April 16, 2002
Contact: George Yatchisin
(805) 893-3494
e-mail: yatchisin-g@sa.ucsb.edu

UCSB/Worldwatch Institute Symposium, featuring a keynote address from Worldwatch president Christopher Flavin, at the UCSB Bren School

Summary Facts:

• UCSB/Worldwatch Institute Symposium
• Creating a More Secure World: A Political, Economic, and Environmental Framework for the 21st Century
• An afternoon of lectures and panels exploring a sustainable future, featuring researchers from the Worldwatch Institute
• Keynote: Christopher Flavin, President, Worldwatch Institute, “Energy Security: Kicking the Carbon Habit—and Reducing Dependence on Persian Gulf Oil”
• Friday, May 17
• 12:30–5: 30 pm / UCSB Bren School Colloquium Room
• All events are free and open to the public
• Information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at 893-3535

The UCSB/Worldwatch Institute Symposium Creating a More Secure World: A Political, Economic, and Environmental Framework for the 21st Century will be held on Friday, May 17 from 12:30 to 5:30 pm at the UCSB Bren School Colloquium Room. The afternoon will examine the environmental challenges and solutions for the new century and feature lectures and panels by Worldwatch Institute scientists and researchers. The event will begin with a keynote speech by Christopher Flavin, president of Worldwatch, entitled “Energy Security: Kicking the Carbon Habit—and Reducing Dependence on Persian Gulf Oil.”

The Worldwatch Institute is a non-profit public policy research organization dedicated to informing policymakers and the public about emerging global problems and trends and the complex links between the world economy and its environmental support systems. It is well known for its annual publication The State of the World, which examines crucial global issues. More information about the institute can be found at www.worldwatch.org.

A schedule and description of events for the symposium follows:

12:30 pm
Christopher Flavin, President, Worldwatch Institute
“Energy Security: Kicking the Carbon Habit—and Reducing Dependence on Persian Gulf Oil”

Reliance on oil and other fossil fuels has created three kinds of energy insecurity: 1) the political insecurity that results from the uneven distribution of oil reserves around the globe, 2) the economic insecurity that comes from dependence on a fuel whose price swings wildly in the spot market as a result of global events, and 3) ecological instability in the form of potentially catastrophic climate change stemming from the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The roots of these problems are intertwined, and the solution is ultimately the same: an overhaul of today’s energy system—and a transition to one that is far more efficient, decentralized and reliant on renewable energy sources such as solar energy, wind power and bio-energy.

2 pm
Brian Halweil, Staff Researcher, Worldwatch Institute
“Farmland Defense: How Our Food System Can Better Serve the Public Interest and Ward Off Future Threats”

Even as our farms have become more technologically sophisticated, they have become ecologically dysfunctional and socially destructive. In addition to contributing to some of our most threatening environmental problems—from global warming to water pollution to the spread of toxic chemicals—farm families are suffering as farmers become a more marginal link in the sprawling food chain. Humanity confronts an epidemic of malnutrition, as the number of people around the world who are overfed rivals the number of people who are starving for the first time in history. In addition to these shortcomings, we have become increasingly aware that our uniform crop fields and livestock herds are vulnerable to biowarfare attack and that centralized food processing operations provide a convenient means of spreading food contaminants.

The good news is that farms that are more diverse and less chemical dependent will not only begin to reinforce environmental goals but also revitalize farm lives, improve our health and boost our immunity to unexpected threats.

2:30 pm
Chris Bright, Senior Researcher and Senior Editor, Worldwatch Institute
“Pathogens, Bugs, Fungi and Things We Don’t Even Have a Name For: If We’re Serious About Biosecurity, We Should Clean Up World Trade”

Of all the major forms of ecological degradation, the spread of invasive exotic species is probably the least understood, the least visible, and arguably the hardest to reverse. Invasive exotic species are organisms that have come into areas where they are not native and where they are multiplying at the expense of native species. Many exotics are still intentionally introduced—fish in aquaculture, for example, or plants in horticulture—but most of the bioinvasions occurring today result from the accidental movement of organisms traveling as stow-aways on ships, in containers and packing material, or in the goods themselves. Whether accidental or intentional, invasions have become an enormous but largely hidden side effect of the international trading system.

