Events

UPCOMING!

Next Field Trip!

Saturday, February 7, 2009 9am to 12:30pm Sunnking Electronics Recycling Center.

SNACKS PROVIDED! Hands-on presentation and general info about e-scrap! Meet at Gracies, East Side, near parking lot. Sign up here -- click here.

ONGOING

Take Part in the Greater Rochester Challenge to fight back against high energy prices and climate change. The RIT and Henrietta communities will meet on the RIT campus Wednesdays October 1, Oct 15 and Oct. 29 beginning a 6:00 pm.

For event infomration, go online to : http://www.RochesterLowCarbonDiet.com

To register, call (585) 234-1056 or e-mail LowCarbonDietChallenge.com

PAST

Friday, January 30th, 12 noon to 1pm, Idea Factory, Wallace Library, Maureen Barry to speak on how she is using Deep Economy in her classes!

Saturday, December 13th, 9am to 6pm, Trip to EcoVillage in Ithaca, New York

Sign up by clicking here. DEADLINE FOR SIGNING UP MIDNIGHT, MONDAY, DECEMBER 8TH!

Bill McKibben On Campus Visit November 6, 2008

Special Question and Answer Session with all fresmen on "Deep Economy"

Nov. 6, Golisano Auditorium, 3 – 4 pm

"Uniting Global and Local”

Nov 6, Ingle Auditorium, 8:00 pm

Environmental activist & writer on global warming, alternative energy, local economies.

Bill McKibben is co-sponsored by the Caroline Werner Gannett Project and the Joan Rothenberg Family Foundation. For further information and details please go to the Caroline Werner Gannett Project website.

This lecture is free and open to the public.

Gannett Colloquium on the work of Bill McKibben, Oct 22, Golisano Auditorium, 2 – 4 pm

Sponsored by the Caroline Werner Gannett Project.

Speakers include:

Elizabeth Hane
Biological Sciences Department
RIT College of Science

Elizabeth Henderson
Peacework Organic Farm
Genesee Valley Organic Community Supported Agriculture

Jim Howe
Executive Director
Central and Western New York Chapter
The Nature Conservancy

Richard Shearman
STS/Public Policy Department
RIT College of Liberal Arts

1st Field Trip, October 18th, 10 am to 1pm, Rochester Public Market
Sign Up Here
1st Come 1st Served. RIT van rides provided.

Friday, October 17th 12 noon to 1pm, Idea Factory, RIT Libraries
Brown Bag

More and Better versus Different Consumption in Deep Economies

Jeffrey Wagner
Economics Department
College of Liberal Arts

The purpose of this presentation is to briefly survey the economic aspects of Bill McKibben's Deep Economy and then discuss alternative perspectives as to whether the more or less free market can generate sustainable consumption. While many are concerned that more and better consumption is not sustainable, some types of consumption are more sustainable than others and there is evidence that the marketplace can take different types into account. We shall also consider the extent to which market forces can be harnessed in order to achieve some of the goals articulated in Deep Economy.

Brown Bag on Deep Economy #2

Friday, October 10

12-1 pm in the RIT Libraries Idea Factory

This Brown Bag Discussion on Deep Economy will be led by Barbara MacCameron. The topic is Teaching Deep Economy.

MacCameron is a lecturer in the College of Liberal Arts English Department where she has taught writing classes with an environmental theme since 1995. She recently facilitated a discussion about Deep Economy with COLA freshmen during Orientation. She is primarily interested in sharing ideas with others. Questions she will raise include: What are your plans for using Deep Economy? What approach will you take? What kinds of problems do you foresee using this text with your student population? Are there portions of the book that will resonate more than others? How does McKibben model effective writing? Does he successfully advocate for his ideas? Why or why not?

Brown Bag on Deep Economy #1

Friday, September 12

12-1 pm in the RIT Libraries Idea Factory

The Brown Bag on Deep Economy will discuss the efforts of local communities to reduce their region's carbon footprint, specifically in a program called the Low Carbon Diet, based a plan developed by David Gershon in his workbook of the same name. The plan begins locally, with the goal of effecting national and global change. It is described in detail on the LCD website: http://www.empowermentinstitute.net/lcd/

Students, Faculty and Staff are all welcome!

Linda Isaacson of the Rochester Sierra Club and an organizer of Rochester's Low Carbon Diet Challenge will give an overview of the goals and county-wide plan. Members of the RIT community will lead a conversation about this challenge and the role RIT faculty, staff, and students can play since the Rochester Sierra Club is inviting people to join their program. The idea is for RIT volunteers to gather in facilitated groups to support and encourage participants to green their activities step-by-step, as members of local eco-teams that meet together building community and supporting each other as they "lose 5000 pounds" of carbon by November.

Groups are being formed at 9 locations through the community, and the Sierra Club is inviting RIT to be a 10th location, hopefully as a location for neighborhoods around the RIT campus. Starting in late September, groups will meet 3 times over a period of 4 weeks to discuss their progress on the Low Carbon Diet and to learn about how to take the next steps. In November, Rochester Mayor Duffy, along with other local dignitaries, will host the Cool Communities Grand Awards Celebration. Awards will be given to individuals and teams based on how much carbon they saved through taking the actions learned in the Challenge.

RIT's common text Deep Economy argues for innovative transformation of U.S. Economy to reduce dependence on our unrealistic consumption of energy and to begin to look to resources that are local, reducing our carbon footprint and energy consumption. This local Low Carbon Diet Challenge is a practical and achievable first step in that journey.