Tom Wessels, Author & Professor
at Antioch University New England
"The Myth of Progress: Toward a Sustainable Future"
In this compelling presentation, Wessels will demonstrate how our current path toward progress, based on continual economic expansion and inefficient use of resources, runs absolutely contrary to the 3 Laws of Sustainability, the foundational scientific laws that govern all complex natural systems. It is a myth, he contends, that progress depends on a growing economy. Wessels makes scientific theory readily accessible by offering examples of how the 3 Laws of Sustainability function in the complex systems we can observe in nature and he makes an impassioned argument for cultural change. Tom Wessels is an ecologist and founding director of the master's degree program in Conservation Biology at Antioch University New England. He serves as an ecological consultant to the Rain Forest Alliance's SmartWood Green Certification Program and has conducted landscape level workshops throughout the United States for over 30 years. His books include: Reading the Forested Landscape, The Granite Landscape, Untamed Vermont, and The Myth of Progress: Toward a Sustainable Future. www.upne.com/1-58465-495-3.html
Alisa Gravitz, Executive Director
of Co-op America
"Creating Change: Education & Economic Action for a Just Planet"
Co-op America, an international nonprofit organization - founded in 1982 with over 90,000 individual members and 3,500 green business members - uses many different educational initiatives including social investing, green business, and climate change programs to harness economic power and create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society. Gravitz will describe how the process of building bridges between consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplace works to create change for both the human and environmental good. For over 20 years, Alisa Gravitz has led the Co-op America Foundation in developing marketplace solutions to social and environmental problems. Ms. Gravitz serves as the director of Co-op America's solar program (the Solar Catalyst Group) and is a nationally recognized leader in social investment. She travels the U.S. speaking on sustainability issues, recently appearing on CNN, National Public Radio, and in newspapers around the country including The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times and was named by the Green Business Letter as one of six key people who are changing the way companies think about the environment.
www.coopamerica.org
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