Seminar to focus on climate change
CLIMATE change is not a sexy topic, but the idea of waking up to an alarm clock powered by the breeze the night before certainly is. This is the underlying message of the opening seminar of a series of Critical Conversations in Sustainability being hosted by Regent Business School in Durban.
The opening seminar tomorrow features a short inspirational film, What’s Possible, narrated by actor Morgan Freeman, and a Big Think interview with Andrew Winton, a best-selling author and business strategist who has advised some of the world’s top companies on environmental matters.
The two films address the fact that technology exists to create a cleaner, more prosperous energy future by harnessing wind and solar power.
“They are a call to action,” said Regent’s director of research and innovation Professor Dhiru Soni.
Soni said there was growing public awareness and consensus across the social spectrum – from scientists and scholars through to government and powerful role players in business and industry – that more needed to be done to address pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss.
“These are the gravest concerns of our era,” said Soni. “The aim of our Critical Conversations series is to bring people together to discuss these challenges and promote path-breaking initiatives.”
All the seminars are open to the public and will be held at Regent Business School’s new Institute for Entreprenuership, 35 Samora Machel Street.
The seminars will also be live-streamed on Regent Business School’s Facebook and LinkedIn. Tomorrow’s opening seminar starts at 6pm. On Thursday, journalist Lyse Comins will present a follow-up discussion on Sustainable Development Goals – Business Beyond Usual. The panelists are Helen North, the provincial executive manager of Stats South Africa, and Hyacinthia Naidoo, the chief policy analyst for eThekwini Municipality’s environmental planning and climate protection department.
On April 7, Regent Business School will screen Leonardo DiCaprio’s educational documentary Before the Flood. The film premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival.
Movie critic Adam Chitwood describes it as a less boring version of An Inconvenient Truth –a documentary which followed US presidential candidate Al Gore on a campaign to raise public awareness of the dangers of global warming.
It’s a film that makes us think about the serious consequences of not changing our habits, said Zamo Phungula, a freelance writer and part-time radio presenter who will moderate discussions after the screening.
People interested in attending the Before the Flood film evening or any of the Critical Conversations seminars should contact Portia Ntetha at 031 304 4626 or e-mail sustainability@regent.ac.za – Roving Reporters
This story forms part of Roving Reporters’ Thin Green Line series supported by the Human Elephant Foundation