[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: Matt's conference report

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Appelbaum, Matt

Colleagues – Hi.  This is a much-delayed report on the conference I attended in late September on behalf of the City of Boulder.  With KC having just returned from another conference in Barcelona, and Lisa scheduled to attend yet another European conference in March, I think it is important to note that Boulder continues to be recognized as a world leader in sustainability.
 
I attended the 7th Global Conference on sustainable development run by a nonprofit group called The Planetworkshops, and funded in part by the EU.  This year’s theme was the somewhat oddly worded “Age of co-construction or triumph of competition?”  Perhaps 800 or so people attended, with folks from all around the world although with the largest contingent from France and then EU countries.  So far as I know, we were the only US city invited.
 
As I rather expected from the description and the session topics, this conference was largely one of ideas and often abstract concepts, without a lot of specifics.  I suppose it’s always helpful to hear of the key issues of the day from various perspectives, the urgency of resolving them, and even some successful implementations, but there were few practical ideas that Boulder might pursue.
 
My session was a panel discussion (with very brief presentations but thankfully no PPs!) titled “Building a desirable urban ecosystem.”  It turned out to be one of the less conceptual discussions as we described some specific programs: the very successful car-share program in Paris, the potential for very high-yielding crop production in cities, how telecom can be used to assist in urban life, and, of course, Boulder’s efforts regarding compact cities, open space, and transportation, among others.  There were quite a few questions from the audience, most of them directed to me as it turned out.
 
My other role, besides chatting with a number of interesting people, was to be interviewed by several groups, including a very long conversation about energy.  I spent some time with one of the few other Americans present; he has a company that builds industrial-sized plants that can essentially melt down virtually any type of plastic waste for reuse – as with the concept of waste-to-energy, this probably isn’t something we’re likely to pursue anytime soon, but should keep in mind as technology provides practical substitutes for standard recycling techniques.  I also had a good conversation with one of the Planetworkshops founders and conference organizers, suggesting that they should consider inviting more cities that could provide specific ideas/programs/policies that help make them more sustainable.
 
There were a few interesting/relevant talks worth noting.  A banker from HSBC gave a most intriguing presentation on why countries that are actively engaging in green/renewable energy will be rewarded economically.  When he seemed to suggest that a carbon tax in the US might not be very helpful I asked him about it, which led to some very thoughtful comments.  He later came over and we chatted for a while.  I’ve attached his presentation to this email.
 
The keynote was from Jeremy Rifkin, who presented on his well-known views about how we must move quickly to renewable energy and how that was quite possible to effect.  While his talk was certainly engaging and spirited, I must say that some of his assumptions – cheap, efficient, utility-sized battery storage in the next few years, for example – were perhaps a bit overly optimistic.
 
While perhaps not the most useful conference for us to attend, there is something to be said for Boulder being introduced, repeatedly, if perhaps a bit hyperbolically, as the most sustainable city in the world.  And we never know where the various connections made will later turn out to be important to us.  And, as usual, there was no cost to the city; the conference paid most of my expenses and I picked up the rest.
 
You can access the program, list of speakers, some presentations, videos, etc. at the Planetworkshops web site:
http://www.planetworkshops.org/en/250/edition-2012
 
--Matt
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