SOLUTIONS SEMINAR SERIES

Welcome to the Solutions Seminar Series. Speakers are scheduled weekly through April 27, 2010 (full schedule below). There is no need to join or subscribe to watch the webinar each week. To join the discussion, instructions can be found below. This webinar will be webcast from the University of Vermont as part of a spring seminar series supported by Solutions, Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, US Society for Ecological Economics, and Institute for Global Sustainability. Webinars will be recorded and cataloged on this page.

To watch the seminar, just click on the play button on the window below at the time of the talk. To join the blog conversation, to ask the speaker questions, type a character in the window below the conversation, hit enter, this will bring you to a new page, then click the "Sign up" button.

Speaker: Herman Daly
Title: From a Failed-Growth Economy to a Steady-State Economy
Date: April 27, 2010; 11:30am-12:45pm EST (University of Vermont, 104 Aiken Building)

Dr. Daly began as a Professor at Maryland School of Public Affairs after working at the World Bank as a Senior Economist in the Environment Department, helping to develop policy guidelines related to sustainable development. While there, he was engaged in environmental operations work in Latin America. Before joining the World Bank, Daly was Alumni Professor of Economics at Louisiana State University. He is a co-founder and on the editorial board of the journal, Ecological Economics. His interest in economic development, population, resources, and environment has resulted in over a hundred articles as well as numerous books, including Steady-State Economics (1977; 1991), Valuing the Earth (1993), Beyond Growth (1996), and Ecological Economics and the Ecology of Economics (1999). He is co-author with theologian John B. Cobb, Jr. of For the Common Good (1989; 1994) which received the Grawemeyer Award for ideas for improving World Order. He is a recipient of the Honorary Right Livelihood Award (Sweden's alternative to the Nobel Prize), the Heineken Prize for Environmental Science from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Sophie Prize (Norway).

To join the conversation, type a character in the window below the conversation, hit enter, then click the "Sign up" button.

Speaker: Jon Isham
Title: The Challenge of Getting to 350: On Accelerating Large Scale Clean-Energy and Carbon-Sequestration Solutions from 2010 to 2020
Location: University of Vermont, 104 Aiken Building
Watch Video: Part 1 | Part 2

Jonathan Isham Jr. is an Associate Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies at Middlebury College, where he has worked since 1999. His research encompasses a broad range of questions about institutional determinants of well-being and sustainability. He is currently the Guest Editor of the forthcoming special edition of Solutions, ‘Getting to 350.’ With Middlebury students, he co-organized “What Works? New Strategies for a Melting Planet,” a January 2005 conference which helped to launch the climate movement. He is the co-editor of Ignition: What You Can Do to Fight Global Warming and Spark a Movement (Island Press, 2007) and the co-founder of Brighter Planet, a climate-services company based in Middlebury VT. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Brighter Planet, Climate Counts, and St. George's School; the Advisory Board of Focus the Nation, Kids vs. Global Warming, and the National Teach-In on Global Warming Solutions; and is a volunteer for Vice President Gore’s Climate Project. He has an AB in Anthropology from Harvard College, an MA in International Studies from Johns Hopkins University, and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Maryland. He and his wife Tracy Himmel Isham and their three daughters live in Cornwall VT.

Speaker: Michael Woolcock
Title: Solutions when the Solution is the Problem: Reflections on the Analytics, Politics and Practice of Getting to 350
Location: University of Vermont, 104 Aiken Building
Watch Video: Part 1 | Part 2

Michael Woolcock is a Senior Social Scientist with the World Bank's Development Research Group, where he has worked since 1998. His research draws on a range of disciplinary theories and methods to explore the social dimensions of economic development. Its focus is the survival and mobility strategies of the poor, in particular the efficacy of local-level legal and political institutions, which has culminated in a forthcoming book (joint with Patrick Barron and Rachael Diprose) for Yale University Press on local conflict dynamics and participatory development projects in rural Indonesia. His more analytical work examines the capacity of the international aid architecture to solve complex problems, and the contributions that historians and novelists can make to development policy. An Australian national, he has an MA and PhD in sociology from Brown University; in 2002 he was the Von Hugel Visiting Fellow at St Edmund's College, University of Cambridge, and from 2000-2006 was a (part-time) Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. He has recently completed a three year period of external service leave as the founding Research Director of the Brooks World Poverty Institute at the University of Manchester, and is a team member for the forthcoming World Development Report on fragile states.

