Sustainability: Community Collaborations

TCC's First Sustainability Conference in 2015

The guest speaker for TCC's first sustainability stayonference, which took place on February 10, 2015, was Dr. Anthony Cortese, the co-founder of Second Nature.  This Boston-based non-profit organization's mission is to serve and support higher learning institutions as they strive to become thought leaders and role models for sustainable practices. Dr. Cortese has dedicated his professional life to educating the public on environmental issues. 

Visit https://www.secondnature.org for more information on Second Nature. (Link opens in new window.)

See below for a link to the full conference program.

TCC's 2nd Annual Sustainability Conference 2016

TCC's Second Annual Sustainability Conference, on February 11, 2016, featured two guest speakers and 3 panels.  The two keynote speakers, Dr. Berrien Moore, Director of the National Weather Center, and Bill Roth, author, green entrepreneur, and founder of EARTH 2017, along with a Consumer Panel, a Business Panel, and a Student Panel, provided thought provoking messages and information around the theme of  "Sustainability: Bringing it Home."

See below for a link to the full conference program.

TCC's 3rd Annual Sustainability Conference 2017

Pathways to Sustainability, TCC's 3rd Annual Sustainability Conference, was held at TCC's Metro Campus on Wednesday, February 22, 2017.  Keynote speakers Dr. Marty Matlock and Taylor Hanson engaged attendees with excellent information on integrating interdisciplinary scholarship into higher education and combating food deserts and hunger, respectively. The afternoon also included separate breakout sessions, each specifically geared toward faculty, staff, and student needs.

See below for a link to the full conference program.

TCC's 4th Annual Sustainability Conference 2018

In 2018, TCC held its Fourth Annual Sustainability Conference at the McKeon Center for Creativity on the Metro Campus. Speakers focused throughout the day on meeting student and community needs through sustainability.  There were three morning panels, one focusing on campus connections - ways each campus meets students' needs; another focused on how the campuses can partner with community organizations to help support both student and community needs; the third focused on urban farming and its potential as a key to combating food deserts and food insecurity. Afternoon panels focused more on the process of urban farming and the promise of a wide variety of career opportunities that exist within the landscape of sustainability and food.

See below for a link to the full conference program.

TCC's 5th Annual Sustainability Conference 2019

Over the years, sustainability has been linked to the triple bottom line: social responsibility, environmental stewardship, and economic prosperity.  Globally, advocates continue to find these values useful, but, by themselves, they may not be enough to end poverty, improve education, decrease inequality, three of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.  Two additional principles were added: the promotion of inclusive societies with strong institutions to promote justice and the building partnerships between governments, the private sector, and civil society.  TCC's Fifth Annual Sustainability Conference highlighted all the goals but focused on partnerships, as six colleges and universities presented their best practices in sustainability and started lining out common sustainability goals for the near future. 

See below for the full conference program.