Archive for the 'Headline' Category

Announcing the Winner of the International Award for Excellence

Published on November 25, 2011 in Headline, Journal and Newsletter. 0 Comments

Congratulations to Diane Costello the winner of the International Award for Excellence in the area of environmental, cultural, economic and social sustainability for her paper Incorporating Community Governance: Planning Sustainable Energy Security.

Abstract: Climate change has focussed global attention on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, particularly through energy efficient technological innovation. In Australia energy policy incentives include increasing the contribution of renewable energy sources along with energy efficient behaviours. In Western Australia an Energy Utility has embraced the principle of community engagement to inform corporate strategies toward sustainable green energy visions. This paper evaluates the process of citizen involvement in promoting community acceptance of green energy technologies at the community level. This qualitative study examines the role of community governance in planning the sustainable energy needs of regional communities. While it is promising to observe the emergence of flexible institutional responses to community energy visions, this energy governance network is a work in progress as it struggles to gain community consensus to site a small community-owned wind farm. To address community polarisation over the costs and benefits of community energy, attention must be paid to issues of inclusive representation along with mechanisms of accountability that assesses the social and economic impacts of green energy initiatives. This study highlights that an effective governance process would incorporate the principles of sustainability, procedural and distributive justice to enhance community transitions toward a more environmentally benign economy and electricity system.

Announcing Executive Director of the UBC Sustainability Initiative John Robinson as Plenary Speaker at the 2012 Sustainability Conference

Published on September 30, 2011 in Conferences, Headline and Newsletter. 0 Comments

The 2012 Sustainability Conference is delighted to announce the Executive Director of the University of British Columbia’s Sustainability Initiative John Robinson as a Plenary Speaker at the conference.

John Robinson is the Executive Director of the UBC Sustainability Initiative, responsible for leading the integration of academic and operational sustainability on the University of British Columbia’s Vancouver campus. He is also a professor with UBC’s Institute for Resources, Environment & Sustainability, and the Department of Geography.

Dr. Robinson’s own research focuses on the intersection of climate change mitigation, adaptation and sustainability; the use of visualization, modeling, and citizen engagement to explore sustainable futures; sustainable buildings and urban design; creating partnerships for sustainability with the private, public, non-governmental and research sectors; and, generally, the intersection of sustainability, social and technological change, behaviour change, and community engagement processes. The Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS), recently opened on the UBC campus, is a major project.

Dr. Robinson is on the Board of the Fraser Basin Council; a member of the BC Hydro External Advisory Committee on Electricity Conservation and Efficiency, and the Steering Group of HELIO International; and on the Editorial Boards of the journals Ecology and Society, Building Research and Information, and the Journal of Industrial Ecology. He was a Fellow of the Trudeau Foundation from 2008 to 2010, a member of the Program Committee of the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions from 2008-11, and was a Lead Author in the last three reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. In October 2010, Dr. Robinson was awarded BC Hydro’s Larry Bell Award for contributions to energy efficiency and conservation in British Columbia, and in 2011 he received an Educational Leadership award from the Canada Green Building Council.

To read more about the conference’s plenary speakers,  please visit the following link.

Call for Journal Editor

Published on August 29, 2011 in Headline, Journal and Newsletter. 0 Comments Tags: .

The International Journal of Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability seeks an editor, or team of editors, for a one-year term. This is an opportunity to make a significant contribution to what we believe is one of the leading journals in its field, the journal’s associated conference and, more broadly, the knowledge-community which the journal and conference seek to serve.

The roles of the editor are to:

  • write an introduction for the Journal volume which would be included in the first issue for the year, and possibly on the website, the newsletter and other appropriate places or for the purposes of marketing and promotion.
  • collate papers addressing a theme of the editor’s choosing into a book, to be launched at the conference at the completion of the editor’s term. The chapters may be drawn from submissions to the journal during this or recent years, and other material as considered appropriate.
  • actively solicit manuscripts for the Journal from well-known and notable members of the community—these would could be refereed if the author wished, or regarded as ‘invited papers’.
  • assist the Commissioning Editor with suggestions of supplementary peer reviewers for specific papers (and this will never be burdensome – note that the Commissioning Editor of the Journal finalizes a majority of the peer reviewer requirements based on thematic matching and ‘mutual obligation’ principles in which all author requested to review up to three other papers).
  • promote the journal throughout their network and other associated networks.
  • maintain regular communications with the community via periodical blog posts to the community website (which feeds automatically to our email newsletter, Facebook and Twitter).

The editor will be offered a complimentary electronic subscription to the Journal, free copies of the book which they edit, an electronic subscription to the book series as well as complimentary registrations to attend the conferences at the beginning and end of their term.

Qualifications

The Editor of the Journal must possess the following attributes:

  • They will have successfully obtained higher degree, and have academic teaching and scholarly research experience in an area related to the subject matter of the Journal.
  • They will have published in this or other comparable scholarly journals.

Applicants are asked to send:

  1. a cover letter outlining their interest and relevant experience, and the ways in which you would propose to enhance the profile of the journal
  2. a curriculum vitae
  3. a special theme outline: a title with paragraph explanation.

Please send applications and supporting documentation to journals@onsustainability.com.

The deadline for applications is 26 September 2011.

Vancouver Aquarium Tour for the 2012 Sustainabbility Conference: Connecting with Conservation

Published on August 20, 2011 in Conference, Headline and Newsletter. 0 Comments

Join other delegates at the Vancouver Aquarium for an exclusive behind the scenes tour: Connecting with Conservation. There is so much more to the Vancouver Aquarium than what you see in the galleries. Gain a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes workings of the Aquarium and see what it takes to care for 70,000 amazing animals. Learn about the Aquarium’s research and conservation efforts. Some other highlights include walking through Tropical Hallway, BC Treasures Hallway and Jelly Hallway. Delegates will go on a private one hour behind the scenes tour that spotlights conservation and than have as much time as they would like to explore the aquarium.

