The Challenge of Sustainability

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We will be joined by scientists, economists, agriculturists, ecologists, architects, attorneys, and policy analysts who will offer perspectives from industry, academia, and non-profit organizations. The symposium will consider the many facets of sustainability—including what it adds to traditional environmental protection, and how refocusing on the challenge of sustainability can help us live in balance with the earth.

The symposium opens with a keynote lecture by Pamela Matson, Dean of the School of Earth Sciences at Stanford University. She will address sustainability's promise: how we can create a society that meets the needs of both people and the planet in the 21st century.

ext, speakers will lay the foundation for understanding sustainability's three pillars of environment, economic development, and equity—including its intersection with population and consumption. We also will look at sustainability in context, seeing its application by corporations, and in transportation, electronic waste, and energy.

Friday will close with a keynote lecture by M. A. Sanjayan, the lead scientist for The Nature Conservancy. On Saturday, we will reconvene for a discussion of sustainability in the American West. Talks will center on water, oceans, agriculture, green building and architecture, and biodiversity and wildlife corridors. Author, activist, and environmentalist Chip Ward closes the symposium with a keynote address on charting a path to a sustainable future.