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Facing Unprecedented Changes
In the last decades, humans have made unprecedented demands on ecosystems for food, water, materials and energy. The year 2005 may have marked a turning point with a series of climate disasters and the highest emission of CO2 ever measured on our planet. The challenge we face now is to reconcile human and economic development with the limited biological and mineral resources available, this despite an exponential increase of resource and energy demand. We must learn to understand and respect the complex linkages between human and natural systems.
An Environmentally-Sound Basis for Industrial Society
Industrial ecology? A surprising expression that seems at first sight contradictory. Probably because we are used to considering the industrial system, with factories and cities, as separate from Nature. But the industrial society, just as natural ecosystems, can be described as flows of materials, energy, and information. Furthermore, the entire industrial system relies on resources and services provided by the Biosphere. “Industrial”, here, refers to the entire spectrum of human activities - and not only industries - from agriculture and trade to transport, as well as tourism.
A Stakeholder Conference
This conference will be of interest to decision makers who work at the interface of economic, environmental and societal issues. We welcome participants from public and private organizations, as well as academic institutions or anyone who wishes to learn about core environmental and sustainability issues.
Futures Needs : Solutions on the Horizon
Industrial ecology can guide us to diagnose the economic, social and environmental problems, as well as to design and implement pragmatic solutions, using both an interdisciplinary and a systemic approach. The tools of industrial ecology can help us ensure the survival and prosperity of a growing population within the limits of the planet's Biosphere.
Inauguration of a Continuing Education Programme in Industrial Ecology
This international conference, led by Professor Suren Erkman, an internationally recognized expert in industrial ecology, is co-organized by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), together with the University of Lausanne (UNIL). This event will promote awareness in industrial ecology and encourage public-private partnerships. The conference constitutes the introduction to a new continuing education programme in Lausanne with, as a first stage, a 2-week Executive Course scheduled in Spring 2007. It will bring together scholars and practitioners to find workable solutions for the sustainable future of our society. Combining theoretical insights with experience from the policy and business world, the programme will underline environmental issues as a starting point to help formulate corresponding innovative and politically feasible systems.
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