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Raleigh, NC 27695
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Media Contacts:
Betty Owen, Director, Emerging Issues Forum, 919/515-7741
[email protected]
Debbie Griffith, News Services, 919/515-3470
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Jan. 16, 1998
Sustainable Development Is Focus of Emerging Issues Forum
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
People and the environment constitute a fragile partnership. How that partnership will evolve and how it can be strengthened will be the focus of the 1998 Emerging Issues Forum at North Carolina State University's McKimmon Center on Feb. 26-27.
"People and Planet: A Fragile Partnership" will focus on the issue of sustainable development and offer perspectives on such issues as global warming, water and air pollution, biodiversity and the preservation of our oceans and the creatures that live there.
Speakers at the forum this year will share their visions for building a sustainable world community, but the speakers are not just great thinkers. They have experienced the world and have changed it for the better. Some have explored the unknown at the bottom of the sea, while others have created earth-friendly habitations. Others have redefined communities, established profitable businesses and unlocked the secrets of nature. All of them have achieved these things following the ethic of environmental sustainability.
The lineup includes:
*Daniel S. Goldin, NASA chief administrator, who championed environmental monitoring conducted through NASA's "Mission to Planet Earth";
*Paul Hawken, well-known businessman, environmentalist and best-selling author;
*Ray C. Anderson, co-chairman of the President's Council on Sustainable Development, and chief executive officer of Interface Inc.;
*Michael Robinson, director of the National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C.;
*John O. Norquist, mayor of Milwaukee and an advocate for improving urban design;
*Sylvia Earle, explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society, who has spent her life studying marine ecosystems;
*John L. Knott Jr., chief executive officer of Island Preservation Partnership, developers of Dewees Island, S.C., and
*Theodore L. Hullar, director of the Center for the Environment at Cornell University. Several additional speakers will be named in the coming weeks.
Betty Owen, director of the Emerging Issues Forum said, "These are people who have solutions. They are upbeat and optimistic about the future of our environment. They will be here to engage discussions about what can be done and what is being done to guard the environment, yet to encourage responsible growth."
The Emerging Issues Forum, now in its 13th year, is hosted by NC State Chancellor Larry K. Monteith. Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. is founding chairman of the forum, which is designed to bring the highest levels of enlightened public policy debate to the people of North Carolina. The forum regularly convenes symposia, conferences and discussion groups that bring leaders together with top thinkers, analysts and decision makers from across the nation and the world.
Chancellor Monteith said, "NC State University has chosen to focus on the environment this year because the university has a legacy of finding solutions to environmental problems. In fact, NC State is known as the pre-eminent resource for information about the environment. This year's forum expands on that role."
Gov. Hunt said, "I encourage business and government leaders, scientists, public policy makers and everyone who is concerned about the environment to join me at the Emerging Issues Forum this year. I consider this discussion a critically important one for communities here and around the globe."
Registration for the forum is open through Feb. 16. For information or to register, contact Sharon Wade, Emerging Issues Forum, Box 7401, Raleigh, NC 27695-7401, or call (919) 515-7741. Admission is $150, which includes entry to the two-day conference and all meals and materials. Check the forum website at http://www2.ncsu.edu/emerging_issues.
The forum will begin on Thursday morning, Feb. 26, with an opening address, "Sustainable Development: How Far Have We Come and Where Do We Need to Go?" by Ray C. Anderson, co-chairman of the President's Council on Sustainable Development.
Anderson will recount the changes in his personal views of the environment from skeptic to avid supporter of environmental concerns. He is chairman of Interface Inc., one of the world's largest interior furnishings companies, which has led a industry push to end waste and pioneer the processes of sustainable development.
Later, Theodore L. Hullar's presentation will discuss how universities can respond to environmental problems. Hullar is director of the Cornell University Center for the Environment. The center's mission is to foster research, teaching and outreach on environmental issues with the goal of enhancing the quality of life, encouraging economic vitality and conserving natural resources.
NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin will begin the first afternoon session on Feb. 26 with an address, "Mission to Planet Earth." He will demonstrate his agency's capacity for photographic analysis of oceanic and atmospheric conditions on the planet. Early in his administration, Goldin identified the environmental monitoring to be done through NASA's "Mission to Planet Earth" as one of the agency's most important programs.
The second afternoon session on Feb. 26 will feature Dr. Sylvia Earle, an undersea explorer, who will discuss, "Exploring the Deep Frontier: Lessons Learned During a Lifetime of Undersea Expeditions."
Earle is a marine biologist and Explorer in Residence at the National Geographic Society. Her career as an explorer and biologist has taken her on scientific expeditions all over the world. She was a part of an all-female research expedition in 1970 during which five women lived for two weeks in a structure 50 feet below the surface of the ocean. In 1979, she walked untethered on the sea floor at a depth of 1,250 feet, and later worked with engineers to design and build undersea vehicles.
Michael H. Robinson, director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Zoological Park, will speak on "Living with Creatures of Land and Sea." He is an animal behaviorist and a tropical biologist. Prior to his appointment to the National Zoo in May 1984, he was acting director and deputy director of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama.
On the second day of the conference, speakers will focus on how the environment must figure in community development in economics and commerce. Speakers will highlight environmental progress, as well as those areas in which significant improvement is needed to establish and maintain a high quality of life for all beings on Planet Earth.
John O. Norquist, mayor of Milwaukee, will discuss "The New Urbanism: How Do We Want to Live?" Norquist is known as a prominent participant in national discussions of urban design and educational issues.
John Knott, chief executive officer of Dewees Island in Charleston, S.C., will present "Community Development and the Environment as Natural Allies." His development, Dewees Island, is one of the leading environmental communities in the United States, and he will show that developers do not always live uneasily with environmentalists. Knott is a third-generation builder/developer who has spoken widely about community-based economic development. He believes that land plans must respect the interests of historic and environmental assets, serve the needs of the ultimate user and be designed with an awareness that all resources are limited.
Giving the closing, keynote address will be Paul Hawken, a well-known environmentalist, best-selling author and business consultant. Hawken will speak on "Eco-Nomics & Community: The Ecology of Commerce." He will offer recommendations for making environmental sustainability a core part of overall business strategies.
Hawkin has founded several companies, including Smith & Hawken, the garden retail and catalog company. Currently, he serves as chairman of The Natural Step, a nonprofit educational foundation whose purpose is to develop and share a common framework to guide society toward a sustainable future.
--griffith--
NOTE TO EDITORS: The 1998 Emerging Issues Forum is free of charge to working news media.
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