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Harvard Campus Vision 2020 Conference
Harvard Vision 2020 Conference Video & Audio Now Online!
Harvard Vision 2020 Conference videos, presentations, and audio available online.
Harvard Vision 2020 Conference Videos »
Watch and listen to the keynote speakers including Hunter Lovins, Harvard President, Lawrence Summers, Mayor of Boston, Thomas Menino, Robert F Kennedy, Jr.
See and hear the conference panel events:
Thank You!
Thank you ALL for participating in our Harvard Vision 2020 conference
on April 27-29, 2006.
Many wonderful things have already happened as a result of the conference, and
this is due in big part to all the energy you brought into it!
Click on the questions below to read some of the post-conference comments that we have received so far!
- How did the conference succeed in increasing your engagement in environmental issues and in making Harvard a leader in environmental sustainability?
- Can you name any efforts that you will be taking action on as a direct result of the conference?
- What did you enjoy most about the conference?
- Do you have any ideas for improvement?
- General comments
1. How did the conference succeed in increasing your engagement in environmental issues and in making Harvard a leader in environmental sustainability?
"I'm more likely to research this stuff now. It also built my confidence in the ripple effects of good actions!"
" The conference greatly increased my engagement in environmental issues by the informative discussion of the many ways in which people at Harvard are working to address them."
"It made me think (Always dangerous) and brought home how interrelated the energy and environmental issues truly are. It also made me think back to 20 years ago when I worked at NREL (Then SERI) and made me realize how little has happened in those 20 years.Unless we act it will be the same 20 years from now – only worse."
" I was really amazed at the whole concept of green buildings and it inpressed me that Harvard is leading the way".
" Showcasing Harvard's good examples inspires others in and outside the university to take action."
"It was encouraging to see how much is being done just on this campus, even more than the planning for Allston. I think the real events and changes people have been able to effect speak louder than the (honorable, and important) goals for the future, and also give these lofty goals a greater sense of reality."
"I was not aware of the level of effort by Harvard and the HGCI. It should be an inspiration for other campuses and businesses."
"By planning out a few words to say in my presentation, I was forced to clarify my vision for exactly what Harvard should be doing differently."
"It was a fount of ideas on institutional sustainability to think about; I hope to research some of them in graduate school."
" I learned so much at the conference and learned what your office does and what many other offices and departments around Harvard do, so that when I need someone to call on for advice or help with an environmental-related issue, I will know who to call. It also really opened up my awareness about what can be done on a campus in so many areas that contribute to green building and saving resources. I hope Harvard really challenges itself to be a real leader in environmental issues. If Harvard can't or doesn't with all of its wonderful people, money, and resources, then who will? We need to be a role model for others to follow and help them follow."
"Helped me build my baseline level of awareness and understanding and indicated who I need to know and interact with in the course of my work on campus."
"I am very proud to learn the scope of Harvard's effort. My main impression was how much you care, how much you are actively planning, how aware you are of how much farther you have to go, and the pervasive excitement and energy being brought to this mission."
"It showed us that Harvard has turned the corner and is taking Sustainability seriously. It gives me hope that Harvard is not an organization where you fight windmills to get heard about sustainable strategies (but rather where windmills could become part of the solution)"
"The conference brought people together who have interest in learning about environmental issues. Just knowing there were other people out there with these thoughts, and being prompted to talk with them about environmental sustainability was very empowering. Made me wonder why I don't talk about these issues with my friends and colleagues more. In part, I think it's because I feel like I need more knowledge: is the energy required to recycle a paper bag less than that of taking care of a plastic one? What are the most cost efficient ways to be energy efficient? What is currently being done around campus? The conference also helped answer some of those questions. Conveying that information is difficult, but I liked the thought of the Design school students to have green principles "legible" in the buildings and landscapes they design...doesn't even have to be just buildings."
" The conference was a follow-up event for me because I had attended the first Harvard conference about five years ago. The first one definitely secured my engagement in environmental issues as associated with the tremendous potential that educational institutions have to be leaders in this arena. At the time, I was a student and I took the lessons I learned from Harvard (especially regarding methods of communication), back to my home campus to start several initiatives there encouraging new building sensitivities, GHG auditing, and greener procurement. At that time, it was not clear that Harvard was on the path to being a leader but the energy that Leith Sharp gained from the conference must have been substantial because she and others pulled off a great event last week. Now that I see environmental issues much more clearly integrated in top-down decision making at Harvard—that greener thinking is being institutionalized—I have renewed faith that even veteran employees can change their approaches and operations. The key is having the right resources and numbers, which the Harvard Green Campus Initiative has been instrumental in providing. HGCI’s persistence and demonstration of how the environment and economics are inseparable has influenced many people to try more innovative approaches to operations and development at the school. Let’s hope that with the Allston expansion and in tying sustainable campus initiatives to sustainable community (i.e. Boston, New England, and beyond) initiatives, Harvard can become a leader beyond its immediate realm."
