2 December 2008
News release
World Experts In Auckland Show How To Achieve Sustainability – And Talk Toilets Too
World experts will gather in Auckland next week to demonstrate how sustainable development can be achieved around the
globe, including what the toilet of the future might look like.
The third international conference on Sustainability, Engineering and Science will be held at the University of Auckland
from Tuesday, 9 December to Friday, 12 December.
“We were talking sustainability before it became the buzzword it is today,” says Dr Carol Boyle, the chair of the NZ
Society for Sustainability Engineering and Science (NZSSES), which is hosting the event.
“Our first conference in 2004 helped define the concept of sustainability and our second in 2007 focused on the reality
of what was happening to promote it. This year, we’re saying sustainability is now essential and our experts will be
offering proven methods and models for achieving sustainable outcomes.
“For example, what will the toilet of the future be like when we have double the population and half the water? Will we
need all those pipes? How will we dispose of waste? It’s not just a bit of tinkering that’s required, it’s a radical
rethink.”
For the first time, the NZSSES conference has prestigious Cambridge University in England as its co-principal sponsor,
along with The International Centre of Sustainability, Engineering and Research (ICSER).
“This influential gathering provides a rare opportunity for world-class engineers, scientists, business leaders and
government agencies to nut out what really must be done to ensure we develop sustainable development and
infrastructure,” says Dr Boyle.
“Infrastructure provides the basic needs for society and it has to be sustainable to ensure our survival, health and
well-being.
Topics to be covered at the conference also include the global response to climate change, managing your carbon
footprint and frontier design.
The key speakers are:
- Dr Paul Anastas, Professor in the Practice of Green Chemistry at Yale University. Known as "The Father of Green
Chemistry" (he coined the term in 1991), a focus of his research is the design of safer, less toxic chemicals.
- Professor Peter Guthrie from Cambridge University’s Centre for Sustainable Development. His projects include the
London Olympics, a renewable energy scheme across a tidal estuary in northern England, development of 10,000 new homes
near London and, previously, the Channel Tunnel.
- Dr Jean Venables, from Crane Environmental, world leaders in water treatment and purification. She chairs the
Thames Estuary 2100 Project and is president of the Institution of Civil Engineers in the UK.
- Professor Terry Collins, a New Zealander who is the Thomas Lord Professor of Chemistry at Carnegie Mellon
University in the United States. Prof Collins is another early pioneer of Green Chemistry.
- Dr Peter Newman, Professor of Sustainability at The CUSP Institute at Curtin University, Perth, and a board
member of Infrastructure Australia. He helped save and extend Perth’s rail system and has warned against “automobile
dependence” for 30 years.
- Dr James Mihelcic, a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of South Florida. He has
travelled extensively in the developing world working on water supply and treatment projects, sanitation, solid waste
management and community health.
- Professor Roger Venables, a Chartered Civil Engineer, Chartered Environmentalist and Member of the Chartered
Institute of Marketing, he is also Vice-Chairman of the Global Network for Environmental Science and Technology.
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