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HOPES takes active role in promoting sustainability
The four-day conference aimed to inspire student involvement
by Chris Brock and Anastasia Strgar | Freelance Reporters |
People who attended the Holistic Options for Planet Earth Sustainability conference over the past weekend probably weren't there for the whole thing, considering it lasted four days and included dozens of events.
For the event organizers, the goal was to present a new perspective to those attendees on the imperative of action versus simple discussion to sustain and protect the planet. The HOPES Conference is hosted every year by the Ecological Design Center, a student-run organization composed of students in the School of Architecture and Allied Arts.
"The thing about HOPES is that its intent is to inspire students, in particular, to work towards sustainable futures," said Tamara Andreas, the event's director and a 23-year-old architecture student who will graduate in June. " The more that we can do to make it that way the better."
The underlying goal of the conference, which has been held every year since 1995, is to promote sustainable design principles. HOPES is the only ecological design conference managed and developed exclusively by students. Building on a theme, "Drawing on Difference," HOPES conference planners brought together experts from a variety of different disciplines to discuss and devise sustainable solutions to today's environmental challenges.
Starting on Thursday and running through Sunday, Andreas and her team of approximately 20 student coordinators managed a conference packed full of workshops, panel discussions and talks from prominent speakers, including artist Natalie Jeremijenko; University of California, Berkeley landscape architecture professor Randolph Hester; builder John Abrams; architect Eric Corey Freed; and landscape architect Nate Cormier. Although the speakers came from different backgrounds, all advocated a similar theme: encouraging people to take active steps to promote sustainability and environmental awareness.
"The crisis that has been revealed is one of urgency and what to do individually and collectively," said Jeremijenko, delivering a speech Thursday night. "Words are no longer enough. Slogans no longer have the standard of evidence required to rally or organize or enforce the substantial environmental action that we need to take."
For the event organizers, the goal was to present a new perspective to those attendees on the imperative of action versus simple discussion to sustain and protect the planet. The HOPES Conference is hosted every year by the Ecological Design Center, a student-run organization composed of students in the School of Architecture and Allied Arts.
"The thing about HOPES is that its intent is to inspire students, in particular, to work towards sustainable futures," said Tamara Andreas, the event's director and a 23-year-old architecture student who will graduate in June. " The more that we can do to make it that way the better."
The underlying goal of the conference, which has been held every year since 1995, is to promote sustainable design principles. HOPES is the only ecological design conference managed and developed exclusively by students. Building on a theme, "Drawing on Difference," HOPES conference planners brought together experts from a variety of different disciplines to discuss and devise sustainable solutions to today's environmental challenges.
Starting on Thursday and running through Sunday, Andreas and her team of approximately 20 student coordinators managed a conference packed full of workshops, panel discussions and talks from prominent speakers, including artist Natalie Jeremijenko; University of California, Berkeley landscape architecture professor Randolph Hester; builder John Abrams; architect Eric Corey Freed; and landscape architect Nate Cormier. Although the speakers came from different backgrounds, all advocated a similar theme: encouraging people to take active steps to promote sustainability and environmental awareness.
"The crisis that has been revealed is one of urgency and what to do individually and collectively," said Jeremijenko, delivering a speech Thursday night. "Words are no longer enough. Slogans no longer have the standard of evidence required to rally or organize or enforce the substantial environmental action that we need to take."
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