"As an alumnus, I was not aware of Harvard's Green Campus Initiative and the rotating fund Pres. Summers established. More "outreach beyond the confines of the Yard " to the graduate schools should be worthwhile particularly since these graduates are practitioners involved in making decisions and leading projects."
2. Can you name any efforts that you will be taking action on as a direct result of the conference?
"May invest in wind power"
"Procurement vendor selection process will include evaluation of sustainability as part of decision criteria. Other potential initiatives will be discussed with HGCI personnel."
"I will make every efort to promote the planning of a thoroughly sustainable new campus, beyond a few LEED buildings."
"Join the Newton Green Decade Coalition; and as a member of Newton's Board of Aldermen, focus efforts on ways in which city buildings and services can more effectively address environmental needs and challenges"
"The conference rekindled my interest in the activities of theRocky Mountain institute, and also introduced Hunter Lovins' ideas on 'natural capitalism' -- which is exactly the way Harvard should be heading; I will also do more reading about biomimicry."
"I am thinking about some potential alternative energy projects here in NH and may even be getting back to the folks in Engineering & Utilities with a few ideas re biomass."
"I will certainly be more attuned (than I already am) about climate change, but perhaps I am more willing to be involved as a citizen. My concept of sustainable building has changed to a more modular view, less "ideal."
"I will be getting new heat conservation patio doors installed".
"Will try to cut my own energy consumption."
"I will be reading the book "Biomimicry" as suggested by Hunter Lovens and will be working to persuade my spouse who is in the construction / real estate industry to use more sustainable methods and materials. I will also review my own personal behaviors and try to adapt to more sustainable practices."
"Learning about the online resources you are putting together was very exciting. I'll be sure to be consulting your resources often, which will help me learn and implement sustainable measures in my designs at school and surely in my eventual practice as an architect."
"I will be trying to implement a paper reduction program in Lowell House."
"Listening to some fabulous speakers and meeting other people really motivated to help create a sustainable future."
"I had the opportunity to see the "green presence" at Harvard at the workshops and know that it is real. This in itself was valuable to me. Additionally, I have been talking about this conference almost every day since, sharing with others what I learned about organic food in the Harvard Dining Halls, about how there will be a Harvard Farmer's Market coming soon, about mercury levels in the water, and about LEED certifications. It was an incredible journey through all of the progressive measures being taken and I was thrilled to be a part of it here at Harvard."
"Just yesterday I emailed the WaterKeeper Alliance (Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s organization) to inquire about mercury testing and how we can access this (as he suggested in his keynote speech)."
"I will be recycling more in my office and I will work to help others here recycle too and put something on our Web site about the importance of recycling. I also am going to encourage our building manager to sign up for green cleaning for our building. I hope I can think of other things too that I can do here."
"Turning extra lights in my office off - we are chronically the one floor of William James Hall with our lights on all night; Brainstorming ways to educate people about the environment by piquing their interest in public places (a la the energy dials in the lobby of green buildings to show their usage relative to controls; Driving less alone; Talking about environmental/energy issues with more people; Checking into the community garden on Beacon St, Somerville that said it was coming in 2003 and never did -- but still has an empty lot, I changed my computer set up and tried a different kind of chair to improve the ergonomics at work."
3. What did you enjoy most about the conference?
" I enjoyed most the various panel discussions by Harvard faculty members and officials and the opportunity to discuss the issues informally with such people as Tom Vautin and Jack Spengler. I particularly enjoyed the inspiring keynote address by Robert Kennedy, Jr. "
" Hunter Lovins; the excellent green tours & their knowledgeable speakers, (...) in the Leverett and Dunster kitchens and at the steam plant; the detailed tour of the steam plant grounds & remodel; and (...), the very good food."
"The quality and diversity of the presentations. The report of cutting edge research that is going on in various schools and departments. Eric Chivian was stupendous, as was Timothy Wirth."
"Meeting all the wonderful people so involved with conservation and also visiting sites at Harvard and seeing this for myself".
"I really enjoyed hearing from President Summers and Mayor Menino. It was a rare opportunity to have two very influential figures at the same place and time and to get their insight at that level into this topic."
