Founded in 2001, SustainUS is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization of young people advancing sustainable development and youth empowerment in the United States. Through proactive education and advocacy at the policy-making level and at the grassroots, we are building a future in which all people recognize the inherent equality and interdependence of social, economic, and environmental sustainability. We strive to reflect to our values through the diversity of members and projects, our ongoing commitment to educating ourselves and others, and the way we live our lives.

Scott Paul works with Citizens for Global Solutions to promote U.S. global engagement. Scott has been involved with SustainUS since the buildup to the World Summit on Sustainable Development, when he co-coordinated the U.S. Youth Summit and the fantastic but Bush-less Bet campaign. Over the past few years, he has worked with a number of organizations in the United States and Russia on human rights and development issues. Scott graduated from Columbia University in 2004 with a major in Eurasian History and a concentration in Human Rights, writing his thesis on Muscovite perceptions of the Soviet/Russian political police. In Washington , D.C. , he plays soccer often, skis whenever he can, and makes pilgrimages to his native New York to see family and eat good, affordable food. Scott is also mourning the lost hockey season and missing his beloved New York Rangers.

Stephen DeCanio is Professor of Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has served as Senior Staff Economist at the President's Council of Economic Advisers. He has been a member of the Economic Options Panel convened by the United Nations Environment Programme to review economic aspects of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, and is currently Co-Chair of the Montreal Protocol's Agricultural Economics Task Force of the Technical and Economics Assessment Panel. His research focuses on the economics of climate change, protection of the stratospheric ozone layer, factors affecting the diffusion of energy-efficient technologies, and the impacts of greenhouse gas reduction policies. His most recent book, Economic Models of Climate Change: A Critique, is available from Palgrave-Macmillan. His resume gives a complete list of publications, and a selection of them is shown below. Professor DeCanio is one of the founders of UCSB's Computational Laboratories Group.

While many can agree on the need for developing new, cleaner energy resources, some argue that energy efficiency can provide only a minimal role in meeting future energy needs. As a result, arguments for increased energy supply dominate the policy debate; energy efficiency is largely ignored. In this discussion we will explore how efficiency gains have the potential to generate significant environmental benefits, and what Amory Lovins describes as an “economic bonanza,” saving governments and corporations time and money through smarter production.

John A. “Skip” Laitner is the senior economist for technology policy for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Atmospheric Programs, a position he has held since 1996. In that capacity, he was awarded EPA’s 1998 Gold Medal for his work with a team of other EPA economists to evaluate the impact of different strategies that might assist in the implementation of greenhouse gas emissions reduction policies. Author of more than 150 reports, journal articles, and book chapters, Laitner has more than 30 years of involvement in the environmental and energy policy arenas. He has a master’s degree in resource economics from Antioch University in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

Since the late 18th century American legal decision that the business corporation organizational model is legally a person, it has become a dominant economic, political and social force around the globe. This film takes an in-depth psychological examination of the organization model through various case studies. What the study illustrates is that in the its behaviour, this type of "person" typically acts like a dangerously destructive psychopath without conscience. Furthermore, we see the profound threat this psychopath has for our world and our future, but also how the people with courage, intelligence and determination can do to stop it.

(all the IMDb info here)

( Sun photo by John Mackely)

THE RESTORATION OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY: THE COSTS OF IMPLEMENTING THE PLANS FOR A MAJOR ECOLOGICAL RECOVERY PROGRAM

The presentation will answer the question: Should limited dollars go to urban stormwater retrofit, advanced nutrient removal at sewage treatment plants, agricultural nutrient management, winter cover crops, or research on animal feed changes to reduce nutrients?

The restoration of the Chesapeake Bay involves six states, over 16 federal agencies and 3,000 local governments, and the staffing of an U.S. EPA Chesapeake Bay Program office with over 50 scientists and administrative staff. The Bay Program, begun in 1983, has detailed restoration plans specified in the Chesapeake Bay 2000 Agreement signed by state governors, the Mayor of Washington, DC, and the head of the EPA, that are estimated to cost an additional $28 billion by 2010. These funds are necessary to achieve the reduction in excess nutrients and sediments, and to reduce toxic chemicals, that will result in removing the 90% of Bay waters that are listed as “impaired” under the federal Clean Water Act. Without such financial commitments, the ultimate goal of the Bay Program to restore water quality so that the Chesapeake’s living resources can again thrive, will not be attained. The presentation will discuss the necessary steps to achieve restoration goals, the costs, the most cost-beneficial strategies, and whether there is the political will to accomplish the goals and the funding to achieve them. The Chesapeake Bay Watershed Blue Ribbon Finance Panel Report (November 2004) will be discussed. The Report concluded that “The Program cannot meet the future challenges of restoring the Bay because it lacks the funds to do so” and called on Bay states and the federal government to make a six-year, $15 billion investment in the creation of a regional Finance Authority charged with prioritizing and distributing restoration funds throughout the Bay’s 64,000-square-mile watershed. (http://www.chesapeakebay.net/pubs/blueribbon/index.cfm). Also to be discussed is another report, by the Chesapeake Bay Commission, assessing and prioritizing the six most cost-effective strategies for Bay restoration.

