March 27-28 - Sustainable Business Summit

3/27/2012
TBA

Sustainable Business Summit
March 27-28
Lipscomb University Campus
Time: TBA

Formerly the Green Business Summit, the 2012 Sustainable Business Summit is the fifth anniversary summit and features the theme Moving from Green to Sustainable.

For the past four years, we have focused on providing insights to grow your business and succeed in an increasingly green environment. However, this year we are moving from green to sustainable in both title and in focus. In recent years, we’ve seen the effects of “green washing” where sustainable efforts get labeled as a fad or just a trendy business move. However the practices that the green movement was born from still remain as sustainable efforts that are good for business. These business models, practices and opportunities are meant to help companies and communities become more sustainable in the way they function both now and in the future, as well as stay competitive, improve profitability, grow market valuation and create jobs.

About the Keynote Speaker

This year's keynote speaker is Janine Benyus, a natural sciences writer, innovation consultant, and author of six books, including her latest, "Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature." In biomimicry, she names an emerging discipline that seeks sustainable solutions by emulating nature's designs and processes (e.g., solar cells that mimic leaves, agriculture that models a prairie, businesses that run like redwood forests).

Benyus has received several awards including the 2009 Champion of the Earth award in Science & Innovation from the United Nations Environmental Programme, the Rachel Carson Environmental Ethics Award and the Lud Browman Award for Science Writing, Science Writing in Society Journalism Award. In addition she has been honored as one of Time Magazine's International's Heroes of the Environment.

Janine also founded the nonprofit Biomimicry Institute and currently serves as president on its board. The Biomimicry Institute is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to naturalize biomimicry in the culture by promoting the transfer of ideas, designs and strategies from biology to sustainable human systems design.