At its November meeting, the Forum was briefed on the organization and activities of the Global Environment Facility (GEF).  The GEF is a multilateral mechanism created in 1991 to forge international cooperation and provide financing  for actions to address biodiversity loss, climate change, international waters, and ozone depletion.  Related activities addressing land degradation (primarily desertification and deforestation) are also eligible for GEF funding.  Following its restructuring and replenishment in 1994 at the level of $2 billion, the GEF emerged as the principal international funding mechanism for the global environment.  Replenished a second time in March 1998 at the level of $2.75 billion, the GEF is working to complement and strengthen other actions and funding for sustainable development at the local, national, and regional levels.

The GEF has programmed $2 billion in grant funding to more than 500 projects in 119 countries, while leveraging another $5 billion in co-financing.  GEF funds build country-level capacity to recognize and address global environmental problems within their borders.  Equally important, GEF projects help governments lay the foundation for sustainable development through technology transfer and policy support.  Most of its resources support efforts by developing countries to implement the Convention on Biological Diverstiy and the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, for which it serves as interim financial mechanism.  The GEF also provides resources to phase out ozone depleting substances consistent with the Montreal Protocol and underwrites partnerships among countries in order to sustainably manage shared water resources.

The GEF has 164 member countries and is governed by a Council whose membership and decision-making balance equally the interests of donors and recipients.  The GEF is the first major strategic alliance between the United Nations and Bretton Woods institutions; the United Nations Development Program, the United Nations Environment Program, and the World Bank and its projects.  The GEF welcomes non-governmental organizations and public involvement in its projects, and is the only international financial entity that admits NGOs as observers at its governing Council. 

For the period 1991-1998, 46% of the GEF's projects were in the focal area of Biodiversity, 38% in Climate Change/Energy Efficiency, 10% in International Waters, 4% in Ozone Depletion, and 2% Multi-Focal.

Since its creation in 1991, GEF has focused on four priorities: 

Biodiversity - establishing the 8-country Meso-American Biological Corridor which protects 8% of the world's biodiversity; implementing an integrated plan to protect biodiversity in Lake Victoria, Africa's largest lake; enabling local people to reduce the potential negative impact of development on ecosystems of ten nations in southern Africa, which host 10%of the world's plant species.

Climate Change/Energy Efficiency - developing geothermal as a clean energy source in the Philippines and Lithuania; promoting methane recovery and utilization in Chinese coal mines; reducing carbon emissions by promoting energy efficient light bulbs in Poland, South Africa, and Mexico; developing and commercializing clean technology in Brazil that uses waste wood chips to product electricity.

International Waters - helping governments prepare regional oil spill response plans; improving collection, treatment and disposal of ship-generated waste in the Caribbean; developing ship waste disposal facilities at six Chinese ports; protecting the southern Mediterranean by reducing sediment and pollution emanating from water sources in Eqypt.

Ozone Depletion - facilitating use of energy efficient, CFC-free refrigerators in China; eliminating production of CFCs and phasing out their use in the Czech Republic; replacing CFC spray-bottle propellants and refrigerants with non-CFC alternatives in Russia.

Contact: Michael Sanio, Global Environment Facility, 1818 H Street, NW, Washington, DC 20433; (telephone: 202-458-0263; fax: 202-522-3240/3245; e-mail: msanio@worldbank.org)

ASEE's magazine, PRISM, featured an article on sustainable development in its January, 1999 edition.  Entitled "Cleaning Up on Cleaning Up," the article, written by freelance writer and former ASEE staffer Kate Gibney, outlines the origins of the sustainable development movement in the 1996 report, "Our Common Future," and the industrial and academic initiatives that have taken root since that time.  She discusses the actions taken by major U.S. companies, such as DuPont, Polaroid, and Dow Chemical, to enhance their competitiveness through the practice of pollution prevention, defined as "any practice that reduces the use or generation of hazardous substances prior to recycling, storage, treatment, or control."  Ms. Gibney also gives examples of two approaches to incorporating sustainability perspectives into the engineering curriculum: the "center approach," as represented by Georgia Tech's Center for Sustainable Technology, and the "whole curriculum approach," as exemplified by the green engineering program of Virgina Tech.  The article concludes that "industry's drive to master greener, cleaner production and disposal processes raises the bar for today's graduates and makes the need for a green perspective a job imperative" and that "today's students will be entering an engineering community that has embraced its role in realizing a sustainable future."

