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Please include: 1) date and time of the event, 2) title or name of the event, 3) location (street address, city or town), 4) description of event (purpose, speakers, sponsors, admission fees if any), 5) directions (driving instructions, MBTA stop, where to park), and 6) where to get further information (telephone, email, or website). Saturday, October 27th – 9:30am-4:30pm, Great Barrington, MA
27th Annual E.F. Schumacher Lectures
The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, 14 Castle Street, Great Barrington, MA
Annual conference to discuss issues in building communities and local economies. Speakers include Chuck Turner (Boston City Council), Majorta Carter (Sustainable South Bronx), and Michael Shuman (author of The Small Mart Revolution). http://www.mahaiwe.org/
More info: http://relocalize.net/the_twenty_seventh_annual_e_f_schumacher_lectures Wednesday, October 31st – Green Chemistry Business Summit
– A First of Its Kind –
Seeks to Stimulate Economic Growth and Workforce Development through Nontoxic Manufacturing and Research, Technology Center at Northern Essex Community College in Haverhill, MA
8 AM to 5 PM
A group of citizens and organizations concerned with clean economic growth in the Merrimack Valley announced today plans to hold a first-of-its-kind Green Chemistry Business Summit. The summit will assemble industrial leaders, scientists, and financiers for the specific purpose of harnessing the global business opportunities for nontoxic manufacturing through Green Chemistry.
Green Chemistry is considered essential for the future for clean industrial growth. It is a practice that eliminates the use of hazardous materials in product development and manufacturing. Through its application, it has been demonstrated that industrial materials and consumer products can be designed with negligible impact on human health and the environment while still being successful in the marketplace. Its principles are being adopted in a growing range of industries, such as biomedical, electronics, and consumer goods. The Summit will be hosted by Dr. John Warner, a founder and world renowned expert in Green Chemistry. Formally with the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, Dr. Warner is today President and Chief Technology Officer for the newly formed Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry, based in Woburn, Massachusetts. He is co-author of the seminal work in the field, “Green Chemistry – Theory and Practice”, and founding stakeholder of the EPA’s Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award. He holds over 100 patents and papers in the field and has directly been involved in the development of technologies in several industries.
“The Summit is an opportunity for the Merrimack Valley to position itself as a world leader in realizing the business potential of nontoxic manufacturing and research through Green Chemistry”, said Dr. Warner.
Sponsoring agencies include The Merrimack Valley Economic Development Council and the Merrimack Valley Venture Forum.
Bob Halpin, the President and CEO of the Merrimack Valley Economic Development Council, whose job it is to promote the economic interests of the region, said, “The principles of Green Chemistry are creating a new wave of innovation leading to safer, cleaner and less toxic products and processes. This summit will highlight the full extent of the opportunities and benefits of Green Chemistry for Merrimack Valley businesses and industries.”
Eugene Buff, Consulting Director for Yet2.com, an intellectual assets company that specializes in a multi-faceted approach to R&D; called “open innovation”, said,
“I think the green chemistry is going to be a big success story… We only recently started to think outside of the box to consider green solutions for many industries. And open innovation, by definition – is about thinking and acting outside of our routine/corporate boundaries. This is a clear match.”
Mr. Buff will be speaking at the Summit, as will other representatives from the financial, investment and open innovation industries. One of the unique aspects of this summit is that it is targeted to the business, investment, and workforce development communities. Its objective is to help grow the Green Chemistry commercial and employment sectors and to demonstrate how nontoxic manufacturing and research can be an integral part of the region’s economy.
Other speakers at the conference will include Berkley Cue, Retired Vice President of pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer; Abigail A. Barrow, Director of the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center, and Jon Cronin, Director of Sales for Andover-based, InnoCentive, Inc.
Joining Dr. Warner in the keynote presentations will be special guest, Paul Anastas, who, with Dr. Warner, co-founded the field of Green Chemistry, and is co-author of the authoritative book in the field, Green Chemistry, Theory and Practice. Dr. Anastas was formerly the Assistant Director for the Environment in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and is today the Director for the Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering at Yale University. Both Dr. Warner and Dr. Anastas have extensive experience consulting with industry on the development of nontoxic products through the application of Green Chemistry principles.
Since leaving UMASS Lowell, Dr. Warner has also helped found two entities that will enhance Green Chemistry research and education in the region. The first is the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry. According to Dr. Warner, the Institute, based in Woburn, “is a collection of scientists dedicated to working with industry to co-develop environmentally responsible nontoxic technologies”.
Dr. Warner and his wife, Amy Cannon, have also helped found the Beyond Benign Foundation. Where the Institute is committed to industrial research, the Foundation is focused entirely on education, and builds on Dr. Warner’s long time practice of requiring his graduate students to do educational outreach. According to Dr. Warner, “The Beyond Benign Foundation is dedicated to the development of Green Chemistry curriculum for K-12, graduate, community, and industrial education for the emerging trends and opportunities in Green Chemistry technologies”.
The Summit is being organized with assistance from former Haverhill City Council President John Michitson, and Seth J. Itzkan of Planet-TECH Associates. Mr. Michitson and Mr. Itzkan have been advocates of Green Chemistry as an economic engine for the Merrimack Valley and have written about it extensively on their Innovation Valley website, www.ivalley.org . Both Mr. Michitson and Mr. Itzkan see Green Chemistry as being integral to economic growth in the Merrimack Valley. Mr. Itzkan, whose company Planet-TECH Associates focuses on innovations for sustainable economic development said, “Harnessing nontoxic manufacturing capabilities through Green Chemistry will help the Merrimack Valley to reestablish itself as a nexus of economic innovation. The Green Chemistry Business Summit is the first step in what will hopefully be an emerging trend for nontoxic business growth and workforce training”.
The summit will take place October 31st, from 8 AM to 5 PM at the Technology Center at Northern Essex Community College in Haverhill, MA. Registration is available through the Innovation Valley website, http://www.ivalley.org/greenchemistry
Contact
For more information, please visit the website, http://www.ivalley.org/greenchemistry
or contact Susanne Ferrara, Director of Merrimack Valley Venture Forum, at [email protected], 978-251-8278. Thursday, November 1, 2007 – 7:00 – 8:30 PM,
Local Planning for Peak Oil and Global Warming:
How Community Actions Can Make Us Environmentally, Economically, and Democratically Healthier
Amherst College, Fayerweather Hall 115, Route 9, Amherst, MA
This event is part of Lerch’s book tour unveiling his new Post Carbon Cities: Planning for Energy and Climate Uncertainty, a guidebook for communities to change their dependence on oil, to reduce their contributions to global warming, and to enhance their economies through a restructuring called relocalization.
Amherst Books will have books for signing Lerch lives in Portland, Oregon. The Post Carbon Institute in Vancouver, BC has become a major web hub for communities working towards relocalization.
Directions: From the Rte. 116 – Rte. 9 intersection, walk east on the south side of Rte. 9 about 200 yards until you come to where Seelye Street meets Rte. 9. Fifty feet beyond this, take a path into the campus. Fayerweather Hall is the 2nd building on your left. Enter the right hand door. Lecture room 115 is the 2nd door on the right.
Contacts: Larry Ely at (413)-256-6044 or Kathi Bangert at (413)-256-1157
Sponsored by: Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, Massachusetts Coalition for Healthy Communities, Town of Amherst Energy Task Force, Deerfield Energy Committee, Hitchcock Center
