Lester
Brown, called the “guru of the environmental movement,” will give the keynote
address at a one-day conference on “Sustainable Development: Balancing Growth,
Preservation and the Environment” on Friday, Feb. 25, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Union's
College Park Hall (the former Ramada Inn) on Nott Street.
Brown, founder and president
of the Earth Policy Institute, also will give a pre-conference talk on Thursday, Feb. 24, at 7 p.m. in Union College's
Nott Memorial. He will talk on his recent book, Plan B: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble.
The talk is free to the public.
James Howard Kunstler, author of The Geography of Nowhere and a renowned lecturer on America's man-made landscape, will speak at the conference on Friday, Feb. 25, at 1 p.m.
The one-day conference also will
feature a plenary session on “Balancing Regional Economic Growth, Community
Preservation and Environmental Protection” with regional planning, government
and economic development leaders; and a number of break-out sessions on topics
including smart growth, the costs of sprawl, storm water regulations and comprehensive
planning.
Brown is the author of 48 books and numerous articles. The Washington
Post called him “one of the world's most influential
thinkers.” The Telegraph of Calcutta refers to him as
“the guru of the environmental movement.” In 1986, the Library of
Congress requested his personal papers noting that his writings “have already
strongly affected thinking about problems of world population and resources.”
Kunstler, who has also written Home
From Nowhere and The City in Mind, is a frequent
lecturer and presenter at professional organizations. He has been called”one
of the great commentators on American space and place.”
The conference is co-sponsored by ECOS: The Environmental
Clearinghouse of Schenectady and the Union College Environmental Studies Program.
Additional sponsors are the League of Women Voters of Schenectady County,
Schenectady County Environmental Advisory Council, Social Action Committee of
the First Unitarian Society of Schenectady, and the Environmental Awareness
Club of Union College.
The Feb. 25 conference is the culmination of a series
on “Sustainable Development” this winter sponsored by Union's
Environmental Studies program. John Todd of the University of Vermont
and a global leader in the field of ecological water purification, will speak
on “Sustainability Through Ecological Design” on Thursday, Feb. 10, at 7 p.m.
in the Nott Memorial.
“The impact of development on taxes, traffic, water
and air quality, open space and community character is of increasing concern to
residents and community decision makers,” said conference organizer Patrick
Clear, executive director of ECOS. “This conference will bring people together and provide participants with
information and tools they need to work
toward sustainable development in our region.”
Cost is $25 (including buffet lunch). Students are
free (lunch $10). Registration deadline is Feb. 18. For information, contact
ECOS at 370-4125 or ecos@global2000.net.