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Number Table of Contents ·
B&E
Program Meeting October 10 ·
David
Korten to speak at FES ·
Nicole Bassett on the B&E Collective ·
Elizabeth
Kurucz leads Environmental Management course ·
MESer
Brendan Biddlecom selected for mentorship program ·
Rob
Macdonald offers energy course for next term ·
Net
Impact holds sustainability orientation B&E Program Meeting
October 10 All students
interested in business and environment issues are urged to attend the B&E
program meeting on Tuesday October 10 at One major topic that will be raised is a Green Product
Information project, geared to providing information on green
products, services and businesses to the Students will also be briefed on planned
B&E education initiatives, like a two day Local Economy Development
seminar led by Michael Shuman, and a Social Venture Institute
for local businesses. B&E communications and culture will also be a
featured topic. MES II student Melissa
Leithwood will summarize her proposal for a B&E Web Portal for
York, while possibilities for the B&E
Newsletter will be raised and discussed. What are the ways that our use of
electronic technology and the web can further or support the educational and
social goals B&E students? Make
your opinions known. The time of the meeting was chosen to make it easier
for 5101 students to attend. Don’t forget your lunch. For those who want to be part of things but
can’t make the meeting, contact Brian Milani. |
David Korten
Speaks at York FES October
3 Noted
author and activist David C. Korten is coming to York Tuesday October 3 as part
of a promotional tour for his acclaimed new book The Great Turning: From empire
to earth community. Korten,
who will speak at 7pm in HNES 140, is known
for his critique of global corporations (When
Corporations Rule the World and the documentary The Corporation),
and for his articulation of ecological community-based alternatives (The Post-Corporate
World). Over the past several years, he has been increasingly connected
with the fast-growing Business
Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), which he helped found in
2001 with others associated with the Social Venture Network. The new local BALLE network—Green Enterprise Toronto (GET)—is
the principle organizer of Korten’s Toronto visit, along with the Centre for
Social Justice, FES’s B&E program, the Centre for Social Innovation,
Faith & the Common Good, and other groups. David Langille, director of the Centre for Social Justice, who
teaches a Canadian Social Problems
course at Atkinson Tuesday nights, was the initial organizer for Korten’s York
presentation, which is now co-sponsored by the FES B&E program. Korten will also speak the following night at
OISE-UT, co-sponsored by the above groups, along with the OISE-UT Transformative
Learning Centre, Grassroots Environmental Products, Raincoast Books, the
Coalition for a Green Economy and the United Church of Canada’s Justice,
Global and Ecumenical Relations Unit. For
more information on the For
some interesting history of the business sustainability movement—involving
Business for Social Responsibility, the Social Venture Network, and BALLE, read this article, originally published in Multinational Monitor. One of the backbones
of the B&E Diploma program (and much more), Tiffany
will be heading for Sault St. Marie with new husband. Our loss is definitely Nicole Bassett on the
B&E Collective Nicole
Bassett entered The Business and Environment Collective formed to bring
together The Business and
Environment Collective acts as a place where students from Note: the old B&E
Collective website, originally developed by Lia Gudaitis,
is still online, at www.becollective.org/, so check it out. Elizabeth Kurucz Succeeds David Wheeler Teaching B&E Core
Course B&E program co-founder David Wheeler has departed to
Halifax, but the B&E core environmental management course, taking place
this fall, is in good hands with Dr. Elizabeth Kurucz. Elizabeth, who is a senior research fellow
at IRIS, actually
co-taught the course with Dr. Wheeler last year, and brings a wealth of experience
to the corporate side of the B&E program.
