Forging economic and environmental links
Progressive thinkers to debate solutions during August 23-25 conference at McGill
Traditional economic thinking is going to be challenged at McGill this week. From August 23 to 25, some 200 progressive academics, environmentalists, business and government representatives are gathering at the University for the Fourth Biennial Conference of the Canadian Society for Ecological Economics (CANSEE).
Entitled "Ecological Sustainability of the Global Market Economy," the conference will enable participants from a dozen countries to exchange views on policy issues, share research and debate alternatives. Principal highlights of the conference include the following:
Opening Plenary, Friday, August 24, 9:30 am (Moyse Hall, Arts Building, 853 Sherbrooke Street W.). Pierre-Marc Johnson, of Heenan Blaikie and a former Quebec premier, will moderate the panel, which includes Peter G. Brown, director of the McGill School of Environment, Johanne Gelinas, Commissioner for the Environment and Sustainable Development (Office of the Auditor General of Canada), and William Rees, professor at the School of Community and Regional Planning, University of British Columbia.
Keynote address: Eco-economy: Building an Economy for the Earth, by Lester R. Brown, August 24, 7:30 pm (Room 132, Leacock Bldg, 855 Sherbrooke Street W.). Brown is founder and president of the newly created Earth Policy Institute. As former chair of the Worldwatch Institute, an organization devoted to the analysis of global environmental issues, he launched the "State of the World" reports. These annual assessments, translated into some 30 languages, have become the bible of the global environmental movement. For more information on Lester R. Brown, please consult this web page.
The Open Forum, Thinking Globally, Acting Locally, is sure to promote a lively debate on Saturday, August 25, 4:15 pm. Participants include Elizabeth May of the Sierra Club of Canada, Wayne Roberts of the Toronto Food Policy Council and representatives of the Canadian Environment Association and Michael Jantzi Research Associates (responsible investing).
Note: Interviews with conference speakers can be pre-arranged and journalists are welcome to attend a pre-conference reception at Montreal City Hall (275 Notre-Dame Street E.), on Thursday, August 23, at 5 pm.
