With an emphasis on understanding the deep complexity of the human voice and the soundscapes we live in, this hands-on workshop explored what happens when we turn off the visual and turn up our attention to the voices and sounds around us.  The session was offered in collaboration with Barbara Ganley, a former Middlebury writing professor, and DLC expert-in-residence on community development and digital storytelling.

Participants learned about MIIS Radio, Blogs @ MIIS, Midd Media, and MiddLab@MIIS as platforms for documenting academic research and field experiences for academic and professional purposes.   Tools and practical implications for how digital audio can be used in field research, storytelling and documentary were also discussed.

Dr. Dale Rogers of Rutgers University presented “Why Supply Chain Management is Front and Center in Today’s Businesses” as part of the GSIPM Dean’s Seminar Series on October 25th, 2012.

Dr. Dale Rogers is Co-Director of the Center for Supply Chain Management at Rutgers University. He was instrumental in building the two highly successful SCM programs at the University of Nevada and Rutgers University, measured by national rankings and graduate internship and job placements. Dr. Rogers believes that SCM is taking the center stage in addressing the key sustainability issues in today’s businesses. It is the nexus for the environmental impact, social impact, and ethical behavior of contemporary business and management. In other words, SCM is general management with substance.

Listen to Dr. Rogers’s experience in developing winning degree programs and his vision on sustainable business education.

by Marcq Sarratt

At the Bioneers Conference this year,  one interesting panel was Built to Last: Housing for the Post-Carbon Age. Creating a sustainable future cannot come from a single source of innovation or policy. Bottom up changes in daily paradigm for most people combined with top down policy measures are both going to be necessary to bring about the kind of change that will be needed to bring humanity safely into the twenty second century. In the middle of policy and grass roots change, are architectural revolutions in economy and efficiency that also contribute greatly towards limiting resource consumption and bringing about healthier more resilient communities.

Matt Taecher is a city planner at Dyett & Bhatia with an information technology background. Reminding us all that for most of civilized history we lived just fine without personal motor vehicles and “we (still) have feet”. His focus was on nodal urban density projects focusing on multi-use building clustered around existing transit systems. His vision is to change urban zoning laws to accommodate the highest efficiency use of space. While that may sound cramped, green spaces he stressed also play important roles not only for aesthetic purposes, but also for bio-remediation services like chemical laden street rain water run-off. By adding easements for bio-accumulating plants, and dividing driving lanes from pedestrian traffic, not only do you reduce waste water treatment costs but you make for more walk-able neighborhoods.

Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett, work together as architects and developers at The CoHousing Company, where they focus on creating community by “taking the cars out of the middle”. The actual design elements were remarkably efficient. By sharing some resources, like radiant heating for example, into the initial building design, the overall cost for the end user is dramatically reduced. Furthermore, building with a focus on energy efficiency instead of personal luxury, they created highly livable spaces that are more naturally appealing than any single family dwelling I have ever seen. For the small price of relegating your car to an adjacent lot instead of directly in front (or in) your home, brings immeasurable value of community right to your door step.

Rachel Kaplan does not understand why anyone still has a lawn. This prime real-estate and its water resources are much better suited for a permaculture food forest that could be augmenting the family dinner. Or why are building owners letting the roof top of some business cost them money by driving up the heating and air conditioning costs when it could become a half acre monoculture crop land that simultaneously adds insulation. Urban farming not only supplies fresh fruits, vegetables, eggs, and honey to the nutritional wastelands of inner cities for too long dominated by fast food and convenience stores, it also drives community involvement through one of the first civilizing human practices, growing food.

One thing is for sure, there is no silver bullet for creating a sustainable future. It is going to take responsibility from policy makers and individuals. Thankfully no one has to go it alone. With a focus on strengthening community and streamlining efficiency, accepting the challenges of a post carbon economy has never been easier. The future of our nation, and even our planet depends on it.

Elliott Norse, Chief Scientist of the Marine Conservation Institute, presented his talk A Global System of Marine Reserves: Changing the Dynamic for Marine Conservation at MIIS on October 2, 2012.

Dr. Norse has worked at the conservation science-policy interface for his entire career. After earning his B.S. in Biology from Brooklyn College, he studied the ecology of blue crabs in the Caribbean and the tropical East Pacific during his doctoral years at University of Southern California and his postdoctoral fellowship years at University of Iowa. Starting in 1978 he worked at the US Environmental Protection Agency, White House Council on Environmental Quality (where he defined biological diversity as conservation’s overarching goal), Ecological Society of America, The Wilderness Society and Ocean Conservancy before founding Marine Conservation Institute in 1996. Dr. Norse’s 150+ publications include Global Marine Biological Diversity: A Strategy for Building Conservation into Decision Making (1993) and Marine Conservation Biology: The Science of Maintaining the Sea’s Biodiversity (2005). He is a Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation, was President of the Society for Conservation Biology’s Marine Section, received the Nancy Foster Award for Habitat Conservation from the National Marine Fisheries Service, was named Brooklyn College 2008 Distinguished Alumnus and winner of the 2012 Chairman’s Medal from the Seattle Aquarium.

Professor Beryl Levinger hosted the Monterey Institute’s 19th GSIPM seminar.

This talk draws on findings from a two-year study co-directed by Professors Beryl Levinger and Evan Bloom, which examined the organizational development practices of 15 Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies around the world. Through the prim of this research, Beryl explores what social change organizations need to do to remain relevant and make a sustainable difference in the lives of those they serve.

If you are likely to work for or with organizations that constantly face new challenges in an environment of uncertain resources, then this post is for you!