For the past decade, Elizabeth has been the lead researcher on a
number of joint organizational-academic research initiatives, spanning a
range of sectors, including utilities, government, oil and gas, steel,
chemicals, environmental services, automotive, finance and
conservation. She has worked as an organizational consultant for
various firms, presented at numerous academic and professional forums, and
carried on a variety of research—notably on organizational behaviour. The course itself,
“Management Practices for Sustainable Business ENVS 6191/BSUS 6300,” takes a
"triple bottom line" approach, defining sustainability in business
as balanced progress towards economic performance, social justice and environmental
quality. Throughout the weekly sessions and assignments, students critically
examine components of a range of sustainability tools and techniques and how
they are used by managers in a variety of disciplines in business to create
value: e.g. marketing, product development, community relations, investor
relations and other functions. The course, organized in conference format, is
focused on unearthing the underlying assumptions of these approaches, as well
as considering the managerial applications of these techniques. FESer Brendan Biddlecom Selected for Prestigious Mentorship
Program Brendan
Biddlecom, MES II, who received top prize at last spring’s Sustainability Reception
for his green business proposal, continues to garner laurels and hardy
recognition, as he was selected as one of eight winners in a continental
competition. The “Young Leaders Program” of the Business Alliance for Local Living
Economies selects particularly promising young people with an
entrepreneurial and leadership bent for special mentorship in
community-oriented business and community organization. As reported in the last B&E Newsletter,
Brendan has been causing waves in his Buffalo hometown in helping found a new
community business network, Buffalo
First, working with community animator Amy Kidron
(in photo, with Brendan)—who was also selected as one of the lucky
eight. Other notable selections
included former national BALLE staffer & author Merrian Fuller (now at
UC-Berkeley) and Leanne Krueger-Braneky, current coordinator of |
A number of B&E students have special interests in
energy. Prof. Rob Macdonald,
co-founder of the B&E program and one of the Faculty’s outstanding energy
experts, urges students needing guidance and discussion to drop by and
talk. He adds that, for those without a
lot a background in energy, a useful option might be to take his undergrad
course in the winter term, ENVS 3130 Energy and Environment—that MESers can
upgrade to an Independent Directed Study (6599) course. For those concerned, this is an opportunity
not to be missed, since Dr. Rob will not be at
Net Impact Holds
Sustainability Orientation
On
Thursday Sept. 28, Net Impact held its first main event at Schulich for
Summer 2006 saw the successful completion of the MES
program for B&E stalwarts Mian Zhang, Lindsay Parks, Mike Dunbar, Brian
Minns, Chris Coghlan and Nicole Bassett.
Mian’s studies were focused on Environmental Management Systems in
China; Lindsay Parks researched sustainable development in the mining industry;
Mike Dunbar’s Major Paper was on Sustainable Food Systems; Brian Minns wrote on
Sustainable and Socially-responsible Finance; Chris Coghlan examined Nonprofit
Enterprises & Sustainability; and Nicole Bassett looked at Patagonia as a case study of sustainable
business strategy (see above).
Leading Edge 2006: Niagara
Escarpment Commission’s conference on sustainability, healthy communities &
biosphere research : Oct. 4-6,
Oct. 31,
7th Annual
Global Conference on Environmental Taxation : Oct. 22-24,
Toronto
Regional Green Building Festival : Oct. 31-Nov. 1, Canadian Broadcasting
Centre
Planet in Focus
film festival : Nov. 1-5
GreenBuild
2006 : Nov. 15-17,
Article of the Month War, Murder, Rape…All for Your Cell
Phone by
Stan Cox, AlterNet
Contribute to
the
This
issue is the second of a continuing series.
It is intended to provide news, context, communication
and continuity for York B&E students, but may also be of interest to many
others, inside or outside the Faculty, who share our bias toward survival,
justice, community and positive regeneration.
The newsletter can be a means of B&E students staying in touch with
what others in the program are doing.
Hopefully you will supply us with news, descriptions of your internships
and research, links, and more. Of particular interest is information that can
help MESers develop research interests and skills that can practically
contribute to green development, especially in the Toronto bioregion. The more relevant our research becomes, the
more opportunities—internships, research grants, jobs, connections—will come
our way.
If you
have material or ideas for the newsletter, please contact Brian M.
“Economically, energy-efficiency
is better than a free lunch—it’s a lunch you get paid to eat.”
Amory Lovins