Annual sustainability conference to host visionary speakers and leaders in Olympia

Synergy: The Seventh Annual Sustainable Living Conference, May 19th-23rd at the Evergreen State College

Synergy: The Seventh Annual Sustainable Living Conference is being held at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. The dates for the 2008 conference are Monday, May 19th through Friday, May 23rd. This conference has grown to be a powerful platform to engage and address the intertwining themes of Ecology, Design, Culture, Health, and Social Change.

Synergy is organized by a non-profit coalition of student organizers. The title of the event reflects our belief that the solutions to the world’s problems can only be solved though collaboration, where the whole becomes more then the sum of it’s parts.

This year’s conference will include presentations by notable leaders in their respected fields.

Dr. Mitchell Joachim of New York based non-profit Terreform, will be presenting a keynote lecture on the future of ecological urban design at 6PM on Thursday May 22nd in Lecture Hall 1. Dr. Joachim, a MIT Media Lab graduate, is best known as being the creator of the Fab Tree Hab. He won the History Channel and Infiniti Design Excellence Award for the City of the Future, New York and Time Magazine Best Invention of the Year 2007, Compacted Car with the MIT Smart Cities Group.

Paul Stamets will be giving a talk entitled, “how mushrooms can save the world” at 5pm on Wednesday May 21st. In business since 1980, Paul Stamets has run Olympia based Fungi Perfecti, a family-owned, environmentally friendly company specializing in using gourmet and medicinal mushrooms to improve the health of the planet and its people.

Also presenting will be Executive Director of Puget Sound Partnership, David Dicks, and Executive Director of Olympia Waste ReSources, Dan Daniels, in addition to many other speakers and workshops over the 5 day event. Other topics to be covered during the conference include permaculture, the global food crisis and green building.

Each day will feature live music on Red Square in the center of campus, broadcast live from 12-1pm on KAOS 89.3 as part of the first annual Red Square Concert Series. The music events are presented by The Evergreen Musicians Club.

Synergy is a free event and open to the public, all are encouraged to attend. Parking is $2.00 per day. Synergy is funded by the Evergreen State College Services and Activities Fee Allocation Board.

More detailed information, speaker bios and event times and locations at http://www.evergreen.edu/events/synergy/