Contact: Robert Black, Editor, or Vicky Hendley, Ass't Managing Editor, PRISM (telephone: 202-331-3500; e-mail: r.black@asee.org , or v.hendley@asee.org  website: www.asee.org/prism)

At the University of Florida's College of Engineering, led by former ASEE President, Dean Winfred Phillips, several sustainability initiatives are underway in the Department of Environmental Engineering and Sciences, chaired by Prof. Joseph Delfino.

A new course has been developed on "Green Engineering Design and Sustainability" which is a systems-level approach to product and process design.  It combines the concepts of design for the environment and life-cycle assessments.  There are extensive case studies incorporated in the course, which is being integrated into the Department's undergraduate degree curriculum in environmental engineering.

For some 25 years, the Department has been home to the Center for Wetlands, founded by H.T. Odum, an expert in systems  ecology, energy analysis and ecological economics.   Prof. Odum, who now directs the Center for Environmental Policy,  has conducted extensive research into the use of natural wetlands in Florida for assimilating loadings from treated domestic wastewater.  Given Florida's explosive population growth over the past several decades, the reuse of water in the state is becoming ever more crucial.  The Wetlands Center has been deeply involved in wastewater to wetlands studies for decades, and recently completed a decade-long program investigating treated wastewater discharge to natural and created wetlands in the Orlando area. Odum and Prof. Delfino have collaborated on research into the role of natural wetlands in attenuating environmental impacts caused by heavy metal lead and sulfuric acid from a battery recycling facility.  

Ecological engineering is a burgeoning discipline with its own journal and this field is heavily invested in Florida.  Systems ecologist Mark Brown has been deeply involved in wetlands and planning issues for several years He has been a leader in studying the recovery of mined phosphate lands, leading to restored landscapes that recover, at least in part, the ecological functions that were disturbed or destroyed by the mining activities.  Brown specializes in creating sustainable landscape designs that allow for optimal uses of watersheds while also protecting adjacent water quality.  Brown has been active in quantifying nature's ability to absorb wastes from various facilities, including those involved in electric power production.  This work involves a blend of ecological economics with engineering, leading to the development of a sustainability index.  Brown's research has extended from Florida to Mexico where his theme of wetlands as a productive component of the landscape blends with comprehensive planning scenarios, including the management of stormwater runfoff.  The use of geographic information systems that allow the development of spatial relationships within ecosystems has been an important tool in the Florida research program. 

Improving the productivity of wetlands that are utilized for wastewater treatment has been the goal of Thomas Crisman who has led studies involving the growth of papyrus plants in areas that receive nutrient-rich effluents.  Crisman's goal is to eventually develop economically feasible production of papyrus fiber for inexpensive composites that can be used in buildings in developing countries while also encouraging the uptake of nutrients to prevent degradation of water resources, leading to sustainable water uses.  Initial studies have been conducted in Florida mesocosms as well as wetlands in Africa where he has had extensive experience.  New ventures underway at the Center for Wetlands, now directed by Crisman, include developing ways to encourage environmentally sound construction of golf courses that will incorporate wetlands, leading to sustainable habitats for waterfowl and other wildlife.  Such designs will also lead to more efficient uptake of fertilizer nutrients, thereby preserving waterways that drain golf courses.

Contact: Dr. Joseph Delfino, Chair, Department of Environmental Engineering Services, University of Florida, 300 Weil Hall, P.O. Box 116550, Gainsville, FL 32611-6550; telephone: 352-392-0841; fax: 352-392-3076; e-mail: jdelf@eng.ulf.edu ; website:: www.enveng.ufl.edu

Three of the world's major research universities - the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology and the University of Tokyo - created the Alliance for Global Sustainability in 1994 as a new strategic approach to the problems of global sustainability. 

