Sustainability and Environmental Engineering Conference

Escaping Silos

The Society for Sustainability and Environmental Engineering (SSEE) brings you the SSEE 2011 International Conference in Brisbane on the 24-26 October 2011 at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre.

'Escaping Silos' will showcase pragmatic examples of actions that have overcome change resistance and the elements that contributed to the breakthroughs; engaging business leaders, scientists, politicians and educators that are influencing sustainability within engineering. Local and global integrated solutions across professions, industry sectors and communities will be highlighted, addressing the impact of economic policy and social directions.

The conference will deliver a dynamic and thought provoking combination of renowned international and national speakers, including:
Annie Leonard author of the Story of Stuff
Paul Gilding author of The Great Disruption
Amanda McKenzie AYCC founder
Krista Milne City Design
Carol Boyle University of Auckland

http://www.ssee2011conference.com/

1.5 hour Q&A panel sessions from $25* - Discussion forums with industry leaders in Sustainability

These Question & Answer sessions are designed to engage you directly with the innovative viewpoints of world renowned sustainability leaders, aiming for new thinking outside the box in cross-sector integration and delivery of organisational value. The sessions will adopt an interactive format, where attendees can post questions before hand, the moderator will launch the discussion and guide it through some of the more challenging terrain posed by the audience.
Day 1 – 24th October - Silo? What Silos? With Annie Leonard
Day 2 – 25th October - Which Way out? With Paul Gilding

*Q&A Session Cost:
Conference delegate................. included
Student/Unemployed/Retired....... $25.00
SSEE & EA Member...................... $35.00
Non-Members.............................. $40.00
Conference non-delegates may register through the Engineers Australia Qld Division website: http://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/divisions/queensland-division/events/

Q&A session: Silos? What Silos?
Date: MONDAY 24TH OCTOBER 2011
Time: 3:15 for 3:25 Start
Venue: Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre
To create a sustainable future we need to understand the silos that limit us, so we can escape them. This session explores why and how we build them in the first place. Engage with Annie Leonard (Author of The Story of Stuff), Professor Ian Lowe (Australian Conservation Forum President), Richard Sanders (Centre for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy), Bruce Mitchell (Mitchell Builders), Nadga Kunz, among others.

Annie Leonard - Author of The Story of Stuff
Annie Leonard, brings her international perspective on sustainability across industries, materials life cycle and emissions trading approaches, providing practical tools to ‘escape silos’: seeing the big picture, understanding connections across systems, and embracing new sustainable approaches to transform our societies. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

Q&A session: Which way out?
Date: TUESDAY 25TH OCTOBER 2011
Time: 2:45 for 2:55 Start
Venue: Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre
To meet the challenges we need clear answers to some big questions. This session explores the mechanics of creating the changes defined during the conference. The challenge of creating a sustainable future is so large and the nature of the problems so fundamental, it is critical that we break out of our current thinking to design new solutions. Engage with Paul Gilding (Author of The Great Disruption), Matthew Wright (Executive Director of Beyond Zero Emissions), Cath Bremner (Chief Operating Officer, Low Carbon Australia), David Hood - National President Elect Engineers Australia & Chair of Australian Green Infrastructure Council).

Paul Gilding - Author of The Great Disruption
Paul Gilding, brings compelling insights to the ‘very important engineering sector audience’, from his entrepreneur experiences as the founder and director of a successful world leading organisation in corporate sustainability strategy. Also, as a sustainability advocate, Paul outlines steady-state economy impacts on enhanced business productivity and communities’ connectedness. “It’s time to stop just worrying about climate change” says Paul Gilding. We need instead to brace for impact because global crisis is no longer avoidable. This Great Disruption started in 2008, with spiking food and oil prices and dramatic ecological changes, such as the melting ice caps. It is not simply about fossil fuels and carbon footprints. We have come to the end of Economic Growth, Version 1.0, a world economy based on consumption and waste, where we lived beyond the means of our planet’s ecosystems and resources.