NY Transformed: Visions for a Sustainable City
Apr 9th, 2009 by Jervey
NY Transformed: Visions for a Sustainable City
April 23rd, 6:30pm - 8:30pm
The Arsenal, Central Park (at 64th St. & 5th Ave.)
New York City is at a pivotal moment in history. With city revenue streams literally drying up, individuals, companies and our city government search for new ways to make NYC work. Its already overburdened mass transportation system and energy grid will soon face even more strain as we watch New York’s population balloon from today’s 8.3 million residents to the projected 9.1 million by 2030.
We have a once in a lifetime chance to promote the creative solutions that are needed to tackle our ever changing environment. New York has been home to many big ideas and great innovations throughout history. Now is our chance to lead by example.
So, Sierra Club has asked four of this city’s leading visionaries to paint a sustainable picture of NYC - describing long-term goals and the first steps toward them. This exceptional event will bring together four experts in the fields of the built environment, food, water and energy to discuss their unique and forward-thinking vision on how New York can be a beacon for sustainability and how you can help make it happen.
Details, including speakers, after the jump.
Our speakers include:
Dickson Despommier, Ph.D., Professor of Public Health in Environmental Health Sciences, Columbia University
Despommier is a microbiologist/ecologist by training, but has a great interest in sustainable urban life, where he has invented new approaches to the raising of food within the confines of a large urban center. Dickson has established The Vertical Farm as a theoretical construct to look at the possibility of agricultural sustainability within cities.
Paul Mankiewicz, Ph.D., Executive Director, The Gaia Institute
Mankiewicz holds a Ph.D. in Biology. His philosophy, which provides the foundation on which the Gaia Institute is based, holds that human communities and natural systems can coexist to mutual benefit. This rests on the hypothesis that where the flow of ‘waste’ materials from human activities can be cleaned and utilized to create habitat, human industry can be coupled with conserving and creating landscapes that provide an abode for life.
Kieran Coleman, Innovator and Entrepreneur
Coleman is the founder of PolisWind, a green technology company conceived with the goal of integrating renewable energy into the urban ecosystem; transforming cities into producers, and not just consumers of energy.
Joel Towers, Dean of Parson’s School of Design Strategies, specializing in cities, services and ecosystems
Towers is a practicing architect, he holds a Masters Degree in Architecture from Columbia University and has served on the faculties of both City College and Columbia. He was the project director for The Hannover Principles: Design for Sustainability in the office of William McDonough Architects prior to co-founding SR+T Architects in 1992.
Please join the Sierra Club on Thursday, April 23rd for an engaging discussion on the future possibilities of a sustainable New York. The NYC Parks Department has kindly provided event space at The Arsenal in Central Park, from 6:30pm – 8:30pm. Closest subways are the R,W,6,F. Light refreshments will be served. A donation of $10 is suggested.