The Alliance's projects in progress include the following:

The China Coal Project: Academic teams within the Alliance are working closely with local and regional stakeholders, in both small and medium-sized industries and Chinese government agencies, to increase efficiency and reduce emissions in the use of coal in China.  The China Coal Project is providing an important early demonstration of the efficacy of the Alliance's integrated problem-solving model.  It does so by taking into account the nature of local energy sources, available technology and potential improvements, local and regional economic  factors, and local and regional decision-making styles and parameters.  Improved energy efficiency derived from this research may help sustain China's rapid development while mitigating local pollution problems and global risks of climate change.  While the initiative is directed at China because it is the largest single consumer of coal in the world, it is also applicable to other rapidly developing countries such as India, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

Climate Change: Accurate prediction of long-term temperature and precipitation patterns is crucial to national development and to international stability.  The profound uncertainty in our current ability to predict climate change, however, retards appropriate societal response.  The Alliance's climate modeling initiatives combine physical, chemical, and biological monitoring - using mathematical modeling to describe, analyze, and improve prediction of global and regional climate change, and changes in the upper atmosphere.  Challenges include the search for "fingerprints" (clear causal relationships), and the need to deal with exceptionally high levels of uncertainty, both analytically and at the policy level.

Cleaner Technologies: As industry attention increasingly shifts from expensive end-of pipe cleanup operations to pollution prevention, the Alliance's many initiatives in this area include: (1) development of analytical tools and a forthcoming book to help manufacturers predict environmental impacts of products throughout their life-cycles; (2) a Web-based design tool for product designers; and (3) chemical process design and decision tools to identify, measure, and communicate risk.

Mega-cities in the Developing World: Human resettlement to urban areas has grown at an unprecedented rate in this century, reaching 50% in developing countries and 75% in developed countries.  Yet human ability to manage traffic, waste, water, air quality, energy supply logistics, and communications has not grown commensurately.  One current Alliance initiative focuses on new concepts of multimodal transportation systems.  Another focuses on the global energy mix that will be needed to meet burgeoning human needs compatible with sustainable resources and a viable future.

Contact: Prof. David Marks or Dr. Joanne Kauffman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Room I-125, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139-4307; (telephone: 617-253-1992; fax: 617-258-6099; e-mail: dhmarks@mit.edu , or jmkauffm@mit.edu)

In October, 1993, U.S. Senator John F. Kerry (D-MA), Teresa Heinz, a philanthropic and environmental leader, Dr. Anthony D. Cortese, Dean of Environmental Programs at Tufts University, and Bruce Droste, an educator and environmentalist, founded Second Nature, a non-profit organization with a mission to advance human and environmental well-being through learning.  Second Nature was started with the belief that to meet basic human needs of all current and future generations, society must move on an environmentally sustainable and just path.  To achieve this goal would require a change in mindset by all individuals and institutions which could only occur with a rapid and comprehensive educational effort at all levels. 

Second Nature is a now a leader in advancing Education for Sustainability by helping to expand the capacity of higher education institutions to achieve these goals through a variety of programs and services.

The Second Nature Resource Center provides educational materials, tools and information exchange databases that assist in infusing sustainabiltiy into university teaching, research, campus operations and community outreach.  These resources, provided free of change, are intended primarily for college and university faculty and administrators who are seeking ways to integrate sustainability into their institutions.  The Resource Center is includes the following components:

• Starfish: a collection of searchable databases that provide educators with interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability curriculum materials.  Starfish resources help educators equip their students with the knowledge and skills necessary to create a sustainable society.
• EFS Profiles: examples of how others have been making changes for sustainability at their universities and communities by documenting accomplishments and efforts of faculty and administrators in curriculum change, formation of environmental initiatives within institutions, and community outreach.
• Curriculum Greening Guide: a website tutorial developed to help educators from higher education incorporate environmental and sustainability concepts into their courses or curricula.  The Guide directs a user to the most appropriate website resources based on where he or she is in the course or curriculum development process. 
• EFS Writings: full-text papers and speeches relating to Education for Sustainability created by leading thinkers in the movement.
• Calendar of EFS Events: announcements about recent and upcoming EFS events.
• Sustainability Contacts: connections to other individuals and organizations in the EFS movement.  These individuals and organizations provide EFS resources such as videos, software, publications (reports, books), news services, and other curriculum resources.

