SPEAKERS - BE-IN 16: ECOCITY

Ecocity Symposium
7pm–9 pm (Don't Miss It!)

Cyberculture and the Ecocity Vision
Sustainable Community Development
Technology Empowering Sustainability: The Urban Environmental Accords
Regenerative Place Making and the Greening of San Francisco

The Digital Be-In is pleased to be honoring urban designer Paolo Soleri ,who is appearing at the Ecocity World Summit in San Francisco, with a special presentation on his major contributions to the sustainable city movement.

Presenters: Jeffrey Stein, Director of Architecture, Boston Architectural Center, Chairman, Cosanti Foundation, Arcosanti, Arizona; Lois Arkin, Los Angeles Ecovillage; Liz Walker, Ithaca Ecovillage; Betsy Morris, Cohousing Association of the United States; Michael Gosney, founder Digital Be-In; Colin Grant, founder Visible Strategies; Technology Empowering Sustainability: The Urban Environmental Accords Colin Grant – founder Visible Strategies; Garrett Fitzgerald, Director of Programs, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, USA; David Shearer, Chief Scientist, California Environmental Associates, Burning Man; Darian Heyman, Craig’s List Foundation/SF Environment, others TBA.

Speaker Bios

Lois Arkin, Los Angeles Ecovillage
Lois Arkin is the volunteer executive director of the Cooperative Resources & Services Project (CRSP), a nonprofit organization that she founded in 1980. The CRSP is a resource center for small ecological cooperative communities. Lois is the founding energy and vision holder for the main project of CRSP since 1993, the Los Angeles Eco-Village. The two-block L.A. Eco-Village neighborhood is a demonstration of the diverse processes of moving toward a sustainable community in an older built-out central city area. Los Angeles Ecovillage: www.laecovillage.org

Garrett Fitzgerald, Director of Programs,
ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, USA
Garrett provides leadership for ICLEI’s domestic programs and technical staff from its Oakland, CA U.S. headquarters. As a member of ICLEI’s Climate Mitigation team, Garrett provides technical and policy assistance to local governments across the country to help them identify and reduce greenhouse gas emissions while creating associated economic, health and social co-benefits. Garrett also contributes to the development of ICLEI’s software tools and programs, including the 2008 launch of the Climate and Air Pollution Planning Assistant and the STAR Community Index. Prior to joining ICLEI, Garrett served as a consultant to the City of Berkeley's Office of Energy and Sustainability, as a staff researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and as an analyst at ICF Consulting. Garrett holds a Master’s degree in Energy and Resources from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Philosophy in Environmental Energy Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University. ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, USA http://www.iclei.org/

Colin Grant
Colin Grant is the Founder and CEO of Visible Strategies Software Inc. and has worked in the sustainability sector for over 15 years. He has extensive experience in providing strategic sustainability related consulting and technologies to businesses, governments and non-profits worldwide including multinational corporations, Al Gore’s Live Earth team and leaders at all levels of local, national and international government. Colin is a board member of the International Centre for Sustainable Cities, a member of the Vancouver Mayor's Sustainability Council and the Vancouver Climate Leaders' Group.

Andrew Lawton
From 2006 - 2008 Andrew Lawton was the lead Sustainable Design Consultant at Autodesk, the world's leading producer of design software, where he worked to help designers use information modeling, scientific visualization and environmental performance analysis tools and methodologies to achieve their sustainability goals. Customers and partners included the City of San Francisco, the US Green Building Council, HOK Architects, Hines Interests Ltd., and Disney Imagineering. Before joining Autodesk, Andrew founded Tritonic, a San Francisco-based consulting company that has worked at the convergence of software design and sustainable design over the past dozen years. Clients have included the Rocky Mountain Institute, Sustainable Conservation, the Commonwealth Club of California and Sun Microsystems' Java Software Division. In 2004 he was part of the CalCars team that converted the Prius Plus - the world's first 100+ mpg plug-in hybrid Toyota Prius. Before moving to California in 1995, Andrew worked in Washington DC, as an International Development Program Officer at the Organization of American States and as a Biodiversity Policy Analyst at the World Resources Institute. He is a US Green Building Council LEED Accredited Professional, and a Member of BayCHI- the San Francisco Bay Area Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI). Andrew has a Master of Environmental Management degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and a BA from Yale College, where he majored in Architecture. Email: alawton@tritonic.com

Bonnie Ora Sherk
Bonnie Ora Sherk is a Landscape Architect, Educator, Artist, and Author, who has been planning and developing site and culturally-sensitive Life Frame, Living Library & Think Park plans around the world for over 30 years. Her master plans, art, and articles have been featured internationally in museums, galleries, and in diverse print media. She also frequently appears on television & radio. A Living Library http://www.alivinglibrary.org/UN_60th_allarticle.html

Darian Rodriguez Heyman, Executive Director, Craigslist Foundation
Darian Rodriguez Heyman is committed to sustainable social progress. As Executive Director of Craigslist Foundation, he aims to support not just one cause or organization, but to uplift the entire nonprofit sector through leveraging the craigslist brand. Heyman works to inspire collaboration and effectiveness by connecting thousands of emerging and established leaders with vital support organizations and best practices; his theory is that there should be no difference between the person who dreams of a better world, and the person who knows how to make it real. Darian is also a Commissioner of the San Francisco Department of the Environment and an active proponent of the Greening of San Francisco.

Betsy Morris, Research Director Of National Cohousing Association of US
Betsy Morris is a community organizer, providing tools, training, and coaching for multi-generational and senior cohousing, for creating new communities and helping current ones thrive. Betsy has a masters and doctorate in City and Regional Planning. She consults on community and economic development with nonprofits, social ventures and public agencies, and is Research Director for the cohousing Association of the United States (Coho/US). She lives with her husband Raines at Berkeley Cohousing, and has visited many cohousing neighborhoods across the U.S.

David Shearer, Chief Scientist at California Environmental Associates
David is a specialist in next generation transportation, energy and information technologies. He is also an expert in policy instruments that catalyze market development for emerging technologies, exposure assessment of indoor/outdoor air pollutants, and climate change. Dr. Shearer has worked with a broad range of private and public sector clients to manage environmental risk, quantify the life cycle impacts of human activities, develop revenue generation models for short- and long-term environmental strategies, and engage stakeholder groups in constructive dialogue.

He is also founder of the Cooling Man initiative at Burning Man and has been instrumental in the green evolution of the Burning Man community. California Environmental Associates Cooling Man carbon calculator.

Liz Walker, Executive Director of EcoVillage at Ithaca, Ithaca, New York
As the co-founder and executive director of EcoVillage at Ithaca (EVI) since 1991, Liz Walker has dedicated her full-time work to bring this internationally acclaimed project from vision to reality. Her book, EcoVillage at Ithaca: Pioneering a Sustainable Culture, (2005, New Society Publishers) has helped to introduce the concept of ecovillages to a broad audience in the U.S. and other countries. The book has been translated into Japanese and Korean. Ecovillage at Ithaca: www.ecovillage.ithaca.ny.us

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