News Release

Tufts University hosts Britain's Royal Geographic Society

Meeting Announcement

Tufts University

International Experts Draft Policies to improve environment, society

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. - Tufts University will host an international conference of Britain's Royal Geographical Society on Wed., May 31 through Fri., June 2. It will be held from 9 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. each day at the Fletcher Intercultural Center here. This is the tenth annual meeting of the planning and environmental research group, and the first time the panel will meet in the United States.

The conference, "Towards Sustainability: Social and Environmental Justice," will focus on topics like water conservation, land degradation, and agricultural pollution. Speakers from around the world will make policy recommendations on how communities from Senegal to Japan to the United States can be environmentally responsible.

"Being more sustainable means leveraging our unlimited mental resources in using our limited natural resources," said Julian Agyeman, Tufts professor of urban and environmental policy and conference organizer. "It means the world needs to share equitably in this."

"We chose Tufts as the site for our conference because of the University's work in of its work in environmental policy and sustainable development," said Bob Evans, professor with the Royal Geographical Society.

Conference presenters and delegates come from Britain, Japan, Australia, the USA, Canada, Spain, Ireland and The Netherlands. They will also tackle community participation, worker health and safety, and new models of governance.

In addition to obvious problems, there are many opportunities to be addressed during the conference too. Experts will offer potential solutions on everything from new fuel cells that create energy without combustion to helping home buyers in urban areas shift some of their mass-transit savings to housing.

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