The Global Climate Action Symposium brought together a wide range of experts to showcase climate change engagement by local student activists, scientists and engineers, business and policy experts, and artists. Jointly sponsored by Georgia Tech and six European consulates during European Climate Diplomacy Week, the event was held in the brand new Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design, where guests can learn about how the building will produce more energy than it uses, collect and recycle water for its operations, and promote a just and equitable world.
9:30 AM – 10:00 AM
Opening remarks
- Shan Arora, Director, The Kendeda Building
- Kim Cobb, Director, Global Change Program
- President Cabrera, President of Georgia Tech
- Emmanouil Androulakis, Consul of Greece, on behalf European Consul
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Part 1 – Science, Technology, and Policies
Science & Engineering Panel Discussion
Kendeda Building auditorium
- Moderator: Beril Toktay, Professor of Operations Management, Brady Family Chair, ADVANCE Professor, Faculty Director, Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business, Scheller College of Business
- Chloé Arson, Associate Professor, Geosystems Engineering Sustainable Communities School of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Science
- Eri Saikawa, Associate Professor, Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Environmental Sciences, Emory College of Arts and Sciences
- Zachary Lancaster, PhD student, City & Regional Planning, Georgia Tech
11:00 AM – 11:20 AM
Break
11:20 AM – 12:30 PM
Business & Policy Panel Discussion
Kendeda Building auditorium
The panel will feature:
- Moderator: Michael Oxman, Managing Director, Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business; Professor of the Practice, Sustainable Business, Scheller College of Business
- John McIntyre, Professor, Executive Director, GT CIBER, Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology, author of CSR and Climate Change Implications for Multinational Enterprises
- Dagmara Koska, Counsellor on Climate and Energy, EU Delegation to the USA
- Jairo Garcia, Chief Executive Officer, Urban Climate Nexus
- Strata Solar representative
- Kingspan Insulation representative
12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
Lunch
A sustainable, plant-forward lunch will be provided for pre-registrants.
Part 2 – Student Engagement, “Fridays for Future”
1:45 PM – 2:00 PM
Introducing “Fridays for Future”
Pierre Gourjon will introduce video interviews of students from Belgium, Germany, France, Greece, Ireland, and other countries.
2:00 PM – 2:30 PM
“Fridays for Future” Discussion
Kendeda Building auditorium
- Moderator: Ruthie Yow, Center for Serve-Learn-Sustain
2:30 PM – 3:05 PM
Keynote
Kendeda Building auditorium
Destiny Loyd, Citizen’s Climate Lobby
Introductory remarks by Kim Cobb, Georgia Power Chair and ADVANCE Professor, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
3:05 PM – 3:20 PM
Q&A
3:20 PM – 3:45 PM
Break
Part 3 – Art & Climate Future
“Urban Wilderness + Man-Mad Nature”, a collaborative exhibition by documentary and fine art photographer Virginie Drugjon-Kippelen and conceptual photographer Shannon Davis, creative director and adjunct professor at Savannah College of Art and Design, will be featured throughout the day.
3:45 PM – 4:15 PM
Carte Blanche Visual Artists
Kendeda Building auditorium
The panel will feature:
- Guy Gabon, eco-artist, designer and filmmaker, whose work explores the interrelationship between the natural and urban environment and has been exhibited in Canada, Mozambique, Madagascar, France notably.
- Gwenola Wagon, artist and assistant professor, Department of Visual Art, University of Paris 8, has produced numerous installations in France and abroad, and Pierre Cassou-Noguès, philosopher and professor, Department of Philosophy of the University Paris 8, author of several books as Les rêves cybernétiques de Norbert Wiener (Seuil, 2014) or Technofictions (Cerf, 2019).
- Erin Jane Nelson, artist, whose work has recently been exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and at Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich.
4:15 PM – 5:00 PM
Conversation with Artists
Kendeda Building auditorium
- Moderator: Anna Westerstahl Stenport, Chair and Professor, School of Modern Languages; Founding co-Director, the Atlanta Global Studies Center, Georgia Institute of Technology
Part 4 – Reception
5:00 PM – 6:00 PM