Speaker: Wes Jackson
Title: The Oldest Environmental Problem Must and Can Be Solved
Location: Sheraton Burlington Hotel and Conference Center, Emerald Ballroom

Wes Jackson, President of The Land Institute (founded in 1976), was born in 1936 on a farm near Topeka, Kansas. After attending Kansas Wesleyan (B.A Biology, 1958), he studied botany (M.A. University of Kansas, 1960) and genetics (Ph.D. North Carolina State University, 1967). He was a professor of biology at Kansas Wesleyan and later established the Environmental Studies program at California State University, Sacramento, where he became a tenured full professor. He resigned that position in 1976.

Dr. Jackson’s writings include both papers and books. His most recent work, Rooted in the Land: Essays on Community and Place, co-edited with William Vitek, was released by Yale University Press in 1996. Becoming Native to This Place was published in 1994 and sketches his vision for the resettlement of America's rural communities. Altars of Unhewn Stone appeared in 1987 and Meeting the Expectations of the Land, edited with Wendell Berry and Bruce Colman, was published in 1984. New Roots for Agriculture, 1980, outlines the basis for the agricultural research at The Land Institute.

The work of The Land Institute has been featured extensively in the popular media including The Atlantic Monthly, Audubon, National Geographic, Time Magazine, The MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour, and National Public Radio's "All Things Considered." Life magazine named Wes Jackson as one of 18 individuals they predict will be among the 100 "important Americans of the 20th century." In the November 2005 issue, Smithsonian named him one of “35 Who Made a Difference.” He is a recipient of the Pew Conservation Scholars award (1990), a MacArthur Fellowship (1992), and Right Livelihood Award (Stockholm), known as “Alternative Nobel Prize” (2000).

Speaker: Richard Wolfson
Title: Understanding 350
Location: University of Vermont, 104 Aiken Building
Video: Part 1 | Part 2

Richard Wolfson is Benjamin F. Wissler Professor of Physics at Middlebury College, where he also teaches environmental studies. He did undergraduate work at MIT and Swarthmore, double-majoring in physics and philosophy. He holds a master’s in environmental studies from the University of Michigan, and PhD in physics from Dartmouth. Current research solar physics and terrestrial climate change. Other published work encompasses medical physics, plasma physics, solar energy engineering, electronic circuit design, nuclear issues, observational astronomy, and theoretical astrophysics. His books Nuclear Choices: A Citizen’s Guide to Nuclear Technology (MIT Press, 1993) and Simply Einstein: Relativity Demystified (W.W. Norton, 2003), exemplify Wolfson’s interest in making science accessible to nonscientists. Textbooks include Physics for Scientists and Engineers (co-authored with Jay Pasachoff), Essential University Physics (Addison-Wesley, 2007), Energy, Environment, and Climate (W.W. Norton, 2008), and Essential College Physics (Addison-Wesley, 2010), coauthored with Andrew Rex. Wolfson has published in Scientific American and World Book Encyclopedia. He has produced three video courses for The Teaching Company: Einstein’s Relativity and the Quantum Revolution: Modern Physics for Nonscientists (1999), Physics in Your Life (2004), and Earth’s Changing Climate (2007). Wolfson has spent sabbaticals at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado; at St. Andrews University in Scotland; and at Stanford University. In 2009 he was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

