Investing in a Sustainable Future

About the Conference

The goal of this conference is to stimulate thinking and discussion about the relationship between economic activity and environmental impacts.

A particular focus will be on investment: Can socially motivated investments lead to changes in the overall quality and direction of economic activity? How can investments help reduce resource extraction and consumption, promoting a sustainable future?

Guest Speakers

The guest speakers are thought leaders from government, academia, and the non-profit and for-profit sectors. More about the speakers…

• 

  Brian Czech

  Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE)
  Founding President, more…
• 

  Sonia Kowal

  Zevin Asset Management
  Director of Socially Responsible Investing, more…
• 

  John Gowdy

  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
  Rittenhouse Teaching Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Economics, more…
• 

  Marjorie Kelly

  Democracy Collaborative
  Senior Fellow and Director of Consultancy Services, more…
• 

  James Gifford

  Initiative for Responsible Investment at Harvard University
  Senior Research Fellow, more…

Topics to be Discussed

• Social, economic, and environmental justice
• Pathways toward sustainable agriculture and clean energy
• Links between investments, growth, and environmental sustainability
• Effects of ownership structures on growth and the environment
• Developing a sharing economy
• The power of socially responsible investing
• Corporate social responsibility and sustainability initiatives
• How to define, reach, and maintain a practical and sustainable economic scale

Breakout Sessions

• Feminist and Ecological Economics (Julie Nelson)
• Is Capitalism sustainable? If not, what is the alternative? (John Gowdy)
• Socially Responsible Investing (Sonia Kowal)
• Steady State Economics (Brian Czech)
• Climate, Business Climate, and Developing Prosperous Communities in New England (Greg Gerritt)
• How can we reduce our population to achieve real sustainability? (Mike Hanauer)
• Enough-ness (Caroline Howe, Zak Accuardi)
• Climate Change (Emmanuel Vincent)

Schedule

1. 9:00am Registration and coffee
2. 9:30am Opening Remarks
3. 9:45am Investment Too is Spending: No Escaping the Trophics of Money Brian Czech
4. 10:30am Responsible Investing: Pragmatic Strategies to Decrease the Environmental Impact of Large Companies Sonia Kowal
5. 11:15am Break
6. 11:30am Breakout Sessions
7. 12:30pm Lunch
8. 1:45pm Sustainability Policy: Beyond Economic Drivers John Gowdy
9. 2:30pm Owning Our Future: The Emerging Ownership Revolution Marjorie Kelly
10. 3:15pm Break
11. 3:30pm Panel Discussion, Moderated By: James Gifford
12. 4:45pm Closing remarks

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