[ensu] IES seminars
- From: matt.niedzielski@xxxxxxxxxxx
- To: ensu@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 00:37:58 -0500
Institute for Environmental Studies Seminars
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WEDNESDAYS AT 4:00 P.M.
Room 2093, Earth Sciences Centre (unless noted)
(Huron & Bancroft; Geology section of building)
(north of College St., east of Spadina Ave.)
No registration required; all are welcome.
For more information, please contact
Mona El-Haddad, Series Coordinator (416-978-6526;
m.elhaddad@xxxxxxxxxxx)
Please check www.utoronto.ca/env/seminars.htm for abstracts and
updates.
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WED JANUARY 28, 2004, 4:00 p.m.
BOB WILLARD, Ph.D. candidate, OISE/UT and Institute for Environmental
Studies, University of Toronto and Author of "The Sustainability
Advantage: Seven Business Case Benefits of a Triple Bottom Line"
"THE BUSINESS CASE FOR SUSTAINABILITY: HOW STRONG IS IT?"
(abstract below)
WED FEBRUARY 4, 2004, 4:00 p.m.
SEAN THOMAS, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Forestry, University of
Toronto
"LONG-TERM LOGGING IMPACTS ON PLANTS, ANIMALS, AND FUNGI IN A MALAYSIAN
RAIN FOREST"
(abstract below)
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ABSTRACTS:
WED JANUARY 28, 2004, 4:00 p.m.
BOB WILLARD, Ph.D. candidate, OISE/UT and Institute for Environmental
Studies, University of Toronto and Author of "The Sustainability
Advantage: Seven Business Case Benefits of a Triple Bottom Line"
"THE BUSINESS CASE FOR SUSTAINABILITY: HOW STRONG IS IT?"
Following the outline used in his book, The Sustainability Advantage:
Seven Business Case Benefits of a Triple Bottom Line, Bob will
illustrate how companies are missing out on benefits that could easily
be achieved by adapting sustainable development strategies. Companies
that capture these benefits will gain a significant competitive edge.
Bob convincingly argues that executives do not have to be
transformed into tree-hugging environmental activists to reap the
benefits of sustainability. They can remain just what their
shareholders expect them to be - hard-nosed executives who evaluate
proposals on their bottom-line merits. Saving the world and making a
profit is not an either/or proposition; it is a both/and proposition.
Good environmental and social programs make good business sense.
The seven sustainability strategies presented in The Sustainability
Advantage are easy to grasp, yet powerful enough to lead to significant
business opportunities, from reducing hiring and retention costs and
improving productivity, to decreasing expenses and increasing revenue
and shareholder value. Executives especially appreciate a customizable
spreadsheet into which they can insert their own data to see for
themselves whether the case for sustainable initiatives will be a
profitable one for their company. The power of the spreadsheet as a
catalyst for dialogue with skeptical executives will be demonstrated in
the presentation.
See www.sustainabilityadvantage.com for more information.
WED FEBRUARY 4, 2004, 4:00 p.m.
SEAN THOMAS, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Forestry, University of
Toronto
"LONG-TERM LOGGING IMPACTS ON PLANTS, ANIMALS, AND FUNGI IN A MALAYSIAN
RAIN FOREST"
The ecological impacts of partial stand harvests in tropical forests
remain controversial, with little data available on long-term impacts
of
logging and particularly on the relative responses of different groups
of organisms. A peripheral buffer zone of Pasoh Forest Reserve,
located
in the Malaysian state of Negeri Sembilan, was logged during 1955-1958
under silvicultural guidelines known as the Malaysian Uniform System.
Studies undertaken from 1980-2003 have compared abundance and species
composition between primary and logged forest in an exceptionally wide
range of taxonomic groups, including trees, lianas, epiphytic
cryptogams, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, termites, ants,
geometrid moths, and select groups of beetles and basidiomycete fungi.
An integrated analysis of these data indicates that essentially all
taxa
investigated show a reduction in total diversity, and substantial
changes in species composition in logged forest, even after 30-50
years.
Taxa showing the largest reductions in diversity in logged forest
included snakes, woodpeckers, arboreal mammals, termites, and polypore
fungi. Many species within these sensitive taxa are dependent on
standing dead trees and/or coarse woody debris (CWD) as a primary
resource or for nesting or predator avoidance. These results are
surprisingly similar to results from temperate forest studies, and
suggest that reductions in CWD may be a key mechanism for logging
effects on biodiversity in tropical forests as well.
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REMAINING SEMINARS THIS TERM:
WED FEBRUARY 11, 2004, 4:00 p.m.
DOUG MACDONALD, Acting Program Director, Environmental Studies Program,
Innis College, University of Toronto and
KEITH STEWART, Smog and Climate Change Campaigner, Toronto
Environmental
Alliance
"Now that we've ratified, what are we doing to meet our Kyoto
commitment?"
(Joint IES/Sustainable Toronto project seminar)
WED FEBRUARY 25, 2004, 4:00 p.m.
CAMMY MACK, Group Leader, Regulatory Requirements, Laboratory Services
Branch, Ontario Ministry of the Environment
"Ontario's new drinking water legislation"
WED MARCH 10, 2004, 4:00 p.m.
DAVID ETKIN, Natural Hazards and Risk Analyst, Adaptation and Impacts
Research Group, Environment Canada
"Natural disasters: root causes of vulnerability"
WED MARCH 24, 2004, 4:00 p.m.
PHIL BYER, Professor, Department of Civil Engineering and Institute for
Environmental Studies, University of Toronto
"Planning of waste management facilities in Southeast Asia: lessons
and
improvements from WASTE-ECON projects"
(Joint IES/WASTE-ECON project seminar)
WED MARCH 31, 2004, 4:00 p.m.
CHRIS KENNEDY, Associate Professor, Civil Engineering, University of
Toronto
"The urban metabolism of the Greater Toronto Area"
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