Contact: Second Nature, 44 Bromfield Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02108-4909: (telephone:  617-292-7771; fax: 617-292-0150; e-mail: info@2nature.org;  website: www.secondnature.org )

Six organizations are working together to expand the capacity of higher education to make environmentally sustainable and just action a central part of the education, research, operations and community outreach of higher education.  The Alliance goals are:

• to explore collaborative and cooperative strategies and programs for advancing sustainability in higher education.
• to improve the functions of each organization, as well as the collective group, by sharing strategies, approaches, resources, experiences, and programs to promote education for a sustainable future.
• to work with higher education stakeholders to accelerate the movement toward environmental justice and sustainability through higher eduction.

The member organizations are the:

• Center for Respect of Life and Environment: CRLE, located in Washington, DC, was created in 1986 in response to the growing environmental crisis.  The work of CRLE is to awaken people's ecological sensibilities and to  transform lifestyles, institutional practices, and social policies to support the community of life.  Major programs identify approaches to economic and social development that recognize the links between ecology, spirituality, and sustainability.  For more information, visit their website at http://www.crle.org/ , send e-mail to CRLE@aol.com   or call 202-778-6133
• Consortium for Environmental Education in Medicine: CEEM, located in Boston, MA, is dedicated to making the relationship of environment to human health an integral part of medical education.  The organization works with students as well as basic science and clinical faculty in medical schools across the U.S.  CEEM currently works with nine schools in New England and Texas.  For more information, visit their website at www.cehn.org/cehn/resourceguide/ceem.html , or send e-mail to ceem@2nature.org , or call 617-292-0094.
• World Resources Institute's Management Institute for Environment and Business: MEB, located in Washington, D.C., has a single mission: to make the private sector a force of postive change in transforming economies toward sustainability.  Since 1992, MEB's Business-Environment Learning and Leadership (BELL) and Latin America BELL (LA-BELL) programs have worked to infuse environmental principles throughout the core disciplines at buiness schools across the U.S. and in Latin America.  For more information, visit their website at http://www.wri.org/wri/meb , send e-mail to meb1@wri.org , or call 202-638-6300.
• National Wildlife Federation's Campus Ecology Program: The Campus Ecology Program, whose mail office is in Vienna, VA, is a full-service, regionally-based U.S. program that helps campus leaders, students, staff, administrators, and faculty to implement and sustain initiatives that reduce waste, conserve biodiversity, and protect natural resources.  For more information, visit their website at http://www.nwf.org/campusecology , send e-mail to ahl@nwf.org  (Darcy Ahl), or call 703-790-4322
• University Leaders for a Sustainable Future: ULSF, an affiliate of CRLE, is an international member organizations of individuals and institutions in more than 40 countries that endorse the 1990 Talloires Declaration and are committed to leadership for the advancement of global environmental literacy.  The organization's mission is to unite administrators, faculty, staff, and students in collaborative initiatives to create sustainable institutions and engender environmentally responsible decisionmaking and action through higher education.  For more information, visit their website at http://www.ulsf.org , send e-mail to ULSF@aol.com , or call 202-778-6133.
• Second Nature (See preceding article)

The Earth Charter, briefly summarized in the last issue of the Engineers' Forum Newsletter, was discussed in detail by Rich Klugston of the Center for Respect of Life and Environment (CRLE) at the November, 1998 Forum meeting.  Dr. Steven C. Rockefeller, Chair of the Earth Charter Drafting Committee, has recognized the importance of engineering input in the drafting process.  Jim Poirot, President of the WFEO ComTech, who attended a recent meeting of the Earth Charter Workshop, requested the Forum members to provide comment on the current draft.  While all 21 principles may have engineering implications, he identified seven, in particular, that need engineering review and comment.  They are principles 3, 5, 6,10, 14, 15, and 16.  The 21 draft principles follow, with the seven listed above printed in boldface with their sub-principles:

I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES

1.  Respect Earth and all life

2.  Care for Earth's Community of life in all its diversity

3.  Create a global partnership and secure justice, peace, and Earth's abundance and beauty for present and future generations

II.  ECOLOGICAL, ECONOMIC, AND SOCIAL FUNDAMENTALS

4.  Protect and restore the integrity of Earth's ecological systems

5.  Prevent harm to the environment, and when knowledge is limited, err on the side of caution.

6.   Establish and defend the right of all persons to an environment supportive of their dignity, bodily health, and spiritual well-being.

