Hammond Lectures to Focus on the Human Dimensions
March 17, 2010 - News Release
"Human Dimensions of the Environment" is the theme of this year's Kenneth Hammond Lectures on Environment, Energy and Resources to be held March 26 and 27. The annual event is sponsored by the University of Guelph and the School of Environmental Sciences (SES).
Blair Feltmate, an environment professor and director of sustainability practice at the University of Waterloo, will give the keynote address March 26 at 7 p.m. in War Memorial Hall. His free talk will focus on “Bringing Industry Sectors on Board to Sustainable Development: A Case Study of the Canadian Electricity Association.”
Among his work with dozens of multinational corporations over the years, Feltmate was sustainable development director at Ontario Power Generation and launched Canada’s first sustainable development-based pension funds at the Bank of Montreal.
“Sustainability is a difficult thing to define and even more difficult to implement, but he managed to get it on the agenda at Ontario Power Generation,” said Prof. Madhur Anand, chair of the SES outreach committee.
A free symposium and panel discussion will be held March 27 in City Hall council chambers. Guelph Mayor Karen Farbridge will discuss “Community Energy Planning: The Guelph Experience.”
Other speakers are:
* Mark McNally, vice-president of Green & Clean Energy Co. Ltd. (Energy & Environment from a community perspective);
* Prof. Rumina Dhalla, Business (“Being Green: More Than an Image”);
* Prof. Elizabeth Kurucz, Business (“The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Create Value”); and
* José Etcheverry of York University (“New North American Strategies to Address Climate Change”).
Space at the symposium is limited, and registration is required at hls@uoguelph.ca .
The Hammond lecture series began in 2000 and is named after the late Kenneth Hammond, a former member of U of G’s Board of Governors and an advocate of environmental and resource issues and environmental education.
In related news, SES has teamed up with the Bookshelf downtown to offer a new series called “Environment Bound.” It consists of readings and discussion of books about the environment written by authors on campus or off.
Award-winning Saskatchewan author and naturalist Trevor Herriot will kick off the series March 15 by discussing his 2009 book, Grass, Sky, Song: Promise and Peril in the World of Grassland Birds. The free event begins at 7 p.m. at the Bookshelf eBar.
For media questions, Communications and Public Affairs: Lori Bona Hunt, Ext. 53338, l.hunt@exec.uoguelph.ca or Deirdre Healey, Ext. 56982, d.healey@exec.uoguelph.ca.