The tour is $65.00 USD. Reserve your spot now as space is limited!

Announcing Dr Jo Williams as Plenary Speaker at the 2012 Sustainability Conference

Published on July 22, 2011 in Conference, Headline and Newsletter. 0 Comments

Announcing Dr Jo Williams to speak as a plenary speaker at the 2012 Sustainability Conference.

Dr Jo Williams is the Director of Sustainable Urbanism in the Built Environment Faculty at University College London. She has worked for 14 years researching how best to deliver sustainable cities.  Currently her research is focussed on low carbon urban transitions and she heads up the “zero carbon realties” research project. The output from this project will be published on December 2011 in a book entitled “zero carbon homes – a road map” (Earthscan). She has acted as advisor to a variety of international, national and local bodies including the United Nations, European Environment Agency, the UK All Parliamentary Committee on Post Peak Oil and the Greater London Authority.

To Read More About Plenary Speakers…

Building Our Sustainable Cities

Published on June 10, 2011 in Book, Headline and Newsletter. 0 Comments

Building Our Sustainable Cities by Rita Yi Man Li is now available as part of the On Sustainability series.

Sustainable development has become a hot topic worldwide in recent decades. Following the Copenhagen Summit, politicians and the general public were once again faced with the reality of inevitable climate change. Is there anything we can do to stop global warming? Are there any possible ways to achieve the goal of zero carbon? What can we, as laymen in the global village, do in the coming years so that future generations can enjoy a natural environment similar to ours?

This book consists of three parts. The first part is an introduction that provides a general overview of sustainable development in China, Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Australia. The second part introduces the concept of sustainability in the built environment. The third part of this book focuses on sustainable land use planning in Hong Kong.

2011 Sustainability Conference – Share your Photos

Published on January 30, 2011 in Conference, Headline and Newsletter. 0 Comments

To those of you that joined us at the 2011 Sustainability Conference in Hamilton, New Zealand, or if you’ve participated in a previous conference, please share your photos of the conference with your friends and colleagues that you met while at the conference. Pictures of the conference sessions, dinner, tours and ‘down time’ are all welcome!

Join our Sustainability Conference Flickr group here, and upload your pictures to easily share. Once you’ve joined, simply click on ‘Add something?’, and upload your photos or videos of the conference.

Nineth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic, and Social Sustainability

Published on December 30, 2010 in Conference, Headline and Newsletter. 0 Comments Tags: , .

23-25 January 2013
International Conference Center Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan
www.SustainabilityConference.com

Call for Papers

If you intend to present a paper at the conference, your participation begins with submission of a paper proposal. For information on proposals, presentation types, and other options, please see our website. To submit a proposal, please click here. If your proposal is accepted, you will then need to register for the Conference.

Registration

Those who submit paper proposals should register following the acceptance of
the proposal. Conference delegates who do not intend to present may register
at any time. For registration options or to register for the 2012
Sustainability Conference, see:
http://onsustainability.com/conference-2013/register/

Themes

Day Tour of Maungatautari Ecological Trust – Now Available

Published on November 29, 2010 in Conference, Headline and Newsletter. 0 Comments

We invite you to join us for an all day tour of the Maungatautari Ecological Trust. The Maungatautari Ecological Trust is an internationally significant restoration project, this 3,400 hectare forested, extinct volcano stands majestically on the landscape in the Waikato basin, between Cambridge, Te Awamutu and Putaruru, in the central North Island of New Zealand. This tour includes bus transport to Maungatautari Ecological Trust from Hamilton and back, a guided tour and information session, as well as lunch. For more information on the Maungatautari Ecological Trust please visit http://www.maungatrust.org/index.asp. Please wear appropriate walking shoes and sun hat.

The tour will leave from Hamilton on Saturday, 8 January at 9:00AM and return at 5:00PM.

*This tour has a minimum of 30 people. If we do not reach this number, we will notify you and refund your payment.

For more information please visit the 2011 Sustainability Conference Web-Site.

Eva Collins and Veronica Dujon to speak in New Zealand

Published on November 29, 2010 in Conference, Headline and Newsletter. 0 Comments

Eva Collins and Veronica Dujon will speak at the 2011 Sustainability Conference at the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand.

Eva Collins is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Waikato, New Zealand (BS Hons, Portland State; MA, Essex; PhD, George Washington University). Her area of research and teaching is business strategy related to sustainability. She is an award-winning writer of sustainability case studies. In 2009, she and her research team received a prestigious Marsden Grant for a 3-year study examining the vulnerability of New Zealand’s global environmental positioning.

Veronica Dujon is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at Portland State University, in Portland, Oregon, USA. She received her PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1995. She publishes in the area of natural resource use and Third World Economic Development. Her latest publication is the edited volume Understanding the Dimensions of Social Sustainability (2009) with colleagues Prof. Mary King and Jesse Dillard.

Prof. Dujon teaches courses in environmental sociology, sociology of globalization, social sustainability, and the sociology of women. One of her major research interest areas is the role of women in the global economy and how to build socially sustainable societies.

Prof. Dujon is a three-time winner of the John Eliot Allen Teaching Award. In 2005 she was nominated for the U.S. Professor of the Year Award. In 2008 Prof. Dujon received the PSU Distinguished Faculty Award.

For more information please visit the 2011 Sustainability Conference Web-Site.