Speaker: 350.org organizers: Phil Aroneanu, Will Bates, Kelly Blynn, May Boeve, Jamie Henn, Bill McKibben, Jeremy Osborn, Jon Warnow
Title: Getting to 350: What's Next for the Climate Movement?
Location: University of Vermont, 104 Aiken Building
Video: Part 1 | Part 2

October 24th, 2009 was called "the most widespread day of political action in the planet's history," with more than 5200 events in 181 countries. Through these and related events, citizens from all over the world increased pressure on world leaders to adopt a fair, ambitious, and binding treaty, the kind of treaty that the latest science demands. As this new decade gets underway, movement leaders are reflecting on what has worked and what should come next. In this talk, the founders of 350.org will briefly review their involvement in the climate movement over the last five years and then lead a round-table discussion with the theme: "What next?"

Phil Aroneanu, Will Bates, Kelly Blynn, May Boeve, Jamie Henn, Bill McKibben, Jeremy Osborn, Jon Warnow are the co-founders and leaders of 350.org, which helped coordinate the International Day of Climate Action on October 24, 2009. They were also the co-founders of Step It Up, which helped coordinate two majors days of action in the United States and successfully forced elected officials to embrace the target of 80% reductions of US emissions by 2050. Bill McKibben, a scholar-in-residence at Middlebury College, is the author of the forthcoming Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet. Aroneanu, Bates, Blynn, Boeve, Henn, Osborn, and Warnow are Middlebury College graduates and the recipients of many honors for their national and global leadership. With Bill McKibben, they co-authored Fight Global Warming: The Handbook for Taking Action in Your Community (Holt Paperbacks, 2007).

Speaker: Kristen Sheeran
Title: Economics of 350: The Benefits and Costs of Climate Stabilization
Location: University of Vermont, 104 Aiken Building
Video: Part 1 | Part 2

Dr. Kristen Sheeran is the executive director of Economics for Equity and the Environment Network (E3). E3 is a national network of economists developing new arguments for environmental protection based on a commitment to social justice. Her own research is focused on the tension between equity and efficiency in public goods provision, the political economy of environmental policy, and climate change mitigation. She is author of Saving Kyoto (New Holland, 2009) with Graciela Chichilnisky. In addition to her popular writing about economics and the environment and publications for the E3 Network, she as published scholarly articles in Environmental and Resource Economics, Ecological Economics, Climatic Change, Journal of Economic Issues, Eastern Economic Journal, as well as others. Prior to her role with Economics for Equity and the Environment Network, she was an associate professor of economics at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

Speaker: Randy Kritkausky
Title: China and the Journey to Addressing Climate Change: Traveling the Silk Route Versus Hitting the Great Wall
Location: University of Vermont, 104 Aiken Building
Video: Watch it NOW!

Randy Kritkausky is president of ECOLOGIA, an international organization based in Middlebury Vermont. He is a Research Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College and an Erasmus Mundus Scholar in the Masters in Environmental Sciences, Policy and Management (MESPOM) program centered at the Central European University in Budapest. In these capacities bridging academia and the international non-profit world, Randy works to create opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, professors, environmental activists, and NGO project directors to collaborate in developing culturally sensitive and economically viable solutions to global environmental challenges such as climate change. ECOLOGIA’s programs focus on China and on the development and implementation of international standards. Climate change came onto ECOLOGIA’s horizon when it participated in the creation of ISO 14064, a global standard on greenhouse gas accounting. Bill McKibben described this work in an Orion magazine article entitled “When Boring Is Beautiful”.

Most recently, Randy has spent time working with Chinese companies and entrepreneurs that contradict the notion that Chinese business culture universally ignores environmental and social responsibility. ECOLOGIA programs in China support the development of environmentally friendly supply chains with grants from Ford Foundation China, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and private donations.

Speaker: Alan Betts
Title: Rules for Managing the Earth System
Location: University of Vermont, 104 Aiken Building
Video: Watch it NOW!

