The Roosevelt Institution
Overview:
Energy production and consumption are important issues facing our nation today. Our current energy policy is detrimental to American interests both internationally and domestically, and should be modified to reflect goals of stability, efficiency, and cleanliness. This symposium will address various aspects of energy policy, including investment in better energy technologies, increasing “green” planning and construction, and methods of governmental action to implement these changes. Middlebury has a unique advantage in hosting an energy symposium given the College’s new green architecture and clean energy commitments. The symposium will use energy policy as a nexus to draw diverse ideas and opinions from many disciplines such as architecture, physics, history, political science, and economics, and will facilitate the discussion of new ideas for an antiquated system that affects both the campus and the nation.
Background:
This year the Roosevelt Institution (RI), the nation’s first student think tank, is researching potential policies to “reduce our dependence on foreign, harmful, and unsustainable energy.” Middlebury’s Environmental Policy Center, specifically, is researching a policy focused on how the federal government could invest in efficient and green construction. Go to www.rooseveltinstitution.org for more information.
The Sunday Night Group (SNG), an activist group of approximately 350 members, is creating a plan for Middlebury College to become carbon neutral within five years and garnering the support of the Middlebury administration and trustees to implement it. If this goal is met, Middlebury would become the first college of its size to declare officially that we, as an institution, are not contributing to the worsening state of our climate. SNG also spearheads a number of other projects that work toward improving the state of the environment, including a light bulb exchange, workshops, movie screenings, encouraging local schools to use biodiesel, and attending conferences and other events.
Monday, February 26:
7:30pm in BiHall 216: Screening of the Vermont Walk Documentary
Tuesday, February 27:
4:30pm in Dana Auditorium, keynote speech by Van Jones: “The New Dream: Updating MLK’s Vision to Meet Today’s Ecological and Social Challenges”
Eco-visionary, human rights attorney, and powerhouse speaker, Van Jones is one of the most creative and unifying progressive leaders in the United States. Jones is the founder of one of the most innovative racial justice organizations in the United States: the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights (EBC). Based in Oakland, California, EBC works for positive alternatives to incarceration and violence in urban America. Van is also a passionate advocate for the environment and for responsible business. He has served on numerous governing boards, including: Rainforest Action Network, WITNESS, Bioneers, the New Apollo Project and the Social Venture Network. Van's efforts have earned him many honors, including the Reebok International Human Rights Award, the Ashoka Fellowship, and the Rockefeller Foundation "Next Generation Leadership" Fellowship. (www.globablexchange.com)
Wednesday, February 28
7:00pm in RAJ: Energy: the Politics of Now
This panel discussion will feature several speakers who can provide insight into different aspects of energy policy. Each speaker will give a speech based on his or her research or specialization. The objective of this discussion is to learn about several different energy issues and reinforce its inter-disciplinary nature.
• Joshua Svaty: Representative Svaty is the youngest member of the Kansas House at 25 years old. He was elected to the 108th House district in 2002. Rep. Svaty is the ranking member of the Agriculture Committee and sits on the Utilities, Public Safety Budget, Environment and Arts and Cultural Resources Committees.
• Daniel Allegretti: Allegretti is a Vice President of Regulatory and Legislative Affairs with Constellation Energy Commodities Group, Inc., a Fortune 200 electric and gas marketing company. Over the last 10 years Dan has served in numerous leadership capacities within the New England Power Pool, including election to the chairmanship in 2000 and again in 2001.
• Frederick Weston: Weston is a Director of The Regulatory Assistance Project. From 1989 to 1999, he served as Economist and Hearing Officer at the Vermont Public Service Board. He was Co-Chair of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners' Staff Subcommittee to the Committee on Energy Conservation from 1994 to 1997. He also served as Co-Chair of NARUC's Staff Subcommittee on Electric Industry Restructuring in 1996 and 1997. From 1987 to 1989 Mr. Weston worked as an energy and economic consultant for clients in the U.S. and Middle East. He worked for the American International Group in Saudi Arabia from 1981 to 1984. Mr. Weston received his M.A. in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in 1987 and his B.A. in English Literature from Middlebury College in 1979. He also received advanced intensive training in Arabic from the American University in Cairo in 1986.
