|
|
|
Sustainability Practice Network: 2011-12 Meeting Program
September 20 2011, 6-8 pm
Co-host
The Robert Zicklin Center for Corporate Integrity
Baruch College CUNY
Venue: Steven Newman Real Estate Institute 151 E. 25th St. Room 750 (between Lex. and 3rd Aves.)
Panelists: Jon Dickinson, Senior Policy Advisor on Climate Change, Mayor’s Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability; Chris Zeppie, Director of Environmental Policy, Programs and Compliance, Port Authority of New York, New Jersey; David Kooris, Vice President and Director, CT. and Hudson Valley, Regional Plan Association; Invited: Cynthia Rosensweig, GISS, William Solecki, CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities, Jake Baker, Deutsch Bank
Moderator: TBD
Challenged by increasing temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, sea level rise, as well as intense and frequent weather events, how will large urban centers like New York City, as well as smaller communities, adapt to climate change vulnerabilities? Efforts to limit climate change are no longer enough - we need to develop a response that pairs climate mitigation with adaptation strategies.
Climate effects may result in coastal erosion and associated damage to ports, roads, and other coastal infrastructure, flooding, salinity intrusion into water supplies, and inadequacy of existing infrastructure to handle these changes. Cities around the world will have to invest in costly infrastructure as well as develop public health and natural disaster response strategies. How do we predict the effects of climate change on a local level? How do we identify vulnerabilities and ways to adapt?
Join the SPN panel of experts to review the current state of climate change research and preparation in NYC and other urban centers. We will explore the issues of infrastructure, environmental and economic changes, and discuss tools to develop adaptation strategies and recommendations on how to achieve an effective climate resilience program.
Please RSVP events@sustainabilitypractice.net
December 6 2011, 6-8 pm
Venue: NYU Stern / Social Enterprise Association – Kaufman Management Center , 44 West 4th Street
NYC NY - Gitlow Amphitheater - Room 1-70.
Panelists: Arrun Kapoor, Managing Director for SJF Ventures; Riggs Kubiak, Founder, Honest Buildings; Ben Flanner, Owner, Brooklyn Grange; Andrew Zolli, Executive Director and Curator of PopTech;
Moderator: Michael Block, Executive Director, Sustainability Practice Network
Sustainability can help create innovative opportunities to improve environmental and social performance to create profitable growth. Companies, start-ups and nonprofits are focusing on new business models to achieve this. Representatives from business, academia, government and NGO’s will discuss the macro market conditions driving ‘sustainable value creation’ both culturally and operationally. Current innovations in clean technology, product life cycle analysis, supply chain including shared resources, and social media will be explored.
Join the Sustainable Practice Network's panel of entrepreneurs and sustainability leaders to discuss how their businesses and organizations are using innovation to drive sustainability. Some of the topics to be discussed include: Where are sustainability-driven innovators headed and what can other companies learn from them? How do companies internalize a culture and process to ensure consistent innovation?
Please RSVP events@sustainabilitypractice.net
January 31 2012, 6-8 pm
Venue: Green Spaces - 394 Broadway, 5th floor (btw Walker & White); New York , NY 10013
Panelists:
Jen Abrams, Our Goods; Ron J. Williams, SnapGoods; Paul Steely White Transportation Alternatives; Danya Cheskis-Gold, Skillshare.
Moderator: TBD
With an economy in the most pronounced recession since the Great Depression, more people are reassessing the value of our consumer culture and scaling back on purchases. In response, many people are turning to collaborative consumption to save money and build community. Collaborative consumption is an economic model of sharing, swapping, bartering, renting or borrowing access to products as opposed to ownership. According to The Economist, collaborative consumption is a part of the “thought-provoking sector of 2012” and was identified by Time in 2010 as one of the 10 ideas that will change the world. The concept of reusing or sharing goods and services isn’t new. For years, people have used some kind of product sharing: libraries, laundromats, Goodwill and Salvation Army donation centers, public and private housing collectives and salvage centers. The internet and social media communities are enabling market behavior to be reinvented in a way, and on a scale, not possible before their advent. The web has fueled large marketplaces such as eBay and Craigslist, as well as people-centric marketplaces such as Tradepal and Taskrabbit, that help connect people with their neighbors for goods and services. There are also emerging sectors, such as social lending (Zopa), sharing residential property with travelers (CouchSurfing, Airbnb), and car sharing (Zipcar, Getaround, RelayRides). Why buy a college textbook only to sell it a few months later when you can rent one for the semester? Why pay $400 for a tiny hotel room in Manhattan when you can rent someone’s charming one bedroom in Soho or funky East Village pad via airbnb for $200 a night? As the marketplace grows, building trust and quality metrics is critical. Come hear SPN panel experts discuss the implications of this significant social and economic trend and the challenges collaborative consumption faces as the market grows.
Please RSVP events@sustainabilitypractice.net
February 21 2012, 6-8 pm
Venue: NYU Stern / Social Enterprise Association, Kauffman Management Center 44 West 4th Street New York NY 10012
Panelists: Cheryl Heller, Chair of the Design for Social Innovation program at the School of Visual Arts; Ben Bixby, CEO of MyEnergy.com; Ellen Honigstock Director of Construction Education at the Urban Green Council.
Moderator: Conan Magee, Product Development at MSCI ESG Research
This panel will discuss how game-design principles are being used to promote sustainability.
Games motivate people to voluntarily take on hard work, but they are as popular as they are for a reason -- they provide a rewarding challenge, with constant feedback and a clear set of goals. Recently, the idea of "gamification," or employing game-design principles in business and everyday life, has caught the imagination of innovators in various fields. As a result, game-like experiences are helping people to eat healthier, consume less energy, recycle more, be more engaged in school, and even innovate solutions to disease and poverty.
Our panelists are among those who are pushing the envelope in better design for sustainability.
Please RSVP events@sustainabilitypractice.net
|
| |
