Savannah Country Day to Host Regional Symposium on Sustainability

Savannah Country Day to Host Regional Symposium on Sustainability

(Savannah Country Day School, Savannah, Ga.) The Savannah Country Day School will host three experts in sustainability for a major symposium titled “Creating a Sustainable Future: Recognizing, Repairing and Restoring a Fractured World” on Saturday, February 10, 2007. Environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., sustainable architecture guru Bob Berkebile, and Mendocino Wine Company founder Paul Dolan will participate in the groundbreaking event.

Kennedy, Berkebile, and Dolan are leading experts in the field of sustainability. They examine how to meet the economic, social, and institutional needs of human society without compromising the environment, both now and into the future.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s tireless efforts to protect New York's water supply have made him one of Time magazine's “Heroes for the Planet.” He currently serves as Chief Prosecuting Attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper and President of the Waterkeeper Alliance. Kennedy has published a number of books including the New York Times' bestseller Crimes Against Nature (2004) and The Riverkeepers (1997). His articles have appeared in publications from The Wall Street Journal to Newsweek to Rolling Stone.

Joining Kennedy for the Creative Minds symposium is Bob Berkebile of BNIM Architects in Kansas City. A major proponent of sustainable design, Berkebile is one of the area's leading architects and is the founding chair of the American Institute of Architect's Committee on the Environment. According to Berkebile, “We are waking up to our failure to recognize that our buildings and communities are part of nature. Rather than working with nature, we've been setting ourselves and our built environment apart; we've been blind to the devastating impact our choices have had on the natural environment.” He continues, “So at this point, we need to go beyond diminishing the impact of each design decision and begin to consider how we can restore the environment with each design decision.”

Also slated for the February 10th lecture is fourth-generation winemaker Paul Dolan, a leader in environmentally-responsible business. As the president of Fetzer Vineyards for 12 years, he led a transformation that put the company at the forefront of the organic winemaking field. In 2004, he co-founded the Mendocino Wine Company, which serves as a model for the wine industry due to its focus on creating environmentally-responsible wines and its emphasis on sustainability. “At Mendocino Wine Company, sustainability means farming and business practices that nourish the environment, the community and the individual, including an abiding respect for the agricultural roots of Mendocino County.”

Prior to the symposium, Country Day will sponsor a viewing of “An Inconvenient Truth,” Davis Guggenheim's film portraying former Vice President Al Gore's campaign to make the reality of global warming understandable to the public. The film will be shown Friday, February 9th at 6:30 p.m. at Jelks Auditorium on the Savannah Country Day School campus.

The symposium, featuring Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Bob Berkebile, and Paul Dolan, will be held Saturday, February 10, 2007, from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Trustees Theatre on Broughton Street in Savannah. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased through the Trustees Theatre. Please call (912) 525-5050.,

Creative Minds is sponsored by Brasseler USA, Inc., Celia Dunn Sotheby's International Realty, the Kehoe House, the Courtney Knight Gaines Foundation, the J.C. Lewis Foundation, Melaver, Inc., Charles and Rosalie Morris, John A. and Ruth E. Long Foundation, The Savannah Morning News, St. Joseph's/Candler Health Care System, SunTrust Bank, and WTKS News Radio.

The Savannah Country Day School is a PK - 12 independent school who seeks to prepare students of academic and personal promise to meet with confidence, imagination, and integrity the challenges of college and of life. In partnership with supportive families, we strive to cultivate in each student the desire and the discipline to grow wise, to lead lives of personal honor, to appreciate beauty, to pursue physical well-being, and to serve others with a generous and compassionate spirit.

For more information please call (912) 961-8828 or log on to www.savcds.org.