Just about every kind of creature you can think of—from forest pests and pathogens, to animal diseases, to invasive seaweeds, terrestrial weeds, fish, rats, snakes and parasitic plants—is moving through the trading network in one way or another. These invasions are exerting a profoundly destabilizing effect on both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems all over the world. Chris Bright’s talk will show people why the trading system is “biologically dirty” and sketch out some approaches to cleaning it up.

3 pm
Michael Renner, Senior Researcher and Project Director, Worldwatch Institute
“Blood Diamonds and the Cell Phone Connection: The Link between Resources and Conflicts”

About a quarter of the roughly 50 currently active armed conflicts are fueled by struggles over abundant natural resources. In some cases, nature’s bounty attracts groups that initiate violence to gain and maintain control over lucrative resources. In other cases, the pillaging of oil, minerals, metals, gemstones or timber allows wars to continue that were initially caused by other factors. Prominent examples of resource conflicts include the Democratic Republic of Congo (diamonds, gold, copper and others), Sudan (oil), and Afghanistan (emeralds, lapis lazuli, heroin). Conflict has also erupted in a number of countries nominally at peace, where the natural resource benefits accrue to a small elite while heavy social and environmental burdens are borne by local communities. Examples include Nigeria (oil) and Indonesia (timber, natural gas).

Many of these conflicts entail rapacious resource extraction, environmental degradation, human rights violations and humanitarian disasters. Countering these kinds of conflicts will take action on several fronts, including the creation of strong certification systems (to screen out resources illicitly produced in conflict areas); strengthening enforcement of U.N. sanctions against illicit resource trafficking; supporting diversification of economies away from a heavy dependence on a handful of primary commodities; and increasing consumer awareness of the connections between resource exploitation and conflict.

3:30 pm
Hilary French, Director of the Global Governance Project, Worldwatch Institute
“Reshaping Globalization: The Road from Seattle to Johannesburg”

The large protests over the last few years at international gatherings ranging from the World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in Seattle in December 1999 to the World Economic Forum in New York in January 2002 point to widespread public concern about the consequences of globalization. One issue highlighted by the protesters is the growing imbalance in emerging structures of global governance, with global economic institutions such as the WTO gaining strength while the international institutions that are charged with environmental protection and social welfare suffer from limited mandates and inadequate funding. Another major worry is that as globalization pushes decision-making up to the international level on more and more issues, democracy and accountability are threatened.

Despite these dilemmas, international collaborative action is essential if we are to address the debilitating environmental and social trends that are undermining prospects for a livable and secure world. The upcoming Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development offers us an opportunity to create new, more transparent global governance structures that can protect the ecological integrity of the planet while improving the quality of life.

4:30 pm
Panel featuring Christopher Flavin and Worldwatch Institute speakers

The evening before the Symposium, Worldwatch and UCSB Arts & Lectures will present a screening of The Charcoal People (1999, 70 min.), a film by Academy Award-wining director Nigel Noble. The film documents the workaday lives of Brazilian peasants who cut down trees in the Amazon rain forest and burn the wood in earthen kilns to make charcoal, an essential ingredient for the manufacture of pig iron in the U.S. The laborers and their families discuss the backbreaking and dangerous work, which involves the exploitation of their environment. The evening will open with the screening of a collection of award-winning environmental messages created by Earth Communications Office (ECO), introduced by Hale Milgrim, ECO board member. This presentation of The Charcoal People is on Thursday, May 16 at 7:30 pm in UCSB Campbell Hall. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $5 for UCSB students.

The Symposium is presented by the Worldwatch Institute, UCSB Arts & Lectures, the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, the Environmental Studies Program, the Office of the Chancellor and the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center.

For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.

Editor: For photos, please call
George Yatchisin at (805) 893-3494.