Events

Tuesday, March 4

Vandana Shiva
Resource Monopolies vs. Earth Democracy
UCSB Engineering Building, Room 1104 / 7 p.m. / Free
Presented by the UCSB Women’s Center

Thursday, March 6

DAM/AGE: A Film with Arundhati Roy (2002, 49 minutes)
plus a question and answer period with
filmmaker Aradhana Seth.
UCSB Campbell Hall / 7:30 p.m.
$6 General & $5 UCSB Student
Presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and the Santa Barbara International Film
Festival in association with the Worldwatch Institute.

Symposium Schedule
MultiCultural Center Theater
UCSB University Center / Free
Friday, March 7th and Saturday March 8th

The Worldwatch Institute is an independent research organization that works for an environmentally sustainable and socially just society, in which the needs of all people are met without threatening the health of the natural environment or the well-being of future generations. By providing compelling, accessible, and fact-based analysis of critical global issues, Worldwatch informs people around the world about the complex interactions between people, nature, and economies. Worldwatch focuses on the underlying causes of and practical solutions to the world’s problems, in order to inspire people to demand new policies, investment patterns and lifestyle choices.

To view bios of the participants, click here.

Friday, March 7

1:00-1:30 pm Welcome and Introductory Comments
Robert Wilkinson, Lecturer, Environmental Studies Program, UCSB

1:30-3:30 pm Oil, War, and Carbon:
Why a Hydrogen Economy is Necessary (and Possible)
Christopher Flavin, President, Worldwatch Institute

As tanks gather in the Persian Gulf and ice covering the Arctic Ocean melts, the down-side of a petroleum economy is becoming more apparent. The fossil fuels that powered the 20th century are making the 21st century unstable and dangerous, with military and ecological cataclysms growing ever more likely. The answer to this dilemma is as abundant as the vast quantities of solar energy that fall on the planet, and the abundant hydrogen that lies in its oceans. What is needed to build a solar-hydrogen economy is a global commitment that is as deep and well-funded as the war on terrorism.

Respondents:
Alan C. Lloyd, Chairman, California Air Resources Board
Edward A. Smeloff, Assistant General Manager, San Francisco Public
UtilitiesCommission

Saturday, March 8

10am-12:00 pm From Monterrey to Johannesburg to Cancun:
Reshaping Global Governance for Sustainable Development
Hilary French, Director, Global Governance Project, Worldwatch Institute

Several major international negotiations of the past few years have contributed to the development of an ambitious new agenda for international diplomacy and governance that has important implications for efforts to forge an environmentally and socially sustainable development path. These negotiations include those undertaken at the WTO’s Doha ministerial meeting in late 2001, at the U.N. Financing for Development Conference and the World Summit for Sustainable Development in 2002, and ongoing talks in preparation for the WTO’s next ministerial meeting to be held in Cancun in September 2003. This talk will describe what is at stake in these negotiations, and discuss how we can reshape today’s evolving structures of global governance so that they support rather than undermine sustainable development.

Respondents:
Felicia Marcus, Executive Vice-President, Trust for Public Land, and
formerly Regional Administrator, US Environmental Protection Agency
Dennis Aigner, Dean, Bren School of Environmental Science and
Management, UCSB

LUNCH

1:30-3:30 pm Putting the Brakes on Urban Sprawl
Molly O’Meara Sheehan, Senior Researcher, Worldwatch Institute

Cars and highways have stretched cities to new limits, as cars require more space than other forms of urban transportation do. While there is no single measure of car-dependent urban development, or “sprawl,” census and satellite data do reveal more spread-out cities in some parts of the world. As urbanists, environmentalists, and economists have documented the various costs of sprawl –segregated communities, depressing landscapes, illness from polluted air and water, climate change, and economic slippage – they have also helped citizens create a vision of an urban form that would allow people greater access to jobs, schools, and stores at less cost to the environment.

Respondents:
William R. Freudenburg, Dehlsen Professor of Environmental
Studies, Environmental Studies Program UCSB
Kum-Kum Bhavnani, Professor of Sociology, and Chair of the Women, Culture, Development Program, UCSB

4:00 pm Sustainable Development: Oxymoron or Realistic Challenge?
Robert Wilkinson, Lecturer, Environmental Studies Program, UCSB
Christopher Flavin, President, Worldwatch Institute
Hilary French, Director, Global Governance Project, Worldwatch Institute
Molly O'Meara Sheehan, Senior Researcher, Worldwatch Institute

Presented by the UCSB Environmental Studies Program, Worldwatch Institute, UCSB Arts & Lectures, UCSB Women’s Center, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at UCSB, Santa Barbara City College Adult Education Program, UCSB MultiCultural Center, UCSB Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, and the Office of the Chancellor.

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