British environmentalist Sir Jonathon Porritt to address a future of sustainability at Nelson lecture
The Cawthron Institute Trust Board is proud to announce British environmentalist, Sir Jonathon Porritt as its speaker
for the Thomas Cawthron Memorial Lecture in Nelson Tasman on 23 October 2018.
Porritt is a leading British environmentalist, renowned for his solution-based approach to sustainability and refreshing
perspective that keeps hope in the picture. Porritt will examine cutting-edge environmental sustainability research as
his topic for this year’s lecture.
“Reasons to despair are ever more present in our lives today,” says Porritt, “but the last few months of climate-related
disasters, and incredibly disturbing new climate research, makes it harder and harder to keep that despair at bay. By
contrast, hope often seems very fragile against such a backdrop, but it still permeates my life as an incorrigible
advocate of a solutions agenda that gets more and more substantive by the day.”
“The Thomas Cawthron Memorial Lecture is a free annual community event for the people of Nelson Tasman, held since 1917
to commemorate the legacy of Thomas Cawthron and to share science with the public,” says Bob Dickinson, Cawthron
Institute Trust Board chair. “Many distinguished scientists and scholars have featured as lecturers, including Professor
Thomas Easterfield, Sir Ernest Rutherford, Sir Edmund Hillary, Professor Robert Winston, and the Rt Hon. Helen Clark.”
Dickinson says, “this year’s lecture, titled Natural Capital: Reimagining Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, is timely, as New
Zealand faces considerable environmental challenges and conflicts. This includes climate change and how to stop the
decline of freshwater resources.”
Porritt’s lecture will look at questions to do with regenerative agriculture and soil health; climate change and where
the science now tells us we are; energy, in particular the redundancy of fossil fuels, and moving towards renewables;
water quality and water scarcity around the world. The lecture is very topical alongside last week’s release of the New
Zealand Government’s blueprint to improve freshwater quality and the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
report calling for urgent action to phase out fossil fuels.
Porritt has been involved with environmental issues for nearly 50 years. After ten years as a teacher, he became
Director of Friends of the Earth. Porritt attended the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 – and this life-changing
experience led Porritt to co-establish Forum for the Future in 1996, which is now the UK’s leading sustainable
development charity, employing 70 staff and partnering with more than 100 organisations worldwide.
He received a CBE in January 2000 for services to environmental protection, and his many publications include The World
We Made, and Capitalism as if the World Matters.
Event Details
Thomas Cawthron Memorial Lecture
7:30pm – 9:30pm, Tuesday 23 October 2018
Annesbrook Church, 40 Saxton Rd West, Stoke, Nelson
Register for your free tickets on EventBrite
About Cawthron Institute:
Cawthron Institute is New Zealand's largest independent science organisation, offering a broad spectrum of services to
help protect the environment and support sustainable development of primary industries.
Based in the Nelson Tasman region, Cawthron works with regional councils, government departments, major industries,
private companies, and other research organisations throughout New Zealand and around the world. Cawthron is a diverse
organisation employing more than 250 scientists, laboratory technicians, researchers and specialist staff from 26
countries.
Cawthron’s scientists have expertise in aquaculture research, marine and freshwater resource management, food safety and
quality, algal technologies, biosecurity and analytical testing. Its ground-breaking science is supported by substantial
testing and research laboratories, state-of-the-art technology and a purpose-built aquaculture park.
Cawthron Institute also undertakes community engagement and education activity to help foster the next generation of
scientists.
ends