Economics and the Environment

Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger, authors of Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility, are co-founders of the Breakthrough Institute, a political think tank based in Oakland, California that works at the nexus of climate, energy, and economic policy.

Anne Johnson joined GreenBlue in 2005 as a Program Director. Trained as an engineer and scientist with a background in management and sustainability consulting, she has more than 15 years of experience in materials, industrial processes, environmental management and systems evaluation of products and packaging. In her role as the Director of the SPC, Anne led the effort to develop a consensus-based definition of sustainable packaging for the SPC, which has been the guiding vision for the Coalition for the past four years. Since that time she has helped develop a variety of projects within the SPC to support industry efforts to move towards the vision articulated in the SPC definition. Some of these projects include the development of design guidance for packaging, environmental technical briefs on packaging materials, indicator and metrics for sustainable packaging, and a comparative package design software application called COMPASS, which uses life cycle metrics and packaging characteristics to evaluate the environmental impacts of packaging across its life cycle. Anne holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth College, a Master of Science from the University of Arizona, and a Master of Engineering degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Virginia.

Kara Law, Ph.D. is a Research Oceanographer at the Sea Education Association (SEA). She is interested in large-scale and mesoscale ocean circulation,and the intermediate and deep water formation in the North Atlantic and its role in the meridional overturning circulation. Her talk at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmnetal Studies is entitled "The Science Behind Ocean Garbage Patches: Plastic Debris in the Marine Environment."

Leslie Dach is the Executive VP of Corporate Affairs and Government Relations at Wal-Mart. He speaks on Wal-Mart's sustainability initiatives as part of the Yale Sustainable Food Project's fall 2007 "Chewing the Fat" speaker and events series, sponsored by the George and Shelly Lazarus fund for sustainable food and agriculture at Yale.

Wood Turner, Project Director, Climate Counts, addresses the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies on Climate Counts: Activating the Choices and Voices of the Climate-Conscious Consumer. Wood Turner is project director of Climate Counts, a non-profit organization launched by organic yogurt pioneer Stonyfield Farm that scores companies annually on the basis of their voluntary action to reverse climate change.

Economic growth is no longer improving the lives of most Americans, and, in some ways, is making individuals worse off -- environmentally, socially and psychologically.

Gary Hirshberg, CE-Yo, Stonyfield Farm, addresses Yale University in New Haven about how to make money and save the world. Hirshberg is the President and CE-Yo of Stonyfield Farm, the world's largest organic yogurt company.

Professor Garry Brewer describes the rise of environmental challenges to "business as usual" and the subsequent evolution of both business and environmental organizations. This lecture was conducted as part of "2007 Yale In Brazil Week".

Of all the global challenges we face, environmental issues pose the greatest risk. Dean Speth describes the challenges and why environmental management is the most important job in the world right now.

Daniel Esty, Director of the Center for Business and Environment at Yale, and Hillhouse Professor of Environmental Law and Policy, discusses his new book "Green to Gold" and current societal and corporate environmental revolutions.