"Hunter Loven's presentation. While providing some very sobering and scary messages, she managed to be so engaging and inspiring."
"Catering was great."
"The faculty panel was interesting. The student panel the last day was outstanding. What was interesting for me was the difference between the engineers and others. It was refreshing to hear of practical results taking place in an ivory tower setting."
"Opening panel discussion."
"Very well-organized. It was great to be able to join in for a few events, even though I couldn't stay for the whole thing. The opening panel was a good introduction."
"Tim Wirth, the video."
"I enjoyed hearing the varied and incisive thoughts of my fellow students about the campus. It was great to hear so many different intellectual perspectives on the same topic."
"Chatting with like-minded people - talking to others who were on the "same page" definitely did a lot to boost my sense of identity as an environmental activist. I felt energized by those around me and it reaffirmed my own commitment to hear what they were doing to promote the greening of Harvard and beyond.
Additionally, I thought the food was delicious! I attended the dinners Thursday and Friday night and was so impressed by the variety of fresh foods in the buffet. It really was a perfect end to the day."
" I enjoyed most the range of broad ideas and specific detail, and would have enjoyed more specific detail. The training sessions on Building Green were good but perhaps too brief (or too sidetracked by discussion with the audience, which was good). The afternoon session Friday in which people from Canada related their experiences was very stimulating and full of great ideas. Robert Kennedy’s talk was excellent but horrifying in its record of environmental sabotage by the present administration. It was a bit disillusioning to hear that any building at Harvard could reach LEED Silver certification through traffic mitigation and other minor adjustments to business as usual; I was more inspired hearing about the innovations at the Landmark Center and Business School in terms of technology."
"I was glad that several of the speakers made an effort to praise what Harvard has achieved and plans on pursuing, while at the same time stating the urgency of world climate/energy/environmental matters and that this urgency requires a much greater magnitude of effort from Harvard and like institutions. Many people were not afraid to ask “Why not do more,” especially when noting that compared to Harvard’s endowment, green investment has thus far not been credited enough for having turned minimal funding commitments from the university into far above average returns. "
"Yoga in the morning! Nothing like doing something new (and organized) together with people to really make it easy to chat later."
"I attended the whole conference, and I absolutely loved every bit of it! It was inspiring, moving, educational, eye-opening, and sobering but also hopeful too. I learned so much in those three days. I filled a whole notebook with notes because there was so much I wanted to write down and remember and keep thinking about. This whole area is interesting to me personally because I am so interested in environmental issues, but I also came away from it with some good ideas for our center and building."
"Having so much info, knowledgeable folks, etc. all in one place at one time."
4. Do you have any ideas for improvement?
" I would love to have more opportunities of seeing bulidings and the kitchen etc as I could only include a few visits in my schedule. It was the on site visits I enjoyed the most although the lectures were superb".
"I would have enjoyed a longer faculty "town meeting", or at least a separate session focused on how sustainability is integrated in the curriculum."
"Let more people from the outside attend future conferences so people can see what the university is doing."
"Spring is a busy time. If this happens again, it might be easier to attend in the Fall. I think it was nice to have it during a time when congregating outside is pleasant, so probably not Winter. One of the workshops I attended ran over the time in the presentations, leaving no time for discussion. I think that's fine, but maybe the goals should be clarified, both in the planning phase (how long should each person's presentation be) and in the workshop description (described as presentation or discussion)."
"We discussed this at our dinner table on Friday night - the presentation of the Green Cup. It would be wonderful if there had been more time to explain what individual houses were doing over the year to compete for this cup. One suggestion was that the presentation of this cup occur at the second dinner (when there was no presentation). Student reps could introduce themselves, say what they did, and have more of a chance to network with conference attendees over dinner."
"My only wish was that the publicity had been a bit better and that more people were encouraged to come to what was such an important and exciting conference. I think that next year, you could definitely get en even better turnout (though I think it was very good!) and I would love to see more students, staff, and faculty there."
"Perhaps a way to focus the networking opportunities--maybe by interest area at an open session?"
"I'm curious about the Thurs/Sat format. Most short conferences that I have been to are more Fri evening - Sun afternoon to avoid work schedules. But I assume that was to fit with students' schedules. I still might prefer the weekend."
"I am not convinced that the campus urban planning is thoroughly sustainable."
"Eliminate those who have a political agenda. Some peoples messages are aimed at money raising for their causes and their messages include myths and half truths with no scientific foundation."
"Different time of year. I'm very busy in the spring and would have liked to attend more things. Perhaps more discussion around the "future state" of our operations, how we all fit in, and what kind of things we should be doing and gaining expertise in."