• Jon Isham (moderator): Luce Professor of International Environmental Economics at Middlebury College
Thursday, March 1
9:00pm in McCullough Social Space, one actress performance by Kathryn Blume: The Boycott
The Boycott is a hilarious and heartfelt re-telling of Aristophanes' classic sex farce, Lysistrata. When the first lady of the United States, Lyssa Stratton, attempts to combat global warming by launching a world-wide sex strike, she awakens a courageous call to arms that rekindles hope for preserving the one and only place we all call home. (www.kathrynblume.com)
Friday, March 2
7:30pm in Mead Chapel, keynote speech by Terry Tempest Williams: “Mosaic: Finding Beauty in a Broken World”
Terry Tempest Williams, Annie Clark Tanner Scholar in the Environmental Humanities Program at the University of Utah. Williams, who is perhaps best known for her book Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place, is a conservationist, advocate for free speech, and well-known essayist on gender, nature, and culture.
Saturday, March 3
11:00am in RAJ Conference Room, Panel Discussion: The International Challenge of Sustainable Energy Development
This panel of academics and professionals will explore the unique challenges posed by the growing energy needs of peoples in the developing world. Energy development projects increasingly involve pollution intensive technologies, such as coal-fired electricity, or encourage environmentally destructive practices, such as deforestation. The sustainable development of energy resources in developing communities encompasses environmental, economic, political, health, social, development and international aid concerns. This panel will explore the needs, opportunities and strategies to achieve sustainable community energy independence and energy security in the developing world.
• Aimée Christensen: Christensen recently joined Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, to focus on global warming and its broader relationship to poverty, development, and public health Founder of Christensen Global Strategies, LLC, has designed, implemented, and advised on energy and environmental strategies for more than a decade, gaining diverse perspectives from her time in government, in the private sector, and with non-governmental organizations.
• Nadia Horning: Professor of Political Science at Middlebury College. Before starting her doctorate in Government at Cornell University, she worked as an international development consultant for Associates in Rural Development and as an independent consultant. She began conducting research on institutional aspects of natural resource management in her native country, Madagascar, during that time. She received a Masters’ Degree in International Transactions and her Bachelor’s Degree in International Studies from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Her current research focuses on the politics of nature conservation in Kenya, Madagascar, and Uganda.
• Alan Baer: Baer is the President of SolarQuest®, a not-for-profit agency with the purpose to educate American and International communities on the benefits of renewable energy, energy efficiency, and advanced Information and Communications Technologies in order to achieve ecologically sustainable human development.
• Jessica Morey: Morey has worked for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change on the Clean Development Mechanism and is now with the World Bank. Her area of expertise is sustainable energy policy development. Jessie has advised Costa Rica in the development of its national energy plan to go oil free by 2021 and is currently working on the Million Solar Lights initiative at the World Bank.
• Sunder Ramaswamy, moderator: FC Dirks Professor of International Economics at Middlebury College. Professor Ramaswamy’s areas of interest include sustainable development and technology.
2:00pm in RAJ Conference Room: Energy Challenge Idea Competition
Students will prepare an idea paper and give a 5-minute presentation to a panel of expert judges in the field. Winners of the first round will continue on to a second round, which will involve a 10-minute presentation in greater depth with questions from the judges and audience both at Middlebury and Stanford University over a live video conference. The winner of the final round will be published in the Roosevelt Institution’s 25 Ideas publication, which is distributed to all U.S. Congressman, 700 state legislators, college administrators, RI chapters and is placed on the RI website. The judges are listed below:
• Bob Van Heuvelen: Van Heuvelen is the Chief of Staff for U.S. Senator Kent Conrad
• Aimee Christensen: Team Member of Google.org and led Christensen Global Strategies, LLC
• Jack Byrne: Byrne is the Campus Sustainability Coordinator for Middlebury College
• Frederick Weston: Director of the Regulatory Assistance Project
• Dan Scruton: Senior Agricultural Development Coordinator for the Vermont Department of Agriculture
• David Dunn: Central Vermont Public Service energy consultant and "CowPower" specialist
• Steven Heim: Social Research and Shareholder Advocacy, Boston Commons Asset Management
9:00pm in McCullough Social Space: Energize with Dawn’s Basement and Cloud Cult
Dawn's Basement is a folk rockin', Celtic fiddlin', bass thumpin' jam band that plays mostly original music created from the fusion of the members' varied backgrounds. Cloud Cult is a multi-faceted band unlike any other. Established as a not-for-profit music centered environmental and philosophical movement, Cloud Cult and the band's self-created record label, Earthology Records, are providing music lovers across the U.S. with some of the most intelligent revolutionary music on the market today. (www.cloudcult.com)
Supporting Groups:
• Symposium Committee
• Environmental Studies
• Rohaytn Center for International Affairs
• Atwater Commons
• Environmental Council
• Office of Institutional Diversity
• The Middlebury Museum of Art