7.  Live sustainably by adopting patterns of consumption, production, and reproduction that respect and safeguard Earth's regenerative capacities, human rights, and community rights.

8.  Ensure that economic goals and the means of attaining them support and promote human development in an equitable and sustainable manner.

9. Make the knowledge, values, and skills needed to build just and sustainable communities an integral part of formal education and lifelong leaning for all.

10. Support and establish access to information, inclusive democratic participation in decision-making and transparency, truthfulness, and accountability in governance.

11. Practice nonviolence and be an instrument of peace.

12. Treat all living beings with compassion, and protect them from cruelty and wanton destruction

III.GUIDELINES FOR IMPLEMENTING SUSTAINABILITY

13. Do not use renewable resources such as water, soils, forests, grasslands, and fisheries in ways that exceed the regenerative capacity of ecological systems.

14. Eliminate harmful waste and other sources of pollution.

15. Act with restraint and efficiency when using energy and rely increasingly on renewable energy sources such as the sun, the wind, and biomass.

16. Advance and put to use knowledge and technologies that facilitate sustainable living and environmental protection.

(a) Help to make new ecological knowledge and beneficial technologies available to people throughout the world, strengthening local capacity for sustainability.

17. Provide, on the basis of gender equality, universal access to health care, and secure the right to sexual and reproductive health, with special concern for women and girls.

18. Do not do to the environment of others what you do not want done to your environment.

19. Eliminate weapons of mass destruction, promote disarmament, and secure the environment against irreversible or severe damage caused by military activities.

20 Create mechanisms and procedures that promote environmentally sound and socially responsible decision-making in all sectors of society.

21. Let the Earth Charter ethic of peace, equity, and prevention of harm govern the exploration and use of orbital and outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies.

Please provide your comments and suggestions as soon as possible to PoirotJ@aol.com .  Additional information is available on the Earth Charter website ( www.earthcharter.org )

The American Bar Association (ABA), Section of Natural Resources, Energy, and Environmental Law, has established a permanent Committee on Climate Change and Sustainable Development, reflecting the recognition that these issues are important ones for the legal community and of growing interest to ABA and Section members.

The Committee publishes a newsletter.  The November, 1998 issue includes articles on Making Sense of Kyoto, Post-Buenos Aires Program, Congressional Activity on Climate Change, Liability Rules for International Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading and Counting the Kyoto Forests.

The ABA 28th Annual Conference on Environmental Law is scheduled for March 11-14, 1999 in Keystone, Colorado.

Contact: David Novello, (phone: 202-457-5100; fax: 202-457-5151)

The North American Coalition on Religion and Ecology (NACRE) is an ecumenical environmental education organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Coalition is designed to help the North American religious community enter into the environmental movement with more informed understanding, deeper commitment, and a dynamic sense of environmental mission, as well as to help the wider society to understand the essential ethical and value dimension of the environmental movement. 

ECOLETTER is the quarterly newsletter of NACRE, designed to keep interested persons informed and up-to-date on the North American religious community's involvement in the environmental movement.

NACRE's President, Donald B. Conroy, briefed the Forum on NACRE's activities at the November meeting. 

NACRE, in collaboration with EPA, AARP, and seven other environmentally-oriented organizations, is a founding member of the Environmental Alliance for Senior Involvement.  NACRE is now encouraging congregations to consider establishing local Senior Environment Corps to do volunteer activities such as water monitoring and intergenerational eco-progrrams.  In cooperation with religious and non-profit institutions, related industry, governmental and scientific organizations, NACRE is committed to promoting the Million Solar Roofs Initiative of the President.  This initiative calls for the installation of one million solar PV and/or solar thermal systems by or before 2010.  In 1996, NACRE, in its ongoing Caring for Creation mission to build sustainable communities, chose to address the central need for sustainable shelter within a sustainable environment with real-life models.

