Top international environmentalist to speak out on water quality

Tim Flannery is one of the world’s leading environmentalists and a former Australian of the Year. He is travelling to Auckland on 29 August to speak to businesses about what they should be doing to restore the nation’s waterways.

Flannery will be a keynote speaker at The Inconvenient Conference, organised by the Sustainable Business Network. The award-winning author will speak on the Vitality of Water, one of four key trends that are creating massive change – and opportunity – for business.

Tim Flannery was appointed Australia’s first Climate Commissioner. He has named 25 living species and 50 fossil mammal species.

Rachel Brown, CEO of the Sustainable Business Network, says: “Tim Flannery is one of the world’s top authorities on climate change and the environment. The disastrous state of New Zealand’s freshwater is just one way in which the world is changing at an unprecedented rate.

“It’s vital we understand how to adapt and respond. The implications are for New Zealand’s major sectors, particularly agriculture, viticulture and tourism, but it really affects us all. With the election around the corner, this conference is an important time for businesses to grapple with these issues.”

The other three trends the conference will address, in addition to the Vitality of Water, are Smarter Transport, Millennials and the Circular Economy. The conference also includes a showing of the sequel to Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, An Inconvenient Sequel.

Other speakers include Lewis Perkins, President of the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, USA (by video); Rod Oram, business journalist; Paul Young, founder of Generation Zero; Shruthi Vijayakumar, head of learning and development at Inspiring Stories; and Dorenda Britten, founder of The Britten Institute.

For more information go to: sustainable.org.nz

ENDS

Professor Tim Flannery is an internationally-acclaimed scientist and conservationist, and Australian of the Year 2007. He is founder and Chief Councillor of the Climate Council and one of Australia’s leading writers on climate change. He has published 32 books, including the award-winning The Future Eaters and The Weather Makers. Tim has taught at Harvard University and has advised governments in Australia and Canada. In 2011 he was appointed Australia’s first Climate Commissioner. He is currently a professor at Melbourne University Sustainability Institute.

About the Sustainable Business Network

The Sustainable Business Network (SBN) provides advice and support to help business succeed through becoming more sustainable. It is the largest and longest-standing organisation of businesses dedicated to sustainability in New Zealand. The SBN actively helps our network of progressive companies to connect, be inspired and act.

www.sustainable.org.nz

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