14th Annual Sustainable Enterprise Conference 2019
By Ceylan Karasapan Crow
Solar Works was a co-sponsor of the 14th Annual Sustainable Enterprise Conference, and I was able to attend this amazing symposium as their web consultant. On April 5th, leaders from business, government, and community-based organizations gathered at Sonoma State University. Solar Works and Sonoma County Go Local Cooperative shared an exhibitor table in the main event hall, where we heard inspiring speakers and talked with participants about solar energy and a healthy local economy.
The conference theme was resilience. Break-out sessions focused on ecology, economy, social equity and policy. Two practical take-aways: Prepare for crisis, a lesson re-learned from recent devastating fires and floods; and reduce our collective carbon footprint by taking individual and community action. A great way to go is with Solar-powered electricity!
An amazing gathering of business, government and nonprofit leaders driving sustainability.
Discussions centered around solutions to how to build an inclusive, equitable economy that meets our community’s economic, social, and housing needs. As well as what Sonoma State University is doing to become a leader in resilience and climate education. SSU President Judy K. Sakaki signed the President's Climate Leadership Commitment, a roadmap for mitigating and adapting to a changing climate.
It was impossible to be able to attend all sessions, since sessions were often presented in tandem in adjacent conference rooms. You can get the gist of the discussions from the final schedule and session descriptions: https://www.northbaysec.org/. And you can find out about all the speakers here: https://www.northbaysec.org/speakers .
I can specifically speak to two sessions I was able to fully engage in:
1. "Creating A Sustainable, Circular North Bay Economy"
Panelists were from right to left in photo:
Gil Friend, founder of Natural Logic, and Chief Sustainability Officer of the City of Palo Alto CA. Justin Strachan, of Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Ted Walsh, CEO Solar Craft Ann Hancock the Executive Director and co-founder of the Center for Climate Protection with Chris Yalonis as moderator.
The main objective of the conference which from the show of hands to the question "who in here made connections and networked? seems to have been accomplished. The aim of the conference was to get leaders, business owners and individual participants to meet each other and forge networks interested in solving sustainability issues from a myriad of disciplinary backgrounds. I myself made a connection by reaching out to Gil Friend for more information. His perspective on the subject was especially far reaching and comprehensive and he seemed to have some innovative, out of the box solutions for building resilience into sustainable enterprise. According to his bio at http://natlogic.com/about-us/gil-friend/ Tomorrow magazine called him "One of the country’s leading environmental management consultants — a real expert who combines theoretical sophistication with hands-on, in-the-trenches know-how".
Ann Hancock talked about assembly bills and the importance of voters / the public / us contacting our representatives and supporting new legislation and demanding change.
Ted Walsh CEO of Solar Craft gave an example of an unsustainable commute pattern stemming from the high cost of housing in the North Bay. Walsh touched on how many of his blue collar workers are now commuting to Marin where Solar Craft operates, from places as far as Sacramento. This demonstrated how day to day factors have to be considered when speaking about sustainability. It is not just about renewable energy, but also affordable housing and social services as well as social constructs. There was a suggestion made that “low income “ housing be called :"social housing" to remove the stigma from those living in and seeking such housing.
2. "The Closing Plenary Conversation: Toward Shared Prosperity Through a Resilient Economy", was the second session I was able to closely follow.
The Moderator was Robert Girling a Professor in the School of Business and Economics at Sonoma State University, a co-founder of the Sustainable Enterprise Conference series who serves on the Board of East Bay Green Tours. Prof Girling is the author of over 50 articles and books and he is currently writing a book on sustainable companies and social enterprises.
Panelists included:
Elizabeth Brown (absent) Julien Gervreau James Gore Richard Heinberg
Julien Gervreau, Vice President of Sustainability at Jackson Family Wines, talked of the sustainable strategy, innovation, and operations at his company and shared years of experience developing and implementing successful corporate social responsibility strategies, energy efficiency, renewable energy, and water reuse in wine. Unfortunately when asked about the use of pesticides he had no specifics and said he does not have purview over that area.