As an educational, non-profit organization, NACRE identified a new technological development in alternative building technologies which has recently emerged from research done at the University of Florida at Gainsville.

A consortium composed of Eastman Chemical, the University of Florida, and Eagle Plastics, Inc. has developed and patented a method of recycling all seven grades of commingled plastic waste.  This results in high quality, low cost and environmentally sustainable building material for both transitional and permanent buildings suitable for clinics, churches, schools as well as private dwellings.

Contact: NACRE, (telephone: 202-462-2591; fax: 202-462-6534)

In 1998 at the request of US EPA, AAES, jointly with the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO), sponsored a freshwater presentation to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development.  The April, 1998 UNCSD meeting marked the first time engineers had been included in the United Nations dialogue in this way.  The program resulted in a widely-disseminated report, Water Financing: The Engineer's Report/Water Privatization Projects in the Developing World.

Subsequently, EPA has requested that AAES/WFEO prepare another program for UNCSD's spring meeting in 1999.  The announced topic is Over Production/Over Consumption.  This is a topic for which engineers have much to offer United Nations delegates.  The planning process has begun.  Your input is important.  Please provide a list of themes you view as impacting this topic to Jane Alspach (jalspach@aaes.org ).  Input into speaker selection is also important.  The names of potential speakers, along with their Curriculum Vitae, should also be sent to Jane Alspach (telephone: 202-296-2237, fax:  202-296-1151; e-mail: jalspach@aaes.org)

The Renewable Natural Resources Foundation, a consortium of 16 professional, scientific and educational organizations, convened a congress of approzimately 65 delegates from among its member organizations and other institutions.  The primary purposes of the congress  were to: (1) examine the impacts of human population growth and associated consumption on renewable and non-renewable natural resources in the U.S., (2) identify appropriate responses and strategies in support of sustaining renewable natural resources, and (3) identify information gaps and research needs.  Each delegate participated in three of the following four working groups: (1) urbanization and settlement patterns, (2) terrestrial systems, (3)aquatic systems, and (4) utilization and consumption of resources.  The meeting was conducted at The George Washington University on September 16-19, 1998.

There was a consensus among delegates that the U.S. should move to stabilize its population.  U.S. population presently is increasing at a rate of one percent per annum - the highest of any industrial country.  Delegates agreed that continued growth at the current rate will lead to fragmented and destroyed aquatic and terrestrial habitats, continued degradation and loss of arable land, continued loss of plant and animal species, and demands for fresh water that will exceed supply.

Delegates felt that much more needs to be done to promote understanding of the values and uses of natural resources, the impacts and costs of urban sprawl, and how increasing per-capita consumption is adversely affecting the sustainability of renewable natural resources. 

Delegates agreed that development of models and descriptions of how communities can become sustainable, development of local initiatives and goals to increase citizen participation, and illustrations of how cultural attitude changes can lead to better conservation and protection of natural resources were needed. 

Many delegates recommended development of a national research agenda to identify the information necessary to facilitate stabilization of the U.S. population.  Delegates also agreed that the professional, scientific and educational organizations of RNRF, and other organizations, should place the issue of population growth on their public policy agendas.  They also felt that the U.S. needs additional information on how to improve resource data collection methods and the quality of geographic information systems (GIS).  Research is also needed on case studies of successfully planned communities and metropolitan regions, and the causes of urban exodus.

Finally, many delegates supported development of an "Alternative Futures Report" that includes information on population forecasts, and projections of future resource-use trends.  Compiling this report would require research to identify the impacts of different population growth rates on natural resources.  These projections would help communities to make more informed land-use planning and management decisions.

The formal congress report is scheduled for release early in 1999.  It will be widely distributed.

The members of RNRF are: American Fisheries Society, American Geophysical Union, American Meteorological Society, American  Society of Agronomy, American Society of Civil Engineers, American Society of Landscape Architects, American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, American Water Resources Association, American Congress on Surveying and Mapping, Association of American Geographers, The Humane Society of the U.S., The Nature Conservancy, Society for Range Mangement, Society of Wood Science and Technology, Soil and Water Conservation Society, and The Wildlife Society.

Contact: Kristen Krapf, RNRF; (telephone: 301-493-0101; fax: 301-493-6148).