Gerald W. Winegrad has 35 years of environmental public policy experience, including 16 years in the Maryland Legislature where as Chairman of the Senate Environment Subcommittee he wrote, sponsored, or managed nearly all environmental legislation passing the Senate. An attorney, he began his policy work as Counsel to the National Wildlife Federation and continued his work with NGOs, most recently with the American Bird Conservancy for the last 9 years. Mr. Winegrad was called the "environmental conscience" of the Senate by the Washington Post and Tom Horton wrote that "he is the person who more than any other set Maryland’s environmental agenda over the past 16 years". In January 2002, he was presented the prestigious Life Time Achievement Award by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, only the third person to be so honored. Senator Winegrad has taught at the graduate level at College Park in the School of Public Policy and in the Marine Environment and Estuarine Studies Program, at Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering (Baltimore) and, this past summer, at the University of Maryland Law School (Baltimore). He is currently teaching a course on The Pollution and Restoration of the Chesapeake Bay: A Public Policy Perspective as an Adjunct Professor at the School of Public Policy.

"Sustaining Our Commonwealth of Nature and Knowledge"

This lecture will address issues of sustainability in the context of two somewhat opposite difficulties in managing our commonwealth : the problem of non enclosure of the truly scarce (nature); and that of enclosure of the truly non scarce (knowledge). Policy reforms respecting both the capacities and limitations of the market in each case will be considered .

Elizabeth L. Malone's interests focus on policy-relevant social science research in global change issues, developing studies that integrate disparate worldviews, data sources, and scientific approaches. Her work has contributed to linkages among global environmental change, globalization, economic development, equity, and sustainability. Recently she has been working, with Antoinette Brenkert and Richard Moss, on developing structured methods for analyzing country, sector, and local vulnerabilities to climate change. Associated with that work she has been exploring approaches to scenarios of the future that integrate socioeconomic and environmental information.

Previously, she was the co-Principal Investigator for the PNNL team that developed the Guidelines and Sector-specific Issues and Reporting Methodologies for the Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases under Section 1605(b) of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (six sectors). She edited, with Steve Rayner, Human Choice and Climate Change, a four-volume assessment of social science research relevant to global climate change, jointly authoring, with Steve Rayner, the summary volume and an invited paper for Nature on the conclusions. She also has extensive experience in stakeholder involvement in environmental issues. She holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Maryland.

“How to Dismount the Ravenous Tiger of Perpetual Growth: Design lessons from nature on how to produce a sustainable society”

Modern economies require perpetual growth to produce full employment and to avoid collapse. This is not merely a convenient article of faith for politicians and neoclassic economists; it is a dangerous and unsustainable system artifact that makes serious efforts at energy conservation, conservation of natural resources, or limits to population growth politically untenable. This talk describes the system elements which produce the artifact and design modifications which would eliminate it.

Ed Lee is is an entrepreneur, electrical engineer and was the CEO of Pro-Log Corporation (1972-89). He holds a BSEE degree from MIT and 23 US patents. More information available online at: http://www.elew.com.

Climate Change Science, Policies, and Programs

In this seminar, Reid Harvey will provide an overview of the science of climate change and describe U.S. federal policies and programs to address climate change. He will also highlight several U.S. EPA and federal programs that help consumers and industry protect the environment through energy efficiency and other actions.

Mr. Harvey is a Branch Chief with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Change Division, Office of Atmospheric Programs (OAP). His group in EPA is responsible for developing the U.S. greenhouse gas emissions inventory and conducting domestic and international analyses in support of U.S. climate change policy. He holds a Masters Degree from the Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley.

“Stakeholder Commitment, Technology and Conservation Financing: Solutions to minimizing impacts of oil development in Yasuni National Park, Ecuador”

Yasuní National Park is one of the most biodiverse places on earth and also the location of important commercial oil reserves. Block 31, which is largely inside Yasuní, has recently become the center of an international controversy about the social and ecological impacts of oil development in protected areas. If oil development and biodiversity conservation are to happen in tandem, a new paradigm of best practices must be adopted, based on stakeholder commitment and technological innovation. In addition, financing for conservation activities must be increased and stabilized.

Mark Buntaine, Nima Raghunathan, and Benjamin Skolnik, senior graduate students in Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology, will present solutions to increase conservation financing in Yasuní and decrease the impacts of oil development. These conclusions will draw significantly from analysis of other experiences with oil development in the region.