Bioneers Cleveland

Green is a big color at Cleveland State University. Students and the community will be highlighting “green” as in “Sustainability “on April 11 with Green Advantage: Sustainability and Vision, a full day of presentations that showcase a number of initiatives at CSU, Northeast Ohio and nationally. The event is free of charge for CSU students and staff, as well as the broader community, who will be inspired by what is happening on campus and beyond.

The student-initiated day, sponsored by the CSU Student Environmental Movement, is in partnership with Bioneers Cleveland that has been bringing the outstanding speakers from the national Bioneers conference virtually to Cleveland for the past five years. The keynote speech will be given by Erin Huber, 2011 Cleveland State grad who has started Drink Tap, Drink Local that has included a water project in Uganda. She will introduce the DVD of Philippe Cousteau’s Bioneers talk, Continuing a Legacy: Building a Sustainable World in the 21^st Century.

Other speakers via DVD include The Rights of Nature: An Idea Whose Time Has Come, Natalia Green, Earth Jurisprudence; When Women are People…and Corporations Are Not: Why the First Inequality Will Also be the Last, Gloria Steinem, world-renowned writer, lecturer, editor and feminist activist; Life’s Operating Manual, Dayna Baumeister, co-founder of the Biomimicry Guild and Institute; and The Real Food Challenge, Anim Steel, Director of National Programs at The Food Project.

Local presenters include Dr. Wendy Kellogg, Director, Master of Urban Planning, Design and Development Faculty Associate who will introduce a panel on women’s leadership; Steph Crow Hawk, Environmental Consultant; Torrey McMillan (Hathaway Brown) moderating a panel on Biomimicry with Peter Niewiarwoski (University of Akron); and Carlton Jackson (Tunnel Vision Hoops) on local food initiatives.

To start the day, Jenita McGowan, Chief of Sustainability for the City of Cleveland, will give an update on Sustainable Cleveland 2019, and students from the Citizens’ Leadership Academy will participate in Fast Track Jr., in which ideas for social entrepreneurship will be pitched for the audience to vote on. The students will be coached by CSU students and the winning idea will receive additional assistance in making it happen.

Conference chair is Mischelle Brown, Masters’ student in Philosophy, who was inspired by the Bioneers Cleveland event at Cuyahoga Community College in 2010. She has assembled a diverse student and organizational committee and hopes that the event will raise interest in what is already happening to make CSU a greener campus as well as to inspire more focus on sustainability.

The day will end at 4:30 p.m. with a no-host networking reception at Uno’s in the Student Union. Further information can be found by clicking here.

Registration at the door starts at 8:30 a.m.; the program will start promptly at 9:00 a.m.

Green Advantage, April 11, 2012

Come for the day or for an hour

8:30 a.m.                   Registration and Continental Breakfast

9:00 a.m.                   Welcome, Andrew Thomas, CSU xxxxxxxx

Sustainable Cleveland 2019, Jenita McGowan, Chief of Sustainability for the City of Cleveland

9:15 a.m.                    Fast Track Jr., Carlton Jackson (Tunnel Vision Hoops), Brittany Coffin (2010 Fast Track Winner from Downspout Rain Garden),            and Citizens Leadership Academy students who will pitch their ideas for building thriving communities for the audience to select the winning concept.

9:40 a.m.                   Keynote, Erin Huber, Director of Drink Local, Drink Tap, CSU Alum, ‘10

10:00 a.m.                 Continuing a Legacy: Building a Sustainable World in the 21^st Century, Philippe Cousteau via DVD, CEO of EarthEcho  International, Chief Ocean Correspondent for Discovery’s Animal Planet and CNN

11:00 a.m.                  The Rights of Nature: An Idea Whose Time Has Come, Natalia Green via DVD, Earth Jurisprudence; Local Presentation by Steph Crowhawk, Environmental Consultant

12:00 p.m                   Lunch on your own (Food Court, etc.)

1:00 p.m.                    When Women are People…and Corporations Are Not: Why the First Inequality Will Also be the Last, Gloria Steinem via DVD, world-renowned writer, lecturer, editor and feminist activist. Local presentation by Dr. Wendy Kellogg and panel

2:00 p.m.                    Life’s Operating Manual, Dayna Baumeister via DVD, Co-founder of the Biomimicry Guild and Institute: Local Biomimicry Panel with Torrey McMillan (Hathaway Brown), Doug Paige (Cleveland Institute of Art), Peter Niewiarwoski

3:00 p.m.                   The Real Food Challenge, Anim Steel via DVD, Director of National Programs at The Food Project. Local Presentation by Carlton Jackson (Tunnel Vision Hoops)

4:00 p.m.                   Wrap-up

4:30 p.m.                    Networking Reception at Bar UNOS, CSU Student Center

For more information, click here.