Ed Quevedo, Sustainability Expert

09/09/03

Contributed by Nancy Pierce

Edward Quevedo, director of environmental management and sustainability programs at WSP Environmental North America, joins us as a special consultant.

Quevedo is an environmental lawyer and internationally recognized sustainability expert. He has taught environmental management and environmental law at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. He is very familiar with other universities' efforts to develop curriculum around the theme of sustainability. Quevedo will be giving three public lectures and one faculty development workshop during his stay.

Wednesday, September 17

12:00-12:50, Park 210
"Fast Cars, Forward Thinking: Sustainable Management at BMW"

This dialogue will cover how one German automotive manufacturer, BMW Group, based in Munich, has redefined sustainable business practices. We will focus on several aspects of the business, including Sustainability Management Systems (SMS) in BMW's plant operations, hydrogen propulsion, participation in the United Nations Global Compact, enrollment in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, community service and corporate social responsibility, and commitments to sustainable development.

2:30 -4:30 p.m., Klingenstein Lounge
"Why Higher Education Curriculum Should Teach Sustainability and How to Best Do It" -- curriculum seminar and discussion

During this workshop, Quevedo will discuss how other colleges have successfully infused sustainability into the curriculum and why and how we might do it successfully at Ithaca. Also, Ithaca College faculty who have received summer grants to incorporate sustainability into their courses will share their insights. Sponsored by the coordinating team of the National Science Foundation "Applying Science to Sustainability" grant, the Office of the Provost, and the Center for Faculty Excellence.

7:00 p.m., Park Auditorium
"Activism, Democracy, and the Role of the University in Troubled Times"

In this engagement, the speaker and the audience will consider the role of the citizen and the corporation in propagating peace and prosperity in the new democracy being crafted in the post-September 11, 2001, world. Themes addressed will include:

Educational policy and our ability or will to invest in any meaningful improvements in the teaching of sustainability and active citizenship in our schools
Citizenship and the role of the citizen in troubled and confusing times
Activism and the importance of maintaining an activist frame of mind while being a patriot and a citizen of the world, as well
Environmental stewardship and the duty we all have to undertake a more active role in reducing the enormous burden that our society, and globalization in general, place on the limited pool of natural resources
Peace and the possibilities and options for reversing decades of warmongering and adventurism in American foreign policy

Thursday, September 18

9:00 a.m.-noon, City Council Chambers, City Hall
"Regional Sustainability Management Systems (SMS) and Realizing the Dream of Sustainable Development"

This session is designed to introduce participants to SMS as a regional development tool. We will explore the meaning of sustainable development, of management systems as a tool for making more rational choices within the regional planning process, and bring these understandings to bear on:

The economic development process of a region such as Tompkins County
The growth and development challenges of such a vibrant region, and how SMS can help to bring these challenges into focus
Collaboration at a new level and in a new dimension, among public and private organizations, made possible by the SMS model
The experience of Sonoma County, California, in using the SMS model to make progress in regional planning and development.

Contributed by Susan Allen-Gil

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