Dr. Alan Betts of Atmospheric Research in Pittsford is Vermont’s leading climate researcher. He is a frequent speaker on climate change issues around the state and served on two working groups of the Governor’s Climate Change Commission. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the American Meteorological Society (AMS), the Royal Meteorological Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a past-president of the Vermont Academy of Science and Engineering. He is the author or co-author of more than 140 reviewed papers in the scientific literature. He was the AMS Robert E. Horton Lecturer in Hydrology, 2004; and the AMS Jule G. Charney Award winner in 2007. He is a commentator for Vermont Public Radio, and a columnist for the Sunday Environment section of the Rutland Herald/Montpelier Times-Argus.

Atmospheric Research was established in Vermont in 1979. Its mission is to understand the earth’s climate, to develop improved earth system models and to help society understand the deep challenge that global climate change presents to humanity.

Speaker: John Passacantando
Title: Reboot the Environmental Movement
Location: University of Vermont, 104 Aiken Building
Video: Watch NOW!

Passacantando’s career has taken him from Wall Street to philanthropy to a leading role in the global fight to stop climate change. He worked for Jude Wanniski -the “high priest” of supply side economics - and is a committed practitioner of non-violent civil disobedience as taught by Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. He has a master’s degree in economics from New York University, as well as a record of a dozen arrests for engaging in peaceful protest. He has been quoted in every major newspaper, appeared on most major news programs and has been a regular commentator on environmental issues for Fox News programs.

Passacantando completed eight years as executive director of Greenpeace USA in 2008, the longest serving director in the history of the organization. Prior to Greenpeace, Passacantando founded and ran Ozone Action (1992-2000), the country's first national non profit focusing exclusively on global warming. He also served as the executive director of the Florence and John Schumann Foundation, where he directed resources to the grassroots renewal of democracy.

Passacantando now runs a business to provide the strategic thinking for sustainable energy and development projects and then helps deploy them in order to get these jobs done in “real time.” His specialty is opposition management -- finding ways around the resistance of the ingrained fossil fuel industry in order that a green energy economy can emerge. He also provides training in opposition management and has served on the advisory board of the National Association of Environmental Managers.

Additionally, Passacantando is developing a complementary non profit venture, the Eco-Accountability Fund, providing resources to bolster the opposition research lacking in environmental campaigns.

Speaker: Tim Kasser
Title: Human Identity and Environmental Challenges
Location: University of Vermont, 104 Aiken Building
Video: Part 1 | Part 2

After receiving his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Rochester, Tim Kasser accepted a position at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, where he is currently Professor and Chair of Psychology. He has authored over seventy scientific articles and book chapters on materialism, values, goals, and quality of life, among other topics. Tim is also the author of The High Price of Materialism (MIT Press, 2002), co-editor of Psychology and Consumer Culture (APA, 2004) and co-author of Meeting Environmental Challenges: The Role of Human Identity (WWF-UK, 2009). He spends a good deal of his time working with activist groups that try to protect children from commercialization and that encourage a more “inwardly rich” lifestyle than what is offered by consumerism. Tim lives with his wife, two sons, and assorted animals in the Western Illinois countryside.

Speaker: Cliff Duke
Title: Linking Ecological Research, Management, and You
Location: University of Vermont, 104 Aiken Building
Video: Part 1 | Part 2

Cliff Duke received his B.A. in Biology and Environmental Studies from the University of Vermont in 1977, and a Ph.D. in Botany (1985) and an M.A. in Public Policy Science from Duke University (1986). Since 2003, he has directed the Office of Science Programs for the Ecological Society of America (ESA), which promotes the continued development of ecological science and its integration into decision-making and education. The ESA Science Office, which originated with ESA’s Sustainable Biosphere Initiative in 1992, focuses on the application of ecological science to environmental problem solving. The Office works with ESA members, other professional societies, and public agencies to develop workshops and publications on a variety of topics related to ecosystem sustainability, global change, and biodiversity. Current projects include a series of reports on biofuels and sustainability; data sharing and archiving initiatives; and support for ESA’s Emerging Issues Conference Series.

