technological innovation alone, nor can they happen solely with regulation and / or awareness campaigns. Partnering with those who have aligned goals or the tools to implement them is necessary for making large scale changes happen. This workshop will focus on the skills and processes necessary for moving organizational goals forward. Case studies pertaining to water quality and habitat restoration, as well as diesel and climate efforts will be presented by public and private organizations.
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Spring 2009
February 6th
Counting on the Environment Session II
February 17th
Onsite Renewables 101
Presenter: Joshua Proudfoot
9:00 am-Noon
Willamette University Alumni Lounge, 3rd Floor University
Learn the fundamentals of onsite renewable power generation from public, private and non-profit sector experts. This workshop is intended for major facility directors, directors of operations, and capital development managers. All of the basics aspects will be presented:
Generation types included:
This workshop will be fast paced so be prepared to take notes and exchange business cards at the end of the workshop.
Co-sponsored with the University of Oregon
March 6
"Our Environmental Destiny"
Presenter: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
7th Annual Dempsey Lecture on Environmental Issues
8:00 pm
Salem Conference Center
Prominent environmental activist and attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will address “Our Environmental Destiny” Friday, March 6 at 8 p.m. at the Salem Conference Center as part of the Willamette University Dempsey Lecture Series on Environmental Issues.
Kennedy will discuss the role natural resources play in our work, health and identity as Americans, while reminding us that we have a responsibility to protect and preserve our planet for future generations. The lecture will be in the Willamette River Room at the Salem Conference Center, 200 Commercial St. SE.
Click here for more information.
Co-sponsored with the Dempsey Foundation.
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