With over 3,000 people expected to attend in person and thousands more participating in Concurrent Events through satellite links and the Internet, the National Town Meeting on Sustainable Development (NTM), scheduled for May 2-5 in Detroit, is expected to be the largest event of its kind.  Sponsored by the President's Council on Sustainable Development (PCSD) and the Global Environment and Technology Foundation (GETF), the NTM is intended to launch a "sustainability best practices" movement, provide training tools to replicate these practices, and track and measure the impacts of new approaches.  The themes of the event are:  "Crossing Boundaries, Building Trust, and Making Commitments."  Planned activities include:

• a sustainability exhibit hall to showcase tangible examples of sustainable development;
• a national roundtable for business, state, federal, and community leaders to discuss their views;
• visits to local business and industry facilities employing sustainability techniques;
• interactive learning sessions in which attendees can engage each other in discussing what works;
• a food court that will provide food products grown through the use of sustainable agriculture techniques;
• National Awards for Sustainability Program hosted at the Henry Ford Museum; and
• Continuous cultural activities to point out that sustainability practices fit into the American Way of life.

Renew America and the PCSD are cooperating to honor success stories to contribute to America's prosperity and a healthy environment.  The National Awards for Sustainability, which will coincide with the National Town Meeting, will recognize exemplary programs that show how communities can be made more livable by integrating environmental protection, social equity and economic progress.

Contact: National Town Meeting Headquarters (telephone: 1-888-333-6878)

The Sustainable Transition Study undertaken by the National Research Council's Board on Sustainable Development will soon be sent out for external review and is expected by the Board's staff to be available within about 3 months.  The Board's objective in carrying out this study has been to introduce a broadly-based scientific perspective into the ongoing debate on sustainable development and to offer an agenda for renewed international scientific collaboration.  The project focuses not on all issues of sustainable development, but on a Sustainability Transition, the crucial coming decades, and a normative statement of social goals.

The Sustainability Transition represents the shift from the present course to a new path of human development for the next two generations, in which people meet their wants and needs in ways that move away from ones that degrade the planet's life support systems towards ones that sustain or restore them, and move away from widening disparities in human welfare towards ones that reduce or eliminate hunger and poverty.

In a complementary effort, the Board has undertaken a major outreach effort to the corporate community, the objective of which is to involve the private sector in the activities of the Sustainability Transition project and to develop an action plan to help transform concepts of sustainability into business practices and policies.  Through a series of seminars and workshops, this initiative seeks to engage the corporate community in a discussion of business strategies and practices that can seize opportunities and avoid obstacles resulting from the transition to sustainable development

Contact: Sherburne B. Abbott, Executive Director, Board on Sustainable Development, National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council, 2101 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20418; (telephone: 202-334-3511; fax: 202-334-2530; e-mail: Sabbott@nas.edu)

During 1998 the Nature Conservancy took direct action to protect more than 800 tracts of land in the United States, totaling almost half a million acres.  Internationally, it continued to work with 50 partners in 63 sites to assist in the protection of more than 55 million acres throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, and the Pacific. 

Last summer, the Conservancy made the largest single conservation purchase in northern California's history.  It acquired the Simon Newman and Romero Ranches in the Diablo Range between the Silicon Valley and the Central Valley.  Together, the ranches cover 61,000 acres, an acquisition twice the size of San Francisco.  The purchase of the two ranches inaugurates a landmark effort to protect critical habitats and open spaces between the two rapidly growing valleys. 

Also last year, the Nature Conservancy and the Vermont Land Trust completed one of the largest ever private conservation projects in the East.  Through a business alliance called the Atlas Timberlands Partnership (Atlas), the Conservancy and the Trust purchased 26,789 acres of forest land, principally in Vermont's northern Green Mountains.  The alliance is now working to manage these timber holdings in a sustainable manner while, at the same time, enhancing biological resources and maintaining traditional public  use (i.e. hiking and camping).

The Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area currently comprises 241,000 acres of dense forest in the northwest corner of the Central American country of Belize.  In 1995, the Conservancy and the Wisconsin Electric Power Company launched a landmark project- Rio Bravo Pilot Carbon Sequestration Project - to offset greenhouse gases (other major investors include Detroit Edison, Cinergy Corp., Pacificorp, and Utiltree Carbon Co.).  Last year, the Conservancy expanded the project by acquiring an additional 19,000 acres of prime habitat - land which is critical habitat for a wide variety of migratory bird species and is considered threatened. 

Although rainforests cover just 7 percent of our planet's total land area, they are home to half of all living things.  Yet, alarmingly, the world lost some 40 million acres of rainforest last year.  For this reason, over the coming year, The Nature Conservancy will make saving the world's last rainforests one of its highest priorities:

• In Brazil, the Conservancy will work closer with local partner organizations to help create a biological information network in the 774,000 acre Guaraquecaba Environmental Protection Area - the country's largest remaining undisturbed tract of Atlantic Forest.
• In Jamaica, the Conservancy will join forces with the Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust to involve local communities in sustainable economic enterprises that conserve the park's verdant forests.
• On the island of Papua New Guinea, the Conservancy is developing an innovative sustainable forestry project that will set new standards for the island's forestry industry, as well as protect its once-abundant native forests.

Contact: The Nature Conservancy (phone: 703-841-5300)

The International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE), a non-profit organization that encourages the integration of economics and ecology into a "transdiscipline" aimed at developing a sustainable world, is planning a workshop on " Envisioning a Sustainable and Desirable America," to be held in the spring of 1999.  The workshop is intended to broaden public discourse using a three-day "Future Search" process, the goal of which is to create a cross-section of society to participate in the meeting.  Approximately 40 participants, including 20 "high profile" representatives of various stakeholder groups and 20 "real people" representatives will be invited to take part.  The process will begin by "reviewing the past and owning the present," which would involve characterizing the problem of sustainability from the perspectives of the diverse stakeholder participants and identifying the historical factors that have contributed to current unsustainable processes.

The outcome of the workshop process will be a detailed shared vision of a sustainable and desirable society.  This vision will be communicated to others in the form of a series of reports tailored to each stakeholder group, and on a website that presents the evolving shared vision.  The workshop organizers hope that this initial meeting will lead to several follow-on meetings to continue to elaborate and communicate the vision.  The website will be presented as an online sustainability forum and will provide another way to extend the dialog beyond those present and to facilitate collaboration and development of complementary activities in support of the vision.

The mission of ISEE, which is based at the University of Maryland's Solomons campus, is to actively encourage the integration of the study of "nature's household" (ecology) and "humankind's household" (economy) through education, events, research and outreach to address these issues.  The Society, which has more than 1300 members in over 60  countries, acts as a global forum for the advancement of ecological economics.  Specific research areas include ecological modeling, ecological limits to growth, climate change, biodiversity, valuation of natural capital, and ecotax reform.  In addition to a scholarly journal, Ecological Economics, and the quarterly Ecological Economics Bulletin, ISEE offers tow series of books and three videos on ecological economics and related topics.

Contact: ISEE Secretariat, P.O. Box 1589, Solomons, MD 20688; telephone: 410-326-7414; fax: 410-326-7354; e-mail: beckman@cbl.umces.edu

The International Symposium on Electronics and the Environment (ISEE) is the premier annual event for electronics industry professionals, researchers, and policy-makers who are dedicated to the environmental improvement of electronic products and manufacturing processes. The symposium, sponsored by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Electronics and the Environment Committee, provides high-quality technical presentations on the latest developments in technology, strategy, management and research from corporations and research institutes worldwide. This year over 350 participants are expected, with representatives from many major electronics firms in North America, Europe, and Asia.

This '99 ISEE program will focus on the theme, Business success through environmental integration." 

With a backdrop of increasingly sophisticated environmental management systems and improved design tools and approaches, the electronics industry is a leader in improving industrial environmental performance. This year's symposium mixes "cutting edge" technology with new ideas and concepts about the environment. In addition to 17 presentation sessions, a roundtable and panel session will provide a forum to network with other professionals, and interact with several experts simultaneously. The complete Advance Program and Registration Information for the '99 ISEE is available on the website, under the 1999 Symposium tab, at http://computer.org/tab/ehsc/