June 22nd, 2012

SUSTAINOVATION IN DEPTH DIALOGUE - 6/27

"GREENING SILICON VALLEY: SUCCESSES, CHALLENGES, & OPPORTUNITIES"

What do you imagine a sustainable city will look like in the future? Where are the opportunities to collaborate and innovate? How might cross sector partnerships play a role? What are the challenges? How do counties and cities collaborate to accelerate positive change?

Please join us for an exciting evening together. The panelists will provide an overview of recent sustainability efforts in Santa Clara County, Cupertino, Mountain View, and Palo Alto including accomplishments, proposed programs, challenges, and opportunities.  Attendees will have time to ask questions, discuss what’s needed now, and how we can work together to create sustainable communities.

    
An In-depth Dialogue with:

•    Steve Attinger, Environmental Sustainability Coordinator, City of Mountain View
•    Erin Cooke, Sustainability Manager, City of Cupertino
•    Phil Bobel, Assistant Director, Environmental Services &Public Works, City of Palo Alto
•    Demetra J. McBride, Director, Office of Sustainability and Climate Action, Santa     Clara County Office of the County Executive
•    Guest moderator Peter Drekmeier, Former Mayor, City of Palo Alto

6:30  - 7:00 pm Networking
7:00  - 8:00 pm Presentation
8:00  - 9:00 pm Dialogue


Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Location: World Centric
2121 Staunton Court
Palo Alto, CA 94306

Registration
$15 advance online registration (plus processing fees), $20 at the door (Cash only)
For online registration go to:  http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=231270


For more information: www.sustainovation.org
Sustainovation  is dedicated to inspiring environmentally and socially sustainable business practices.  Our mission is to promote sustainability as the driver of business innovation in Silicon Valley and beyond.  We envision a new industrial revolution led by the principles of sustainable design and development.  Through educational events, we form and inspire networks of innovators who share the belief that sustainable practices are essential to business success and the future of the world we share. 

INFORMATION ON SPEAKERS:

Steve Attinger, Environmental Sustainability Coordinator City of Mountain View, California
Steve has over 15 years experience in sustainability program development, strategy, product marketing, and training, spanning the public, private, and non-profit sectors. He has worked with startup and multi-national companies, including a position in Zurich, Switzerland. Steve is the first Environmental Sustainability Coordinator for the City of Mountain View. As well as creating a longer-term strategic plan for the City, he has successfully led several tactical initiatives: a solar Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), a residential retrofit rebate and financing program funded through the City’s ARRA stimulus funds, city and community greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories, council-approved GHG reduction targets, green building and purchasing policies, a 60-member citizen Task Force, an internal Green Team, and a bottled water policy. Formerly, Steve was the Founder of Tapfire, a consultancy that designed organizational sustainability programs. Steve has spoken on sustainability at businesses, conferences, radio programs, cities, and universities, and he holds an MBA in Sustainable Management from Presidio Graduate School.

Phil Bobel, Assistant Director, Environmental Services & Public Works, City of Palo Alto
Phil Bobel is the Environmental Services Division Manager for the City of Palo Alto, focusing on wastewater treatment, water pollution prevention, zero waste programs, and residuals management. Before that, he worked in air, water, waste and pesticide programs at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in San Francisco. Phil holds Masters Degrees in Environmental Engineering and Public Policy from Stanford and Cornell Universities, respectively; and is a registered Professional Engineer.

Erin Cooke, Sustainability Manager,City of Cupertino, California
Erin has worked to build organizational capacity and empower stakeholders in processes to address local, regional and global environmental issues in the public, private, and nonprofit sector for nearly ten years. As Cupertino’s Environmental Affairs Coordinator, Erin works inside the City Manager’s Office to bring environmental awareness across departments and engage staff, students and residents in activities to achieve greenhouse gas reductions and resource conservation goals. In this capacity, and also serving as the Co-Chair of the Public Sector Climate Task Force convened by Joint Venture Silicon Valley Network, Erin teams with community partners and neighboring jurisdictions to formulate policies and design programs including trainings, audits, retrofits and grants that track and reduce energy consumption, while yielding significant cost savings. Prior to serving in her current role with Cupertino, Erin earned a Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia University and supported the environmental initiatives of numerous organizations including the Conservation Law Foundation, Goddard Institute of Space Studies, National Park Service, New York Department of Environmental Conservation, The Canyon’s Ski Resort and Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

Peter Drekmeier, Former Mayor, City of Palo Alto
Peter Drekmeier has been working on local, state and global environmental issues for 25 years.  In 1989 he returned to his hometown of Palo Alto to work on the international Earth Day 1990 campaign.  He then co-founded Bay Area Action (now Acterra), followed by several other organizations, including Environmentalists Against War and the Stanford Open Space Alliance. He served on the Palo Alto City Council from 2006-2009 where he focused on issues such as climate protection, zero waste and green buildings.  More recently, Peter has been a leader in the campaign to convert Palo Alto’s organic waste into green energy and compost.  He currently serves as the Bay Area Program Director for the Tuolumne River Trust.

Demetra J. McBride, Director, Office of Sustainability and Climate Action, Santa Clara County Office of the County Executive
Demetra J. McBride joined the County of Santa Clara in November 2010, following a national search for a Director to lead the County’s then-newly established Office of Sustainability.   The Office of Sustainability is tasked with the County’s inter-governmental, regional, state and national efforts relating to sustainability, climate change, energy and adaptation.  Key projects for the Office, include  a highly-successful Energy Upgrade California program funded initially through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA),  a PG&E-funded multi-jurisdictional project to develop current greenhouse gas inventories and climate action plans for government operations and community, and the recent award by the California Strategic Growth Council to the Office of Sustainability based upon its proposal, Silicon Valley 2.0, a regional climate action and adaptation plan for reliable infrastructures, optimal ecosystem services, a healthy population and a resilient economy.

Demetra previously served as a Manager for Green Infrastructure and Sustainability at Sarasota County, FL, and is an attorney licensed to practice in the states of New York and Florida.  She serves as a board member for the Green Government Executive Council of the National Association of Counties (NACo), the Local Government Sustainable Energy Coalition (LGSEC), and the Climate Action Task Force of Joint Venture Silicon Valley Network.  She is also a member of the national Urban Sustainability Directors Network and spent two years as a member of ICLEI’s Built Environment Task Force in the development of ICLEI’s newly-released calculation tool for sustainable communities.