Category Archives: Service

I recently served on a panel on sustainability at the Sterling Rice Group (SRG)’s second annual forum on innovation in Boulder, CO.  I shared some of my research on consumer preferences for different forms of eco-labels, and also talked briefly about GoodGuide.  I was joined on the panel by Ivan Barkhorn, Managing Director of Redstone Strategy Group and Catherine Greener, Co-Founder and Principal of Cleargreen Advisors, who shared some of their perspectives and experiences related to corporate sustainability.

I participated in the rest of the event as well, and very much enjoyed the other speaker’s perspectives on innovation, which came from a wide range of both business and academic backgrounds.  The talk about Galileo and innovation by an astronomy professor was particularly memorable.  SRG is also doing a lot of interesting work itself on understanding the factors that drive consumer demand and society’s evolution, and did a great job of organizing the forum — it was implemented very professionally and creatively.

To learn more about the Forum, visit http://www.bolderinnovation.com/.

I recently participated in a panel put together by Cal undergraduates associated with the Berkeley Energy and Resources Collaborative (BERC).  They had asked me to talk about my career path, and were interested in any advice I might have regarding their own futures in the environmental field.  I was joined on the panel by two other graduate students from the Energy Resources Group and Boalt Law School, and we had a good discussion with the students who were there — mostly juniors and juniors from a wide range of majors but all of who shared a strong interest in the environment.

Questions ranged from what courses to take to the best ways to find relevant jobs and get into strong graduate programs, and we each provided answers based on our own personal experiences.  I tried to encourage students to take as broad a range of courses they can, from intro anthropology to intro economics, while still focusing on an area that they are really interested in.  While specialization is important and valuable, for undergrads there really is no substitute for a broad-based liberal arts education.