Shades of green: Symposiums grapple with food and water issues
Symposiums can be hard to capture with images. Most of the high-level discussions happen during the panels and roundtable discussions. Every year the Environmental Management Business Institute brings together students, faculty, community and policy makers to discuss environmental issues.
Such was the case at the EMBI’s Green Innovations Symposium last week, where regional and national speakers met with UW-Green Bay and its community to discuss “Urban Agriculture and Community Sustainability.”
Among the many highlights were a couple of opportunities to meet with internationally-noted sustainability speaker David Orr, who presented on “The Oberlin Project,” a joint effort of the city of Oberlin, Ohio, Oberlin College and private and institutional partners to improve the resilience, prosperity and sustainability of that community through economic revitalization, environmental improvements, local agriculture and more.
Also, this year’s conference marked the return of award-winning film producer Jeremy Seifert. The filmmaker’s original documentary “Dive” about food waste in America, is forcing policy improvements across the country. He previewed his newest work, “GMO OMG” which explores the consumption of genetically engineered food.
At a lunchtime presentation, UW-Green Bay graduate Ryan Stockwell was honored with the 2013 Earth Caretaker Award. The Earth Caretaker Award annually recognizes UW-Green Bay graduates who have distinguished themselves in their professional field and are widely recognized for their career accomplishments in the areas of sustainability, environmental management, environmental policy or related areas.
In his current position as agriculture program manager for the National Wildlife Federation, Stockwell conducts outreach on agriculture policy and performs policy analysis on agricultural legislation impacting wildlife and natural resources. He also provides strategic leadership in eliminating barriers to farmer adoption of cover crops.
Participation was also excellent at the 10th annual Lower Fox River Watershed Monitoring Program Student Watershed Symposium — a highly anticipated forum, bringing together high school researchers, their teachers and programs partners to share research, exchange ideas and compare ideas on watershed and water resources. The symposium provides the rare opportunity for high school students to interact with researchers in water quality fields.
Images by Marketing and University Communication photographer Eric Miller and interns Veronica Wierer and Holly Williams.
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