Photo by Cheryl Vossmer
The organizers of the 2008 AGS Annual Meeting would like to thank all participants for a successful meeting! Post meeting information and materials are available on the program page. We hope to see you for the next annual meeting to be held in Zurich, Switzerland in January 2009.
Time to act on global sustainability, AGS meeting speakers say - MIT News Office
Letter from a rollercoaster - ETH Life
Nachhaltige Forschung (Sustainable Research) - ETH Life (in German)
A Call to Action
The complexity of responding to the challenges of climate change and sustainability has created an impasse to effective action. A strong current of pessimism runs through the public dialogue, which seems to have evolved from “nothing is wrong so we need to do nothing” to “everything is so wrong that there is nothing we can do.” But it is not too late. Instead, it is time to deploy the knowledge we have–or will soon have–to pursue sustainable pathways.
The 2008 AGS Annual Meeting builds upon progress in 2007 to develop the “pathways” concept as a framework for advancing near-term transitions to sustainability. The meeting is designed to move us from the academic concept of sustainability as “something we study” to “something we study and do.” The basis of the pathways concept is how we transition from our present systems, based on today’s technologies, infrastructures, and markets, toward more sustainable systems. Pathways can be thought of as alternative bridging technologies and strategies that move us from the present to a sustainable future. The question is what are the pathways and how do we flexibly choose among them?
In order to respond to the urgent need for substantive action on climate, energy, food, and water challenges, pathways design must take into consideration the scale, timing, and social equity of proposed technologies and policies. Will the redesigned system be of a scale to have significant impact for target regions, and can it be adapted for other regions? Can the system be implemented in time to make a difference? Does the pathway foster equitable distribution of resources and opportunities?
Effective, substantive action requires that universities – who build knowledge – work closely with business and society – who implement creative solutions and adapt. Thus we have designed this meeting to engage leaders in industry, government, and civil society in building well-informed, action-oriented partnerships. Through such collaborations, scientists, social scientists, and engineers can both learn from and provide insight to policy makers in industry and government such that sustainability can be realized “at scale, in time, and for all.”
We hope you will join us!
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The Alliance for Global Sustainability (AGS) is a network of international science and technology-based universities committed to joint research, education, and outreach who have been focusing on “pathways to sustainability” for the past decade. The AGS was formed to help address the complex issues that lie at the intersection of environmental, economic, and social goals.
