New York Academy of Sciences Environmental Events & e-briefings.

NYAS Environmental e-brief list link

Follow this link to the overview list and ebrief summary descriptions of more then 35 e-briefs on a variety of Sustainability relevant topics. Access to all pages and all NYAS ebriefs requires a $20 fee to join the NYAS Environmental Section.

Eco-Investing: Harnessing Capital Markets to Achieve Environmental Goals

On Tuesday, September 21, 2004 the Environmental Sciences section of the NY Academy of Sciences hosed Dr. Orie Loucks, President, ICValue Inc., and Jonathan Naimon, President of Light Green Advisors to discuss their perspectives on how environmental science and ecosystem services can be effectively incorporated into the capital markets process. William G. Russell, CEO of SKN Worldwide-USA, Inc. and administrator of the Sustainability Knowledge Network, helped organize the event and served as moderator. Bruce M. Kahn, an environmental scientist turned investment advisor, is creating an eco-investing practice at Smith Barney Citigroup. (He did not appear as a representative of that firm.) recruited the evening's featured speakers, and presented an introduction to Social and Eco Investing. Dr. Loucks described his “environmental value creation through investment” (EVCI) measurement mechanisms to include damage to (or recovery of) ecosystem services directly into the price of a company’s stocks and bonds. Mr. Naimon described his experiences incorporating new and better environmental and corporate performance information to provide investors with diversified investment strategies and converting these strategies into successful capital market products. This ebrief contains an Event Overview, Audio clips, Powerpoint presentations, a Q&A Summary and Speaker bios.

One Planet Budgeting: Making Sustainability Real with the Ecological Footprint (The Graduate Center, CUNY, Suite 8204, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York , from Nov 30, 2005 06:30 PM to Nov 30, 2005 09:00 PM)

The Environmental Sciences Section of the New York Academy of Sciences is pleased to cosponsor this event with Continuing Education & Public Programs at the Graduate Center, CUNY, in cooperation with the Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education and the Nature Network. Mathis Wackernagel is codeveloper of the ecological footprint, a widely used measure of sustainability. He is also founder and executive director of Global Footprint Network; coauthor of Our Ecological Footprint; and an advisor to governments, companies, and civil society organizations on six continents. Dr. Wackernagel will give an introductory lecture and workshop on the ecological footprint. Lecture: Wednesday, November 30, 6:30 PM Training: Friday December 2, 9:45 AM–4:45 PM

The Ethics of Embedded Science (New York Academy of Sciences (2 East 63rd St. bet 5th Ave and Madison Ave) , from Mar 09, 2006 06:00 AM to Mar 09, 2006 08:00 AM)

Neither the nature of the scientific method nor the moral character of scientists establishes the most important ethical assumptions of current science. These are present, albeit often hidden in the practice and appropriation of science in society and especially the economy. What are these embedded assumptions and how do they play out in both policy and the choices of scientists? Dr. Rasmussen observes that: "Teaching 'Ethics and Ecology' and 'Ethics and Biotechnology' has led me to ask about the ethical assumptions of the practice of science, especially when this science is part of the business of business and its context is the culture of recent capitalism. When the purpose of the practice of science is the management of nature for human benefit, and this is pursued on the terms of commerce, what assumptions are made about both science and society and where do they lead?" His analysis will use examples from biotechnology and environmental sciences. Larry Rasmussen was Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York City from 1996-2004. He serves as a member of the Dialogue on Science, Ethics and Religion of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His book Earth Community, Earth Ethics (Orbis Books and the World Council of Churches, 1996) won the 1997 Grawemeyer Award. He is co-editor, with Dieter Hessel, of Earth Habitat: Eco-Injustice and the Church's Response (Fortress 2001); and co-author, with Daniel C. Maguire, of Ethics for a Small Planet: New Horizons on Population, Consumption, and Ecology (SUNY Press, 1998).

Earth Institute's Fourth State of the Planet Conference

The question posed by The Earth Institute's fourth biennial State of the Planet conference, "Is sustainable development feasible?," evidently resonated forcefully among the burgeoning communities concerned with sustainable development issues: it drew more than 1300 people to Columbia University in March 2006 for a two-day, international, marathon event that featured twenty-four speakers, four of them keynoters, and five panel discussions.