28 February 1997 Making sense of sustainability – public lecture series

“Sustainable", "sustainability" – widely used words of the moment, but what do they mean?

A public lecture series at Lincoln University, starting on Wednesday 5 March, will clarify the concept and show its application in a wide range of areas.

The series – called Symbols of Sustainability – runs weekly on Wednesdays over the next three months (Easter week excepted) and explores how different disciplines approach the matter of "sustainability", how they represent the idea and how different approaches and representations inter-relate.

Speakers from the physical, biological and social sciences, economics, resource studies, Maori studies, and engineering will all contribute.

The venue for the hour-long public lectures is Lincoln University's Commerce 2 lecture theatre; the starting time is 5.00pm and admission is free.

The first lecture, on 5 March, is by ecologist Professor Steve Wratten, Director of Postgraduate Studies at Lincoln. He will discuss the Selwyn Stewardship Scheme at Leeston which involves farmers and scientists developing a system of natural indicators (e.g. levels of bird and insect life) for measuring the "health" of the agricultural landscape.

The three-month lecture series ends with a 9.00 till noon workshop session on June 11.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand