Sustainability Cafes

The primary objective of the Sustainability Café series is to fertilize the exchange of information and ideas regarding sustainability theory and practice among students, faculty, and staff at IC, and members of the local community. All Sustainability Cafés are free and open to the public and are widely advertised both on campus and in the local Ithaca community.

All Sustainability Cafés have featured “teachable edibles”, mostly organic and locally-grown season food products, served in a “zero waste” format. The "teachable edibles" for the Sustainability Cafés are co-sponsored by Ithaca College Dining Services, which has as its motto: Sustainable - Healthy - Fresh.

Sustainability Cafés have included a wide variety of internal and external speakers and content matter experts.

Spring 2013 Sustainability Cafés - Mondays, 4:00PM in Center for Natural Sciences Room 112 

Note: This Sustainability Café series - which will be held in conjunction with the Environmental Seminar - will focus on local food production.

April 22  (View PDF of event flyer)
"Keeley’s Cheese Co.: From New York to Ireland and Back Again for Value-added Dairy Production"
Alan and Keeley McGarr O’Brian, Keeley’s Cheese Co.

April 15  (View PDF of event flyer)
 "From Philosophy to Farming: Dirty Hands Make the Heart Sing (And Keep You Grounded!)" 

 Shane Hardy '09, Cropsey Community Farm

 

April 8 (View PDF of event flyer)
"Bite Me: Our Journey to Provide Local, Sustainable Meats to Our Community'

Heather Sanford, owner, The Piggery

 

April 1 (View PDF of event flyer)

"Small Scale Farming: Can It Be Sustainable?

Eric Smith and Anne Riordan, Cayuga Pure Organics

 

March 25  (View PDF of event flyer)

"Is Local Food Better Food?"

Julia Lapp, associate professor, Health Promotion and Physical Education

 

March 18  (View PDF of event flyer)

"Agricultural Waste Management Is Economically and Environmentally Sustainable"

Mike Coia, Finger Lakes Grape Seed Oil  and Seneca BioEnergy
 

March 4  (View PDF of event flyer)

"Cayuga Lake "Wine Trail: 30 Years in the Making"

Cathy Millspaugh, Cayuga Lake Wine Trail
 

February 25 (View PDF of event flyer)
"Milk, Butter, Ice Cream: An Introduction to Dairy Farming"
Collin McCarthy, manager, Spruce Haven Farm

 

February 18 (View PDF of event flyer)
"The Finger Lakes Culinary Bounty: Promoting the Seen and Un-seen Food Networks" 
Kit Kalfs, president, Finger Lakes Culinary Bounty

 

February 11 (View PDF of event flyer)
"Farmer, Miller, Baker: Local Bread from Seed to Oven"
Thor Oechsner, Farmer Ground Flour, and Stefan Senders, Wide Awake Bakery

 

February 4 (View PDF of event flyer)
"Growing a Local Food System"

Monika Roth, Agriculture Program Leader, Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County

Fall 2012 Sustainability Cafés - This semester's Sustainability Café series  - which was held in conjunction with the Environmental Seminar  - focused on climate change adaptation.

December 3 (View PDF of event flyer)
"The Dirty Life"
Kristin Kimball, author

November 26 (View PDF of event flyer) 
"Climate Change, globalization and emerging vector borne diseases"
Dr. Laura Harrington, Cornell University

November 12 (View PDF of event flyer)
"Biochar for Environmental Management: Issues and opportunities"
Dr. Johannes Lehmann, Cornell University

November 5 (View PDF of event flyer)
"Cleaner, Greener Southern Tier Plan"
Leslie Schill, Tompkins County Planning Department

October 29 (View PDF of event flyer)
"Adaptation and Risk Reduction in Tompkins County: Natural Hazard Mitigation and Conservation"
Scott Doyle '98, Tompkins County Planning Department

October 15 (View PDF of event flyer)
"Climate Change and Adaptation in Tompkins County: Towards a More Resilient Community"
Dr. Peter Bardaglio, Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative

October 8 (View PDF of event flyer)
"Ecosystem Vulnerabilities and Adaptation Strategies for a Changing Climate"
Dr. David Wolfe, Cornell University

October 1 (View PDF of event flyer)
"Mathematician or Environmentalist?"
Dr. Tom Pfaff '90, mathematics

September 24 (View PDF of event flyer)
"Sustainable Food Production in NYC: A focus on Aquaponics"
Miles Crettien '09, VertiCulture and Lenox Hill Neighborhood House

September 17 (View PDF of event flyer)
"Manufactured Mycelium: Environmental Science in a Biotechnological World"
Sarah Araldi '11, Ecovative

September 10 (View PDF of event flyer)
"Environmental Policy at the U.S. Department of Energy"
Patrick DiCiaccio ’08, formerly with U. S. Department of Energy

Spring 2012 Sustainability Cafés - This Sustainability Café series focused on the practice of hydraulic fracturing (also known as 'hydrofracking') for natural gas development in Central New York's Marcellus Shale deposit.

April 16 (View PDF of event flyer)
"Fracking is a Crime"
Maura Stephens, Park Center for Independent Media

April 9 (View PDF of event flyer)
"Sustainablity Initiatives and Lifecycle Assessment in the Finger Lakes Region"
Lisa B. Cleckner, Finger Lakes Institute

April 2 (View PDF of event flyer)
"The Evolving Role of Community Consultation in Natural Resource Development: A Comparison between Mining Companies and Gas Companies"
Devin Castendyk, SUNY Oneonta

March 26 (View PDF of event flyer)
"Agriculture and Hydrofracking: Decision making and sustainability in rural New York"
Collin McCarthy, Spruce Haven Farm

March 19 (View PDF of event flyer)
"The End of Country"
Seamus McGraw, author

February 27 (View PDF of event flyer)
"When Home Becomes a Boom Town and a Gas Rush Happens..."
Ruth Tonachel, Northern Tier Cultural Alliance

February 20 (View PDF of event flyer)
"Landscape and Community Impacts of Marcellus Gas Development"
Mike Lovegreen, Bradford County Conservation District

February 13 (View PDF of event flyer)
"The History of Oil and Gas in New York State and the Practice of Hydraulic Fracturing"
Ben Haith, The Palmerton Group

February 6 (View PDF of event flyer)
"Hydraulic Fracturing: How Should We Think About the Economic Effects?"
Dr. Susan Christopherson, Cornell University

Fall 2011 Sustainability Cafés

November 29 (View PDF of event flyer)
“Personal and Public Experience with Environmental Contaminants”
Sandra Steingraber, author of “Living Downstream”

November 14 (View PDF of event flyer)

“Breakthrough Communities: Front line stories and strategies linking social justice and ecological sustainability”

Carl Anthony and Paloma Pavel, Breakthrough Communities

 

November 7 (View PDF of event flyer)

“The Right to a Healthy Environment”

Emma Cheuse, Earth Justice

 

October 31 (View PDF of event flyer)

“Monitoring Water for Impacts from Residential Development, Agriculture and ‘Hydrofracking’”

Steve Penningroth, Community Science Institute

 

October 24 (View PDF of event flyer)

“Ingenious Solutions: How to Sustain the Sustainable Artist”

Linda Weintraub, ArtNow Publications

 

October 17 (View PDF of event flyer)

“Saving Alaska's Wilderness: The Creation of the Arctic National Wildlife Range”

Michael Carey ’67, Anchorage Daily News

October 3 (View PDF of event flyer)

“Power Shift: Running for Office for Student Activists”

Dominic Frongillo, Deputy Town Supervisor, Town of Caroline

 

September 26 (View PDF of event flyer)

“Defining Sustainability: A Personal to Professional Journey”

Kyla Basher ‘07, Sustainability Coordinator, Weston Solutions

 

September 19 (View PDF of event flyer)
“Moving Waters: Treating Ithaca’s Drinking Water”

Jared Makrancy ‘09, Bolton Point water treatment plant
 

Fall 2010 Sustainability Cafés

December 6 (View PDF of event flyer)
"A Darker Shade of Green”
Wendy Cobrda, EarthSense

November 15 (View PDF of event flyer)
“Redneck Environmental Protection”
Bill Shaw, attorney

November 8 (View PDF of event flyer)
“Making a Difference Now: Employment in a Socially Conscious Market”
Casey Mastro, ASI Energy

November 1 (View PDF of event flyer)
“Redesigning Farming Systems for Sustainability in the Post-Petroleum Era”
Karl North, Northland Sheep Dairy

October 25 (View PDF of event flyer)
“Finger Lakes ReUse – Starting Up a Community Organization”
Diane Cohen, Finger Lakes ReUse

October 18 (View PDF of event flyer)
“Restoration and Reciprocity: Finding Common Ground between Scientific and Traditional Ecological Knowledge”
Robin Wall Kimmerer, Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, SUNY-ESF

September 20 (View PDF of event flyer)
“Turning Garbage into Greenbacks: A Career in Waste Management”
Susan McIntyre, Delaware County Department of Public Works - Waste Management Division

September 13 (View PDF of event flyer)
“Environmental Opportunities in Transportation”
Fernando de Aragon, Ithaca-Tompkins County Transportation Council

Spring 2010 Sustainability Cafés

March 30 (View PDF of event flyer)

“Strategic Environmental Assessment as a Sustainability Tool”
Olena Borysova, faculty, Kharkiv Academy of Municipal Economy, Ukraine

 

March 9 (View PDF of event flyer)

“Twigs, Pigs and Garbage”

Hans Pfister, Cayuga Sustainable Hospitality

 

March 2 (View PDF of event flyer)

“Investigating the Relationships between Sustainability and Innovation”

Xanthe Matychak, faculty, Innovation Center at Rochester Institute of Technology

 

February 16 (View PDF of event flyer)

“Best Practices in Environmental Behavior Change”
Sean Vormwald ’01, M.S. ’07, founder, Sustainable Transitions

 

Fall 2009 Sustainability Cafés

 

November 17 (View PDF of event flyer)

“Environmental Sustainability in Contemporary Art”

Cheryl Kramer, Handwerker Gallery

 

November 10 (View PDF of event flyer)

“Translating Science: Giving Wildlife a Voice”

Todd McLeish ’84, naturalist writer

 

November 3 (View PDF of event flyer)

"Harvesting the Power of Grassroots Organizing"

Bill Kern '04, GEOS Global

 

October 27 (View PDF of event flyer)

"An Inhospitable Climate: The Political Challenges to Reforming America's Energy and Environmental Policy"
Kate Sheppard '06, Mother Jones

October 20 (View PDF of event flyer)

"Striving Toward Zero Waste"

Kat McCarthy '05, Tompkins County Solid Waste Management Division

 

October 13 (View PDF of event flyer)

“Post IC: What Should I Do Next?!?”

Nischint Sundar ’04, sustainability consultant, Ecology & Environment, Inc.

 

October 6 (View PDF of event flyer)

“Journalism in an Age of Ecological Crisis: Notes from an Environmental Writer and Reporter”

Sandra Steingraber, ecologist and author, “Living Downstream”

 

September 17 (View PDF of event flyer)

“Reflections on Sustainable Business Management Trends”

Jean and Ed Stead, authors of "Management for a Small Planet”

 

September 8 (View PDF of event flyer)
“Powering the Planett: Using Large-Scale Solar Energy to Achieve CO2 Reduction"
Akiko Fillinger, chemistry

 

Spring 2009 Sustainability Cafés

April 23 (View PDF of event flyer)
"Socially Responsible Investing: Holistic and Sustainable Finance"
Greg Garvan, Money with a Mission, and Greg Pitts, EcoLibrium Financial Services

April 2 (View PDF of event flyer)

"Carbon Sequestration: Growing a Climate Solution?"

Leslie Carrere, RPM Ecosystems, Inc.

 

March 19  (View PDF of event flyer)

"Deconstruction: Reclaiming the Good Stuff"

Hans Milberger and Diane Cohen, Finger Lakes Reuse

 

March 5  (View PDF of event flyer)

“Reaching the Green Consumer: Who? How? Why?"

Amy Hebard and Wendy Cobrda, Earthsense LLC

 

February 19 (View PDF of event flyer)

“Driving Habits to Maximize Your Fuel Efficiency”

Andy Goodell, Ithaca Carshare

 

February 5 (View PDF of event flyer)
"You Can't Have Sustainability Without Social Justice"
Scott Perez, Indigenous and Environmental Studies, Wells College

Fall 2008 Sustainability Cafés

December 1 (View PDF of event flyer)

“Green Building”

Brent Katzmann, Ithaca Green Building Alliance

 

November 17 (View PDF of event flyer)

"Environmental Advocacy"

Christine Dorsey ’91, Media Director, Northeast Natural Resource Center, National Wildlife Federation

  

November 10 (View PDF of event flyer)
”Renewable Energy Systems: Global Context, Local Actions”

Francis Vanek, Cornell University Engineering

 

November 3 (View PDF of event flyer)
“How the Environment can be a Bridge to Peace in the Middle East”

David Weisberg, Friends of the Arava Institute
 

October 27 (View PDF of event flyer)
"Taking Global to Local in Environmental Planning"
Scott Doyle ’98, Tompkins County Planning Department
 

October 13 (View PDF of event flyer)
“Life After Ithaca College: Environmental Issues in Government and Non-profit Sectors”
Brian Ohl ‘03, INFORM

 

September 29 (View PDF of event flyer)

“One Thing Leads To Another: Environment, Nonprofits and Philanthropy"

Jon Jensen, Park Foundation

 

September 22 (View PDF of event flyer)
“Toxics Targeting: Using venture capital, Freedom of Information, and citizen advocacy efforts to safeguard the environment and human health”

Walter Hang, CEO, Toxics Targeting

 

September 15 (View PDF of event flyer)

“Interdisciplinary Approaches to Lake Health Assessment: The Cayuga Watershed Experience”
Dan Carrion, Cayuga Watershed Watch

Spring 2008 Sustainability Cafés 
 

April 23 (View PDF of event flyer)
“Restoration and Reciprocity: Finding Common Ground between Scientific and Traditional Ecological Knowledge”

Robin Wall Kimmerer, Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, SUNY ESF

April 3 (View PDF of event flyer)
“Do Pollutants Make You More Susceptible to the Flu?”

 B. Paige Lawrence, environmental medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine

 

March 27 (View PDF of event flyer)
"The Story of Stuff”

(Film by Annie Leonard)

 

March 3 (View PDF of event flyer)

“Permaculture: Designing an Ecosystem”

Steve Gabriel, Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute

 

February 25 (View PDF of event flyer)

"Peak Oil: The Other Problem"

Tom Pfaff, mathematics

 

February 18 (View PDF of event flyer)
“A Ladies Guide to Sustainable Menstruation”
Kendra Lynn and Sarah Brylinsky, IC Feminists

 

February 11 (View PDF of event flyer)
“Affluenza”  (film)

 

February 4  (View PDF of event flyer)

“What in the World is Happening with Climate Change?"
Sean Vormwald, alumni affairs, and Warren Schlesinger, business

 

Fall 2007 Sustainability Cafés

 

December 10  (View PDF of event flyer)

"Living Downstream: Environmental Contamination and Human Health"
Sandra Steingraber, author, “Living Downstream”

 

December 6  (View PDF of event flyer)

“Progressive Approaches to Recycling”

Stephen Klemann, Casella Waste Systems/FCR Recycling

 

November 26 (View PDF of event flyer)

“Perspective from the Burgeoning Solar Electric Industry”

Rob Garrity, altPower

 

November 12  (View PDF of event flyer)

“Northeast Climate Change and the Future for our Farms, Gardens, and Natural Landscape”
David Wolfe, Cornell University

 

November 5  (View PDF of event flyer)

"Revising the Forest Paradigm: Good and Bad Forest Edges"
John Confer, biology

 

October 29  (View PDF of event flyer)

“Weaving the Fabric of Sustainable Community”

Gay Nicholson, Sustainable Tompkins

 

October 24  (View PDF of event flyer)

“Dining Services Sustainability Innovations”

Julie Whitten and Jeff Scott, IC Dining Services

 

October 22  (View PDF of event flyer)

“Where Have We Been, Where Are We Going?”

Rick Otis '76, deputy associate administrator, Office of Policy, Economics, and Innovation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

 

October 15  (View PDF of event flyer)

“Career Planning in the Environmental Field”

Robert K. Goldman, director of global environmental programs, Arcadis

 

October 11  (View PDF of event flyer)

“EcoCities: What Are They?”

Joan Bokaer, Rob Morache and Jacob Roberts from Connect Ithaca

 

October 8  (View PDF of event flyer)

“Save a Forest, Plant Yourself: Toward Sustainable Burial”

Joel Rabinowitz and Mary Woodsen, Greensprings Natural Cemetery

 

September 24  (View PDF of event flyer)

“Sustainability Solutions”

Tina Nilsen-Hodges and Elan Shapiro, educators, EcoVillage at Ithaca

 

September 17  (View PDF of event flyer)

“Putting Forest Science into Forest Practice”

Peter Smallidge, State Extension forester

 

Spring 2007 Sustainability Cafés

 

April 25  (View PDF of event flyer)

“Wind Power at Ithaca College”

Beth Ellen Clark Joseph, physics, and John Confer, biology

 

April 5  (View PDF of event flyer)

"Aldo Leopold's Odyssey: An Assessment of the Emergence of the Aldo Leopold Conservation Vision"

Julianne Lutz (Newton) Warren '88 and Carl Leopold, Cornell University

March 7  (View PDF of event flyer)

“UN Climate Change Conference Report - Nairobi"

Sean Vormwald, alumni affairs, and Garry Thomas, anthropology 
 

February 7 (View PDF of event flyer)

"Sustainability Begins at Home: Using Less Energy in Our Houses and Vehicles"
Dr. Beth Parks, physics, Colgate University

 

Fall 2006 Sustainability Cafés

November 9  (View PDF of event flyer)

"How you can influence your local government to become more sustainable"
Stephen Nicholson, Environmental Management Council

 

October 25  (View PDF of event flyer)

“Sustainability in Dining Services”

Jeff Scott, general manager, Ithaca College Dining Services

 

Spring 2006 Sustainability Cafés
  

April 27  (View PDF of event flyer)

"Wind Energy: Supplying Clean Energy for America"
William Makofske, physics, Ramapo College

 

April 17  (View PDF of event flyer)

“A Conversation with Mark Hertsgaard”

Mark Hertsgaard, author of “Earth Odyssey”

 

Fall 2005 Sustainability Cafés

 

October 26  (View PDF of event flyer)

“Sustainability in Dining Services”

Jeff Scott, general manager, Ithaca College Dining Services

 

September 22  (View PDF of event flyer)

“Hurricane Katrina: Environmental Analysis”

Jason Hamilton, environmental studies, and Michael Smith, history

 

September 20  (View PDF of event flyer)

“Earth Café 2050”

Michael Smith, history and students from Ithaca College Environmental Society

 

Spring 2005 Sustainability Café 
 

February 10  (View PDF of event flyer)

“The ‘S’ Word: Is Sustainability a Dirty Word?”

Michael Smith, history

 

Fall 2004 Sustainability Cafés 

November 16  (View PDF of event flyer)

“Fuel Cells”
Dr. Cornelius Murphy, president, SUNY ESF

 

November 11  (View PDF of event flyer)

“Wind Power”

Beth Ellen Clark Joseph, physics, and David Sungarian, Cornell researcher

 

November 4  (View PDF of event flyer)

"Integral Sustainability: What It Means in Theory, and What It Means for You"
Carl Frankel, author, “Out of the Labyrinth”

October 21  (View PDF of event flyer)

"Design as Inquiry: The Problem of Ecology and Sustainability"
Richard Buchanan, School of Design at Carnegie Mellon University

 

September 30 (View PDF of event flyer)

“Natural Areas Stewardship Task Group Report”

Jason Hamilton, environmental studies, and Rick Couture, facilities

 

September 16  (View PDF of event flyer)

"Making Ithaca College a Model of Sustainability"
Betsy Taylor, Center for a New American Dream

 

September 14  (View PDF of event flyer)

"Building Materials and Environmental Health -- from Children's Playgrounds to the Corner Office"

Sandra Steingraber, author, “Living Downstream”

 

Spring 2004 Sustainability Cafés
  

April 22  (View PDF of event flyer)

"Sustainability and Organizational Planning"
Gordon Rowland, School of Communications

 

April 1  (View PDF of event flyer)

"An Overview of Current Research in Organizations and the Natural Environment"

Mark Cordano and David Saiia, faculty, School of Business

 

March 1  (View PDF of event flyer)

“Teaching Radical Simplicity”

Jim Merkel, author, “Radical Simplicity”

 

February 19  (View PDF of event flyer)

"Cornucopianism: The Next Industrial Revolution and Sustainability"
Michael Smith, history, and Shaianne Osterreich, economics

 

Fall 2003 Sustainability presentation * 

 

September 17  (View PDF of event flyer)

"Fast Cars, Forward Thinking: Sustainable Management at BMW"

Ed Quevedo, director of environmental management and sustainability programs, WSP Environmental NA

 

Spring 2003 Sustainability presentations *

April 4  (View PDF of event flyer)
"Sustainability Education and Action on the College Campus: The Penn State Example"
Barbara Anderson, Penn State Center for Sustainability
 

February 20  (View PDF of event flyer)

"The Ithaca College-EcoVillage Partnership: Fostering Sustainability through Teaching"

IC - Ecovillage Partnership Team (Susan Allen-Gil, Tom Shevory, Garry Thomas, Liz Walker, Elan Shapiro)

 

* Note: prior to Spring 2004, we did not refer to presentations in this series as Sustainability Cafés.