Topic: Environmental Sustainability
IBM's David Barnes describes the future evolution of big cities during one of the biggest rural to urban migrations in history. In order to for these 'superorganism' cities to continue to grow healthily, there are five innovations that smart cities will need in the next five years. And IBM, David Barnes explains, is gathering the data to ensure that these five innovations are possible.
How can a young nonprofit organization make a tangible improvement in people's health through clean water using only the power of gravity? This was the challenge for Daniel Smith and the AguaClara team when they began work to introduce community-level drinking water treatment plants in Honduras. In this audio interview, Sheela Sethuraman learns from the 2011 Intel Environment Award winners about the importance of using local resources and experts to encourage horizontal learning.
This audio interview from the Environmental Defense Fund's Future of Green Calls covers complex interactions of the philanthropy sector, socially conscientious nonprofit organizations, and for-profit businesses with FSG Co-Founder Mark Kramer. Kramer outlines how corporate social responsibility (CSR) acts as a lever to minimize environmental harms done by daily business activities. Also covered are how natural resources are consumed by industries and a discussion about sustainability practices.
Could it be that Defense takes the lead on climate change initiatives? An important DoD report cited climate change as a top national security concern. On this Future of Green Call, Daniel Kreeger explains how Defense is planning ways to avoid conflict over essential supplies such as clean water, resource consumption and keeping bases safe from predicted coastal flooding. Discussion also includes lessons learned from climate catastrophes and how to respond more quickly and efficiently to crisis.
Businesses are in the business of business. But they are beginning to be in the business of doing social good as well. As companies shift to incorporate environmental, social, and welfare-based themes into business plans and products, Aron Cramer points out a trend of decreasing poverty and improving the environment as corporations look to increase both profit and human development.
Wim Elfrink hypothesizes on how creating a stronger, more synthesized network will change the world. Focusing on aspects of future daily life as well as major global trends, Elfrink, Chief Globalization Officer of Cisco, discusses how technology and the use of an interconnected network will impact the future. His specific topics include the job markets in first and third world countries, sustainability in national infrastructures, and population growth, both as a whole and in terms of urbanization.
The environmental sustainability movement has long been pushing for the development of renewable energy resources. Yet to have a significant impact in the energy market, any renewable alternative must be scalable, argues Haas School professor Severin Borenstein in this audio lecture. Speaking at the 2010 Climate Policy Instruments in the Real World conference at Stanford, he suggests where policy interventions should be focused so as to pave the way for the greater appeal of renewable technologies.
Increasing energy consumption poses a serious threat to environmental sustainability. In this university podcast, delivered at the Stanford Climate Policy Instruments in the Real World conference, UCLA professor Matt Kahn reflects on what heat waves and increased natural disaster risk may do to households, landowners, and the general economic climate.
In Chiapas, Mexico, twelve indigenous communities have joined forces to obtain fair trade prices for their coffee under the auspices of the micro-industry Bats'il Maya. In this audio interview, COO Alberto Irezabal speaks with host Ashkon Jafari about how the co-op works to empower coffee growers, and how it is expanding to include coffee stores in Mexico City, among other innovations.
Environmental sustainability faces a huge challenge in the developing world, as population growth and energy demand continue to cause increases in greenhouse gas emissions. In this university podcast from the 2010 Climate Policy Instruments in the Real World conference, Stanford's Richard Morse discusses carbon offsets as a way to engage the developing world in climate change improvement.