Before joining the ESA staff, Dr. Duke worked for fourteen years in environmental consulting, managing preparation of environmental impact statements and ecological risk assessments for Department of Defense and Department of Energy facilities. He previously held postdoctoral positions at Northeastern University, Wellesley College, and Harvard University. He currently serves on the Steering Committee of the Sustainable Rangelands Roundtable and the Service to the Scientific Community Working Group of the AAAS Science and Human Rights Coalition.

Speaker: Peter Fox-Penner
Title: Smart Power: Climate Change, The Smart Grid, and the Future of Electric Utilities
Location: University of Vermont, 104 Aiken Building
Video: Watch NOW!

Dr. Peter Fox-Penner is a consulting executive and internationally recognized authority on energy and electric power industry issues. He is a principal and chairman emeritus of The Brattle Group, a leading international economic consulting firm. He is on the advisory boards of GridPoint and Enviance, and is a frequent speaker and author on energy issues. Dr. Fox-Penner recently finished his second book, Smart Power: Climate Change, The Smart Grid, and the Future of Electric Utilities.

In his consulting practice, Dr. Fox-Penner advises energy companies, government agencies, and their counsels on energy regulatory and market policy issues. Although his work has spanned most areas within the energy field, his current primary focus is on electric industry competition and structure, global climate change, and energy efficiency policies.

Dr. Fox-Penner’s background includes co-founding Environment2004, the Environmental Alliance, and Patriot's Energy Pledge; service as a senior official in the U.S. Department of Energy and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; and staff positions in the Illinois Governor’s office. He has a Ph.D. in economics from the business school at the University of Chicago and M.S. and B.S. degrees in engineering from the University of Illinois.

Speaker: Amy Seidl
Title: The Pragmatics of Getting to 350
Location: University of Vermont, 104 Aiken Building
Video: Part 1 | Part 2

Amy L. Seidl is an author, ecologist, and Research Scholar in the Environmental Studies Program at Middlebury College. Her research has focused on a broad range of ecological questions including plant/insect dynamics, butterfly ecology and evolution, and the effect of global warming on alpine communities. More recently her investigations in sustainability science have included farm-methane electricity generation and renewable energy generation in northern latitudes. Amy is the author of Early Spring: An Ecologist and Her Children Wake to a Warming World (Beacon Press, 2009) and the forthcoming Moving to Higher Ground: Adaptation, Evolution, and Persistence in Uncertain Times (Beacon Press, 2011). Amy received a Doctorate in Biology from the University of Vermont, a Masters in Entomology from Colorado State University, and a Bachelor of Arts from Hampshire College. She has taught in the Environmental Programs at UVM and Middlebury College. Amy, her husband Dan, and their two daughters live in Huntington, Vermont.

Speaker: Herman Daly
Title: From a Failed-Growth Economy to a Steady-State Economy
Location: University of Vermont, 104 Aiken Building
Video: Watch NOW!

Dr. Daly began as a Professor at Maryland School of Public Affairs after working at the World Bank as a Senior Economist in the Environment Department, helping to develop policy guidelines related to sustainable development. While there, he was engaged in environmental operations work in Latin America. Before joining the World Bank, Daly was Alumni Professor of Economics at Louisiana State University. He is a co-founder and on the editorial board of the journal, Ecological Economics. His interest in economic development, population, resources, and environment has resulted in over a hundred articles as well as numerous books, including Steady-State Economics (1977; 1991), Valuing the Earth (1993), Beyond Growth (1996), and Ecological Economics and the Ecology of Economics (1999). He is co-author with theologian John B. Cobb, Jr. of For the Common Good (1989; 1994) which received the Grawemeyer Award for ideas for improving World Order. He is a recipient of the Honorary Right Livelihood Award (Sweden's alternative to the Nobel Prize), the Heineken Prize for Environmental Science from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Sophie Prize (Norway).