Keynote Speakers Set for Seeley Conference

Here is the latest Seeley Conference press release:

The 25th annual Seeley Conference topic, Floriculture's Environmental Footprint: An Inconvenient Truth or Consumer Opportunity?, has been announced and conference coordinator, Dr. Charlie Hall, and the Seeley Conference Board of Directors are excited to announce the line-up of keynote speakers. The conference will be held June 26-29, 2010 in Ithaca, NY.

Dr. Hall, holder of the Ellison Chair in International Floriculture at Texas A&M University, is particularly excited about the slate of keynote speakers for this year’s conference. “We have a lineup of keynote speakers who are not only noted in their respective fields, but are experts in the environmental arena,” Hall noted.

Kicking off the conference is Dr. Ron Stavins who is Director of the Harvard University’s Environmental Economics Program. Professor Stavins’ research has focused on diverse areas of environmental economics and policy, including studies of market-based policy instruments; regulatory impact analysis; environmental benefit valuation; competitiveness effects of regulation; and costs of carbon sequestration. Professor Stavins directed Project 88, a bi-partisan effort co-chaired by former Senator Timothy Wirth and the late Senator John Heinz, to develop innovative approaches to environmental and resource problems. He continues to work closely with public officials on matters of national and international environmental policy. Dr. Stavins’ opening keynote will set the stage for the entire conference by providing an overview of the water and carbon-related issues facing the U.S. and the driving forces underlying these issues.

A second keynote will be delivered by Joel Makower, Executive Editor of GreenBiz.com, which is produced by Greener World Media, of which he is co-founder and chairman. Previously, he was editor of The Green Business Letter, an acclaimed monthly newsletter on corporate environmental practices, which he founded in 1991. He is author of more than a dozen books; his newest, “Strategies for the Green Economy,” has been called “a clear and compelling vision of what's possible when companies harness environmental thinking” by Stonyfield Farm founder Gary Hirshberg. Noted green architect William McDonough called the book a “hopeful vision of companies transforming challenges into opportunities, re-imagining not just their products and processes, but themselves.” The Associated Press has called him “The guru of green business practices.”

The conference’s closing address will be given by Robert Dolibois, Executive Vice President of the American Nursery & Landscape Association (ANLA). Dolibois serves on the board of directors of the Washington Youth Garden Council and the advisory council of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, one of the partners in the Sustainability Sites Initiative, which recently released the first rating system for sustainable landscapes. This keynote will highlight the responses made by green industry participants in addressing environmental issues, the importance of consumer and legislator perceptions about our products and services, and what is being done in the industry to convey our value proposition of enhancing the lives of consumers through ecosystems services and other benefits (health, aesthetics, economic, etc).

As always, the think-tank atmosphere of the Seeley Conference will allow for plenty of interaction with fellow industry leaders regarding these timely issues. For more information regarding the Seeley Conference and this year’s program, please visit the conference website at www.hort.cornell.edu/seeleyconference, or Facebook users can refer to the Seeley Conference fan page.

Seeley Conference to Highlight Environmental Footprint

Here is the official news release that went out this week regarding this year's Seeley Conference:

The 25th annual Seeley conference will be held June 26-29, 2010 in Ithaca, NY. The theme this year will be: Floriculture's Environmental Footprint: An Inconvenient Truth or Consumer Opportunity?

For several years, we’ve heard about global warming and climate change as issues we need to address. And the debate has had arguments spanning from compelling science to just a natural cycling of weather patterns. Now, legislators the world over have begun to amend the dialog to one of measuring the carbon footprint. Scientists have added water to the equation and now are beginning to speak of measuring the entire environmental footprint.

One can hardly open the newspaper, watch the news, or go anywhere without running into some mention of what has become the most notable environmental issue of the decade, said Dr. Charlie Hall, holder of the Ellison Chair in International Floriculture at Texas A&M University, who is coordinating this year’s Seeley Conference.

For our industry, the issues are more compelling. We think of ourselves as being the original green industry, but we often fail to promote that, perhaps, partly out of fear. Do we know what our environmental footprint really is? Are we as green as we think? Do we have an opportunity for better promotion, or do we need to get our house in order first?

Of course, the real issues revolve around what it means for our individual businesses -- our bottom lines. Will the outcomes of the legislative debate impact our businesses? Are there modifications we need to make to stay in business once the debate ends and the laws are enacted? Will our businesses be able to remain financially solvent or will regulations force us out of business?

Hall adds that business owners should not think of the climate change debate as merely an environmental issue. Instead, they should view it as a market transition and as in any market transition; there will be winners and losers. With the water and carbon policy debates occurring locally and nationally this year, this year’s conference is all the more critical to attend, Hall notes.

As always, the think-tank atmosphere of the Seeley Conference will allow for plenty of interaction with fellow industry leaders regarding these timely issues. For more information regarding the Seeley Conference and this year’s program, the conference website is www.hort.cornell.edu/seeleyconference, or Facebook users can refer to the Seeley Conference fan page.