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21st Annual Envisioning California Conference Sustainability and the California Dream

21st Annual Envisioning California Conference Sustainability and the California Dream
October 16, 2009

Reviewing this kind of visioning inventory (ideas for change, priorities, etc) is a good way to get a sense of what people think is important right now. Below is a set of panels that will take place soon. You can cull from such lists a sense of the most pressing areas of concern among those doing planning and alternative development work. The web site is at: http://www.csus.edu/calst/envisioning_california_conference.html

Panel Topics

Water Sustainability: Strategies for Ensuring Quantity and Quality
Global warming, overconsumption, and wasteful use acutely threaten California’s water supply.
Additionally, in many areas, water quality is threatened by contaminants. This panel features experts
on regional water management and conservation.

The Ecological City
California’s urban communities have long endured poor air quality and excessive noise. Increasingly,
planners, community activists, and scholars are applying ecological principles to the solution of
urban problems, using urban forestry, native vegetation, and impervious surface mitigation to
combat these problems.

Sustainability: At What Cost?
From the California State budget, to environmentally responsible investing, to sustainable health
care administration, Californians are increasingly concerned with sustainable financial practices. But
are we prepared to make the sacrifices required to make our institutions sustainable?

Building Sustainable Living and Work Communities
California’s workforce can be more efficient and productive than it currently is. In order to enhance
worker productivity and efficiency, Californians need to think about the ways in which their daily
lives impact the environment. Recent California innovations in transportation, housing, workplaces,
and architecture demonstrate ways in which this can be accomplished.

Urban Inequality and Nutritional Access
One cause of rising health care costs in California is the obesity epidemic. Partially contributing to
this epidemic is the scarcity of healthy food choices in California’s poorer communities. Innovative
responses to this problem have included “Farm to School” programs and the expansion of farmers
markets into underserved areas. Are these programs working, and can they serve as models of
sustainable health promotion?

Rock and Water and Sky: Sustainability and California Nature Writing
Public policy debates about sustainability are often conducted in abstract and technical terms that
feel far removed from everyday experience. This panel will offer readings drawn from California
natural history writers and discuss how these works help us to appreciate better what is at stake at
the center of these debates—our connection to rock, and water, and sky, the constants Robinson
Jeffers called “The Beauty of Things.”