" I was disappointed that you did not solicit much more input from the audience. The conf was billed as an exchange of ideas, which it was not. I kept waiting for somebody to ask my opinion, but in vain. I think you missed an opportunity to mine the ideas of a very intelligent and already informed audience. You used a top down slightly condescending approach. My second disappointment was in the lack of experts in social science. The most uncomfortable question of all is just how drastically we're going to have to change our lifestyle. Technology experts were coming from all angles, but nary a psychologist or sociologist to tell us how we're really going to survive. I am NOT talking about energy efficiency, etc, I am talking about getting people out of cars entirely, designing cities and workplaces around public transportation, about huge taxes on oil (including everything that's made from it like plastics), and about evolving a sense of responsibility for the planet that makes burning fossil fuels anti-social behavior. I think you could have another whole conference on this subject, and it would be quite different from 2020."
5. General comments
"It was a terrific event. Congratulations! I was especially glad to see how thoroughly Harvard is embracing the idea of greening operations.
One thing I took away was that Harvard's green team project is something the City of Cambridge could and should do with its own staff and office operations. We have focused on some large practices, but not sufficiently on engaging City staff as a whole."
"It is always fascinating and informative to listen to Harvard experts discuss such important topics of current interest as global warming and other environmental issues."
"May Harvard soon become a leader in institutional sustainability, without compromising its standards for institutional integrity and excellence."
"Fantastic job!!!"
"Please do it again!"
"Thank you to Green Campus for a wonderful conference!"
"Great job. It looks like MIT is trying to follow suit. Healthy competition!"
"I can't say enough how great it was. I heard a lot of feedback from people I sat with at dinners and workshops and the overall feel of the conference was informative and structured, but also relaxed and comfortable. One man I met, named Peter, who came in from NYC to the conference, was saying how the conference was run so professionally and he thought that it was completely worth it to travel in (from out of state) to this conference. He also managed to make a lot of connections and exchange business ideas while he was here.
Another friend of mine said how much she loved getting the chance to eat with people and attend the yoga workshop - these things added a very personal and open feel to the conference which was unique."
"Thank you all so much - you did a wonderful job with this! I came back to my office yesterday and have been telling my co-workers about it, and I told them that I wished they could have been there too. I hope this will be the first annual Harvard sustainability conference and many more will follow!"
"Loved the organic local meals with an intergenerational mix of people. Don't always think about all the different people who are a part of the Harvard community. I was so energized by the conference that when I tried to leave Saturday afternoon to go grade some papers, I just kept thinking about sustainability. I tried talking to a few colleagues about it, and they just weren't in the same mindset. So I finally decided I might as well go back to the conference where there were a lot of other people thinking about sustainability. It was so great to once again to be in a group where my thoughts about sustainability were not seen as extremist, and everyone was trying to think of more ways to reduce our negative impact on the earth."
"The entire conference was a great learning experience for me, and I thought you did a great job of picking panel topics that were unique and focused. I enjoyed hearing about the successes, but would have also liked to know more about things that did not work as well. What are some things that seem like good ideas, but in practice they are problematic? I heard a number of people say that students did not like the renovated Western Building. Clearly LEED silver is not enough to make a building comfortable and enjoyable for people using the building. I wish we had time during the conference to explore issues like these more deeply. I was surprised to see that lunches on Friday and Saturday came in paper bags - seemed a bit wasteful, especially for a "sustainability" conference. The art competition was a wonderful touch."
"Ask me again to your next conference."
"I want to offer my congratulations to you and your staff for pulling off a spectacular conference. From what I saw and heard, it was a huge success in every way. I was especially struck... at the events I was able to attend ..by the good feeling of collaboration, by the open exchange of ideas...and the general enthusiasm..by all participants.. There are so many opportunities that are available...some easy, some complex in the realm of sustainability. You have set the stage for a whole new set of players to take up the cause, which I suspect was your goal all along!
The tone, content and organization all combined to make this a great experience and I wanted you and all of the folks who worked with you to know ...from someone who has some history running large scale events like inaugurations and commencements.....how much I appreciate all that you accomplished!"
"For those of you who were able to attend, I think you'll agree that the conference was inspiring and thought-provoking. I know I came out of there with my heart hungry and my head heavy with all of the things that need to happen to change the current condition of our environmental impact. It was truly energizing to see a group of committed people taking the time to discuss solutions and possibilities - and as Professor Spengler said, a large number of them were fellow students and club members of the Environmental Management program."