Campus environmental groups launch new lecture series

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VCU is taking a step forward in its interest in the future of sustainability with an inaugural lecture by guest speaker Jeremy Rifkin on Feb. 23

Eileen Mellon
Contributing Writer

VCU is taking a step further in its interest in the future of sustainability with the jumpstart of an inaugural speaking event for a series under Sustainable Academics.

The event will take place on Thursday, Feb. 23 in Hermes A. Kontos Medical Sciences Building auditorium, 1217 E. Marshall St., at 7 p.m. It is the first of its kind through the collaboration of VCU Sustainability, VCU Life Science, the VCU School of Business, the VCU School of Allied Health Professions, and the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences.

Guest speaker Jeremy Rifkin, renowned author and internationally-acclaimed advisor will discuss his latest New York Times best-selling book “The Third Industrial Revolution: How Lateral Power is Changing Energy, the Economy and the World,” while presenting his vision for the future of humankind.

Rifkin graduated with an economics degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania as well as a degree in international affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

A global innovator, policy leader, founder and president of The Foundation on Economic Trends and visionary, he understands and has examined the economic, environmental, social and cultural impacts of new technologies introduced into the global economy.

Brantley Tyndall, a VCU environmental studies alumnus and co-founder of Green Unity who now works for VCU’s Office of Sustainability, says the focus of the speaking series is to present sustainability-related information to all members of the VCU community.

“Sustainable Academics is not just about teaching sustainability, but also building a new educational model. It’s interdisciplinary and cross-departmental in nature in order to promote diverse collaboration with the aim of eliminating barriers to gaining access to well-rounded sustainable knowledge,” Tyndall said. “Rifkin’s approach is one that people can take some guidance from.  He examines sustainability through many lenses, and uses the information he finds to form a cohesion vision for the direction we should be going.”

Rifkin’s sustainable economic model, The Third Industrial Revolution, from which his book takes its name has been formally endorsed by the European Parliament in 2007 and are now being implemented by various agencies within the European Commission as well as in 27 member-states.

The lecture series serves as a tool to get Sustainable Academics off the ground. Where many courses and majors provide instruction related to sustainability at VCU, Sustainable Academics works to make sustainability-related education material to all disciplines from Biology and Urban Planning to Theater and the Arts.

Tyndall says, “The importance of sustainability curricula reaching the entire student body is paramount.  We all share the future, and we must all work toward a cleaner environment because the direction of climate change is pointing toward a place where, collectively, our health and quality of life will suffer.  Sustainable academics is a step in the right direction in terms of getting each one of us to do our best in our own areas of expertise.”

Rifkin’s presentation on The Third Industrial Revolution is an insider’s account of the next great economic era and how it will implement changes in our world. The lecture will be followed by a facilitated question-and-answer session in which Rifkin will interact with a panel of specialists in different fields such as sustainability, economics, and health.

The event will take place Feb. 23 in the Hermes A. Kontos Medical Sciences Building auditorium, 1217 E. Marshall St., at 7 p.m.

 

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