Schumacher Lectures 2013 on Saturday June 15, Bristol, UK
by Tim Willmott : Comments Off on Schumacher Lectures 2013 on Saturday June 15, Bristol, UK
We’re thrilled to announce two late additions to our Schumacher Lectures on Saturday, June 15. Rob Hopkins, founder of the Transition movement, will be launching his much anticipated new book The Power of Just Doing Stuff – and our other new speaker will be the former Welsh environment minister, Jane Davidson. They’ll be joining Herbert Girardet, Satish Kumar, Mary Clear, Michael Schwarze-Rodrian and Dave Hampton for what promises to be an exceptional day.
The main Lectures are on the opening Saturday (June 15) of the Bristol Big Green Week at our traditional venue, City Hall (aka the Council House). We also have two further events, both at the Arnolfini – the first on Tuesday, 18th June, featuring acclaimed economist Charles Eisenstein and outgoing European Evironment Agency director Jacqueline McGlade; and the second a fascinating look at some huge changes happening in ‘Beyond (Party) Politics’ on Friday, 21st June.
Book tickets for Beyond Sustainability on Saturday 15th, Economic Innovation on Tuesday 18th and Beyond (Party) Politics on Friday 21st. PLUS…we’ve programmed a Big Green Week Film Festival – seven powerful new documentaries from around the world. Full details on the Big Green Week website.
Schumacher Lectures 2013
Saturday 15th June – Bristol City Hall (Council House) 10am – 5pm
Beyond Sustainability – Towards a Regenerative Economy
For 25 years sustainable development has been held up as the solution to the world’s problems. It is time to think not just about sustaining the world’s badly damaged ecosystems and human communities, but about regenerating them instead.
The Schumacher Lectures on 15th June are aiming to map out steps towards regenerative development – in the context of climate change, urban futures, environmental policy, community action and new approaches to ethics in a deeply materialist world.
Our speakers are among those leading this movement – cities expert Herbert Girardet; Satish Kumar – editor of Resurgence; Jane Davidson, former Welsh environment minister; Rob Hopkins, founder of the Transition movement; Mary Clear of Incredible Edible Todmorden; European planner Michael Schwarze-Rodrian and Carbon Coach Dave Hampton.
Herbert Girardet
Herbert is an author, film-maker and international consultant on sustainable cities. He is a co-founder and former program director of the World Future Council. He developed sustainability strategies for London, Vienna and Bristol; and in 2003, as the inaugural ‘Thinker in Residence’ in Adelaide, he defined a range of eco-development strategies for South Australia which have since been implemented.
Satish Kumar
Satish is a former Jain monk and long-term peace and environmental activist who has quietly been helping define the global agenda for change. Fifty years ago, he walked 8,000 miles for peace. This year marks the 40th anniversary of his editing Resurgence magazine. He has been the guiding spirit behind a number of internationally respected ventures including Schumacher College, where he is now a Visiting Fellow.
Jane Davidson
Jane was in the Welsh government from 2000 – 2007 as Minister for Education, then from 2007-2011 as Minister for Environment, when she was responsible for the Welsh Government agreeing to make sustainable development its central organising principle. Today, Jane is Director of a new sustainability institute, INSPIRE, at the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David.
Rob Hopkins
Rob is the founder of the Transition movement. In February 2012 Rob and the Transition Network were among NESTA and The Observer’s list of Britain’s 50 New Radicals, and in 2012 won the European Economic and Social Committee Civil Society Prize. Rob lectures, blogs and writes widely on Transition. He is the author of 3 books, lives in Devon with his family and grows fine beetroot.
Dave Hampton
Dave is a prolific campaigner for social and climate justice, and an eco brand evangelist. Widely known as ‘the carbon coach’, Dave gives counsel over coffee to individuals and families, to CEOs and celebs. He has his own weekly radio show – the Watt Next show – on Marlow FM 97.5. Dave studied Engineering at Cambridge University. He rowed for Great Britain in 1982.
Mary Clear
Mary is co-founder of the Incredible Edible movement and chair of Incredible Edible Todmorden’s community group. Mary is a dreamer and schemer; she is living her life on the edge. Mary sleeps like a baby because every day is filled with adventure. Mary has 11 grandchildren, a brooch from the queen and is a fellow of the RSA.
Michael Schwarze-Rodrian
Michael is the head of the European and Regional Networks Department and the EU Representative of the Regional Association Ruhr (RVR). He is a landscape planner who moderates local and regional networks for a sustainable Metropolis Ruhr. He has great experience with urban landscapes, integrated strategies and project management.
Tuesday, 18th June – Arnolfini, 8.30 – 10pm
Economic Innovation
With Charles Eisentstein and Jacqueline McGlade
Charles Eisenstein
Charles Eisenstein is a teacher, speaker, and writer focusing on themes of civilization, consciousness, money, and human cultural evolution. His books (The Ascent of Humanity, The Yoga of Eating, and Sacred Economics) as well as his other essays and blog posts on web magazines have generated a vast online following; he speaks frequently at conferences and other events, and gives numerous interviews on radio and podcasts. Writing in Ode magazine’s “25 Intelligent Optimists” issue, David Korten called Eisenstein “one of the up-and-coming great minds of our time”. Eisenstein graduated from Yale University in 1989 with a degree in Mathematics and Philosophy, and spent the next ten years as a Chinese-English translator. He currently lives near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with his wife and four children.
The assumptions of the old mythology include that human wants are unlimited, that people prefer to gratify their desires sooner rather than later, that we live in a world of fundamental scarcity, that people are generally averse to work, and that human needs (and indeed everything real) are quantifiable. Of course, these assumptions extend their influence far beyond economics. Charles will explore where they came from, and what the world might look like when they shift.
Professor Jacqueline McGlade
At the end of May, Jacqueline McGlade moves on from ten years as Executive Director of the European Environment Agency in Copenhagen. Before that she held a range of academic posts focussing on the dynamics of ecosystems. She is also on the board of the Gross National Happiness Commission in Bhutan.
Jacquie will discuss what she sees as a knowledge revolution. To succeed in the future we will have to create new ways of networking knowledge in a radically different way. We will need to tap into new forms of social power, learning how to co-operate with people who we do not know and may not even like.
Friday, 21st June – Arnolfini, 6.30 – 8pm
Beyond (Party) Politics
What next for politics in the UK? Is the South West leading the way? Local politics in Frome was transformed last year when a group of 10 independents – a ‘majority’ – took over their local council. A real first. Then Bristol elected independent George Ferguson as its first mayor. And now, seven candidates are standing, as an ‘independent group’, in Bristol’s local elections in May. Frome’s Pippa Goldfinger (now Mayor) and Peter Macfadyen will join George Ferguson and Bristol candidate Brenda McLennan to discuss the impact of operating outside the restrictions of political parties. Jonathon Porritt, a co-founder of the Ecology (now Green) Party, will join what promises to be a truly out-of-the-box discussion.
Venue:
City Hall
College Green
BS1 5TR Bristol
United Kingdom
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Article by Tim Willmott
Tim is the creator of sustainapedia.com and heads digital publisher Treading Lightly. His interests include nature and wild places, cooking, film, sport and music. He is a poet, writer and commentator.
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