What the Heck Are We Doing This For Anyway? Finding Climate Change Successes Amidst Growing Stagnation
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 4:10:00 PM - Wednesday, February 15, 2012 6:00:00 PM
Rm. 1210, Bahen Centre, 40 St. George Street
Robert Hunter Memorial Lecture
DAVID PHOTIADIS, Sustainability Analyst at The Delphi Group ABSTRACT: As 2012 gets underway, it is clear that the climate change movement is well behind the expectations and aspirations of just 4 years ago. With an international climate change framework recently pushed off until at least 2020, the likelihood of a national climate policy much sooner does not seem promising. In this age of government austerity, diminished public pressure, and the still bitter taste of corporate greed highlighted in the Occupy Movement, it can be difficult for climate change practitioners to remain positive. Can the climate change movement reverse this trend of stagnation? In response to growing pessimism, David will discuss instances of successful responses to the climate challenge and the underlying characteristics that have enabled success in the public, private, and NGO sectors. Drawing on his professional experience as a sustainability consultant and his graduate research of Ontario’s Green Energy Act and sustainability initiatives in small businesses, David will explore how these successful initiatives can provide direction for future climate progress.
BREIF BIO: David has been active in the sustainability field since coming to Canada to study at the University of Toronto in 2007. With a natural passion for the outdoors nurtured in the Adirondack Mountains of New York, David came to U of T with an interest in physical geography and environmental preservation. As an undergraduate David’s interests quickly turned to climate change as he pursued an interdisciplinary education in the environmental field, including renewable energy policy, environmental resource management, political economy, and behaviour change. He became active in campus sustainability at U of T through student groups and the U of T Sustainability Office and worked at an environmental consulting firm, Zerofootprint. After completing his H.B.A, David returned to U of T for a Masters in the Geography Department, where his research focused on sustainability initiatives in small and medium sized businesses with a secondary research focus on the Ontario Green Energy Act. David continued to work with the U of T Sustainability Office, contributing on a consulting project for Toronto Hydro Corporation and developing a green procurement strategy for the University of Toronto. David now works with the Delphi Group, a strategic consultancy specializing in climate change and corporate sustainability. David assists client projects ranging from corporate sustainability strategy development, employee engagement, policy analysis, and GHG quantification, mitigation, and management.