Joslyn Institute for Sustainable Communities

NEWS FROMJoslyn Institute for Sustainable Communities

1004 Farnam Street / Suite 101 / Omaha, Nebraska 68102

t 402.933.0080 / f 402.933.0082 / e [email protected] / www.ecospheres.com

For Immediate Release Contact: W. Cecil Steward, President & CEO26 May 2015 402.472.0087 Diane Wanek, Director of Communications 402.991.8747 Katie Torpy, Program Manager 402.933.0080

Conservation and the Quest for Quality Nebraska Places

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What do construction waste, global population migration, food processing and distribution, the Ogallala Aquifer, Omaha

and O’Neill, climate change, and economic development have to do with one another? A new video by the Joslyn

Institute for Sustainable Communities shows how interconnected and interdependent all of these factors are, and how

addressing the nexus of global and local changes and pressures on our critical resources will ensure a strong and

healthy future for our citizens. W. Cecil Steward, founder and President of the Joslyn Institute, will show excerpts from

the video and talk about how these imperatives might be addressed at the June webcast of the Sustainability Leadership

Presesntation Series (SLPS) on June 4. Locations across the state will be showing the webcast.

Nebraska Nexus: Resources, Conservation, Development and Change explores five critical resources—food,

water, energy, land and materials, and how we must consider both conservation and development of those resources

to respond effectively to global pressures and to ensure they remain sustainable for future generations and the high

standard of living we now enjoy.

The culmination of four years of highly interactive workshops and conferences with civic leaders, ranchers,

farmers, elected and appointed officials, students and concerned citizens across Nebraska, the video was produced with

the support of Humanities Nebraska and the Nebraska Environmental Trust, with the administrative support of Nebraska

Academy of Sciences. During the free webcast, Steward will interact with attendees to consider the implications of a

changing planet and their significance to our unique conditions in Nebraska.

The SLPS is a series of free, public presentations given monthly on topics related to sustainability, energy, the

environment, and how they apply to individuals. The series is webcast at a number of locations across the state on the

first Thursday of each school calendar month. The Joslyn Institute for Sustainable Communities, in partnership with

Central Community College, Metropolitan Community College and WasteCap Nebraska, is a sponsor of the series,

which is free and open to all interested people.

“Conservation and the Quest for Quality Nebraska Places” will be presented live on Thursday, June 4, 3:30– 5 p.m.

in UNO’s Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center, Room 127 (60th & Dodge). The webcast may be viewed at the

following community college viewing locations:

Omaha: Metropolitan Community College Fort Omaha Campus (30th & Fort)

Columbus: Central Community College - West Ed 205

Grand Island: Central Community College - 555

Hastings: Central Community College - Dawson 163 (Cedar)

Holdrege: Central Community College Center

Lexington: Central Community College Center

Ord: Central Community College Center

Kearney: Central Community College Center

Interested participants can Tweet questions for the live Q&A using #SLPSThursday. Individuals who are not able to get to

a webcast site will be able to view the webcast on their own computers, via a Webex link, to be provided at the following

website next week: www.cccneb.edu/sustain/SLPS. Those who wish to attend the JISC presentation at UNO, the live

webcast site, should contact Katie Torpy Carroll ([email protected]) to pre-register, since seating and

parking spots will be limited.

About the Speaker

W. Cecil Steward, FAIA, is a world expert on sustainable development and sustainable design. Dean emeritus and

emeritus professor of architecture and planning at the University of Nebraska College of Architecture in Lincoln, he is

president and founder of the Joslyn Institute for Sustainable Communities, Omaha/Lincoln. A past president of the national

American Institute of Architects (AIA), Steward has served on the boards

of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, the AIA and on

the charter board of the Architectural Research Centers Consortium.

He serves on the boards of directors of the Asia/Pacific Center for

Architecture, the national Design Futures Council, and the steering

committee of the United Nations Center for Human Settlements Best

Practices Network and its international Dubai Award for Best Practices in

Sustainable Development, among others.

In public service he is a former member of the Board of Directors of the

Downtown Lincoln Association, the Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning

Commission, and the Lincoln Children’s Museum Board of Directors.

In 2005, he started the Nebraska Center for Sustainable Construction,

which operates Nebraska EcoStores, a recycled building materials store

Conservation & the Quest for Quality Nebraska Places Contact: W. Cecil Steward, President & CEOPress Release - Page 2 of 3 402.472.0087For Immediate Release Diane Wanek, Director of Communications 26 May 2015 402.991.8747 Katie Torpy, Program Manager 402.933.0080

The Joslyn Institute for Sustainable Communities / 1004 Farnam Street / Suite 101 / Omaha, Nebraska 68102


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Conservation & the Quest for Quality Nebraska Places Contact: W. Cecil Steward, President & CEOPress Release - Page 3 of 3 402.472.0087For Immediate Release Diane Wanek, Director of Communications 26 May 2015 402.991.8747 Katie Torpy, Program Manager 402.933.0080

The Joslyn Institute for Sustainable Communities / 1004 Farnam Street / Suite 101 / Omaha, Nebraska 68102


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in Lincoln, Nebraska. He is a member of the Nebraska Capitol Environs Commission where he assisted in the writing of

the first design guidelines for urban protection of the Nebraska Capitol building. His initiatives in Nebraska’s two largest

cities established the Green Omaha Coalition and Lincoln Green by Design, aimed at fostering sustainability policies and

practices in city government.

At the national level he has served on the national Peer Review Committee for design reviews of selected General

Services Administration projects, including buildings within the U.S. Capitol complex, and as a member of the

Pennsylvania Avenue Design Charette Team in Washington, D.C.

At the international level he served as a member of the National Committee on U.S./China Relations, and the UNESCO-

sponsored design charette team for the international Memorial to West African Slave Trade, Dakar, Senegal. Since 1984,

he has served as a consultant to the Peoples Republic of China in establishing accreditation and licensing for architects.

He is serving as advisor to the World Olympiad for Urban Design, and is involved in several more groups working to

promote sustainable development in urban areas throughout the world.

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Joslyn Institute for Sustainable Communities