SFA Center for a Livable World to host expert panel on sustainability
May 28, 2010
IHS (NYSE: IHS) a leading global source of critical information and insight, today announced that Mark Wysong, IHS vice president, Environment, and Marilyn Johnson, IHS director, Sustainability and Environmental Initiatives, will join a renowned panel of global experts June 1-3, 2010, at the Texas Capitol in Austin for an executive workshop on sustainability entitled, "Toward a Livable World," which is sponsored by Stephen F. Austin (SFA) State University's Center for a Livable World.
The Center for a Livable World is part of SFA's College of Liberal and Applied Arts, and the college's faculty will guide discussions at the workshop, which will address the challenges of creating a more sustainable future. During a dinner following the two-day workshop, the panel will deliver an initial set of recommendations about the roadmap to a livable future, which can serve as a useful guide for policy makers, community leaders and other stakeholders addressing these critical issues.
"We are excited to be invited by SFA and the Center for a Livable World to participate in this landmark workshop that seeks to address the human component relative to creating a more livable - more sustainable world," said Johnson. "Previous discussions on sustainability typically focused on singular issues such as energy and water resources, food production or climate change, often with scientific issues as the core drivers. While the science is critical, until we can take a comprehensive, practical approach that bridges the science with the human needs, real, measureable progress that makes the world a better place for our children and grandchildren will remain elusive."
Johnson will be joined on the panel by Mark Wysong, who introduced a program for corporations to leverage their chemical compliance data to gain direct visibility into the toxicity and cost of the often neglected area of maintenance, repair and operations chemicals. He is leading a nationwide initiative to help companies of all sizes better manage hazardous chemicals to promote human, environmental, and corporate health. In his book, The Nontoxic CEO (2003, Beyond Words Publishing), Wysong outlined the process of Compliance Side Total Chemical Management, which reduces the procurement of workplace chemicals and streamlines the safe and timely disposal of unused inventories.
Other participants on the panel include: Caleb Crow, principal of Little Foot Consulting, formerly with the Tagos Group and the Clinton Climate Initiative; Elizabeth Cheney, head of Safety, Environment & Sustainable Development at Shell Oil; and Lauren Heine, Ph.D., science director and partner, Clean Production Action, among others.
"We've brought together representatives from corporations, academia, government and non-governmental organizations to ensure we have diverse perspectives represented in our executive workshop," said Brian Murphy, Ph.D., dean of the SFA College of Liberal and Applied Arts, and founder of the Center for a Livable World. "We are pleased to have IHS, a global leader in environmental information management and reporting, be a part of this discussion since information gathering and analysis is critical to understanding and solving the world's sustainability challenges."
The executive workshop dinner will be held Wednesday, June 2 at 6:30 p.m. at 301 Congress Ave. in Austin.