Sustainability: the Game Changer
Saturday, February 4th, 2012
8 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Corithian Center
(at the San Jose Athletic Club)
196 North 3rd Street
San José, CA 95112
Free Parking Garage
(2 blocks from conference center):
50 North Fourth Street
San José, CA 95112
Learn more about the conference
Conference Registration: $20 through January 27 (includes breakfast & gourmet lunch); $40 afterwards
Teachers that register will receive a free Solar Schoolhouse Teaching
Solar Package (valued at $75) including a Teaching Solar book + dvd,
Your Solar Home guidebook + dvd, & Solar Decathlon book + dvd.
EcoKids Workshop: $10 (includes breakfast & gourmet lunch)
Bring your kids! Register your kids for the concurrent EcoKids
Workshop available for children (7-14 years of age) of adult
conference attendees. Your child will have fun learning about environmental issues such as recycling and solar energy through engaging hands-on activities
Conference Details
Conference Description
Keynote Speakers
Conference Schedule
Breakout Presentations
Sponsors
Description
At the sixth annual conference, learn how sustainability has changed the definition of success. Learn how your school can go green with recycling, composting, water and energy conservation, and earth-friendly gardening.This conference is an invaluable forum for sharing best practices and learning about local resources to support your school’s environmental education initiatives and activities.
View the conference flyer (PDF, 1.4 MB)
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Keynote Speakers
Eric Corey Freed
Our thought-provoking Morning Keynote Speaker, Eric Corey Freed, author and Principal of organicARCHITECT, an architecture and consulting firm in California has nearly 20 years of experience in green building. Eric co-developed the Sustainable Design programs at the Academy of Art University and University of California Berkeley Extension. He is also the author of four books, including "Green Building & Remodeling for Dummies", a best seller with over 100,000 copies in print, and "Sustainable School Architecture." His latest, "Green$ense for your Home" won the 2011 Outstanding Book Award from the American Society of Journalists and Authors.
Eric will kick off the morning of the Bay Area Schools Environmental Conference presenting "Dodo-Sapiens: How Nature Can Inspire a New Wave of School Buildings." Eric will discuss how seemingly harmless decisions about our buildings made decades ago are now throwing all of our natural systems into decline. While every other technology has made vast improvements (cell phones, computers, automobiles), our buildings continue to be boring, energy-wasting, and toxic. By learning from Nature, we'll uncover lessons to apply to our built environment that will save energy, water, and resources and be healthier in the process.
Erik Assadourian
Erik Assadourian has over a dozen years of experience studying issues related to consumption, consumerism and environmental sustainability. He is a Senior Fellow with the Worldwatch Institute in Washington D.C. where he has studied cultural change, consumerism, ecological ethics, corporate responsibility, and sustainable communities. Erik directed State of the World 2010: Transforming Cultures: From Consumerism to Sustainability. This report, bringing together 60 leading sustainability thinkers and published in 14 languages, spreads the idea that for humanity to bring about a secure future, we will need to intentionally and proactively transform cultural norms so that living sustainably feels as natural as living as a consumer feels today.
Recently, Erik has worked with gamemakers to introduce a sustainability component to the famous board game, Settlers of Catan--making Erik a literal game changer and a perfect speaker to complement this year's conference theme, Sustainability: The Game Changer.
At the Bay Area Schools Environmental Conference lunch, Erik will present, " Educators' New Assignment: Teaching Sustainability." He will be discussing the many ways that educators are introducing sustainability into lesson plans, classroom activities, and the broader school culture with the goals of expanding students' environmental knowledge, making their behavior more sustainable, and most importantly, helping to shift cultural norms more broadly in society.
Later in the conference, Erik will also present a separate breakout session, "Catan: Oil Springs: Using Games to Teach Sustainable Management in a Constrained World," where he will discuss the production of an environmental scenario for the board game Settlers of Catan and how it is being used as a teaching tool on issues like the tragedy of the commons, climate change, and growth on a finite planet.
Erik will be teaching and playing the board game Settlers of Catan after the conference concludes (4 p.m.) with any interested conference attendees at Fourth Street Pizza (150 E Santa Clara Street, San José) a pizza parlor which is just three blocks away from the conference venue.
Listen to Erik Assadourian at the conference and then join him afterwards for a round of a world-famous game that promotes tangible problem solving about today's sustainability issues!
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Conference Schedule
Morning
8 a.m. |
Breakfast & Morning Keynote Presentation –
“Dodo Sapiens: How Nature Can Inspire a New Wave of School Buildings”
-- Eric Corey Freed, Principal of organic ARCHITECT and
author of Sustainable School Architecture |
9 a.m. |
Breakout Session I |
10 a.m. |
Explore Exhibit Hall |
11 a.m. |
Breakout Session II |
Lunch
Noon |
Lunch Keynote Presentation –
“Educators’ New Assignment: Teaching Sustainability”
--Erik Assadourian, Worldwatch Institute Senior Fellow and
Director of State of the World 2010: Transforming Cultures:
From Consumerism to Sustainability
Green Star Award Ceremony |
Afternoon
2:30 p.m. |
Breakout Session III |
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Breakout Presentations
Over 25 breakout presentations (view descriptions of each presentation), including:
Bring the Environment to Life
Learn to bring the Environmental Education Initiative
Curriculum, which was recently adopted by the State
Board of Education, into your classroom now!
Are you Getting Bugged?
Learn how pesticides affect children’s health and
our environment, and what parents and teachers can do to help.
Get Empowered
The Leadership in Energy Efficiency Program (LEEP) is bringing energy savings to schools. Learn how to conduct an audit of your school to benchmark energy & water usage, determine which conservation measures to implement, and verify savings.
A Classroom Full of Animals
Along with some furry friends, Happy Hollow’s Zoo Educators will provide ideas for extending the impact of your class’s animal experiences beyond the fieldtrip.
Learning to Live in a Solar World - Lessons from the Solar Schoolhouse
Learn how to integrate hands-on solar education activities throughout the k12 spectrum.
Walk and Roll
Discover Safe Routes to School activities that get kids out of cars and instead exercising on their way to school.
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Sponsors
Gold Level
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