The Nature Conservancy in Vermont - Toward a Sustainable Future, with Tom Wessels

Toward a Sustainable Future, with Tom Wessels

The Nature Conservancy and Vermont Earth Institute invite you to join the discussion.

For more than 3 billion years, nature has developed complex systems able to support the rich diversity of life on earth.

But is the progress of human society testing the resilience of nature’s systems and challenging the laws of sustainability?

From a scientist’s perspective, and with characteristic clarity and perception, Tom Wessels, author, educator and ecologist, will reveal the workings of the natural world, and engage us in a thought-provoking discussion on nature’s laws of sustainability based on his new book, The Myth of Progress: Toward a Sustainable Future.

Discussion Dates and Locations:

Manchester, Lincoln Family Home at Hildene
Tuesday, October 3, 5:30pm – 7:30pm

Shelburne Farms Coach Barn
Sunday, October 8, 2pm – 4pm

Montpelier, Noble Hall, Vermont College
Tuesday, October 10, 5:30pm – 7:30pm

Brattleboro Museum & Art Center
Tuesday, October 24, 5:30pm – 7:30pm

Middlebury, Congregational Church
Sunday, November 5, 2pm – 4pm

Registration/Fee:
These discussions are free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. To register online, click here. Or email us at vermont@tnc.org.

More on Tom Wessels

Tom Wessels is a professor of ecology and founding director of the masters degree program in conservation biology at Antioch University New England, located in Keene, New Hampshire. He is former chair of the Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation, which fosters environmental leadership through graduate fellowships and organizational grants. He has conducted workshops on the natural history of landscapes throughout the United States for more than 25 years. When not traveling or teaching, Tom spends his time with his family in Westminster, Vermont, exploring the woods around their home.

Tom is author of Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England and The Granite Landscape: A Natural History of America's Mountain Domes, from Acadia to Yosemite. His most recent work, The Myth of Progress: Toward a Sustainable Future, will be released by University Press of New England in September.

The Nature Conservancy and Vermont Earth Institute

The Nature Conservancy, a national non-profit organization that has been working to conserve forest, wetland and freshwater habitats and their natural processes in Vermont since 1960, and Vermont Earth Institute, dedicated to creating environmental awareness and reducing resource consumption, have joined together to host these discussions with Tom Wessels.

“Using nature’s laws as a guide for human systems could help protect the quality of human life, not just the diversity of life on earth,” says Bob Klein, executive director of The Nature Conservancy’s Vermont chapter. “The Conservancy’s scientific approach to conservation considers not just the species within a particular forest community or wetland, but also the natural processes needed to sustain life over the long term. This approach leads us to conserve buffers along stream banks, to protect wildlife travel corridors and to restore natural communities with native plants.”

“Vermont Earth Institute’s approach of bringing people together for its discussion groups, eco-parties and Sustainable Living Networks,” says executive director Barbara Duncan, “is building an informed, engaged, and motivated network of people who are increasing community environmental stewardship. We’re delighted to join with The Nature Conservancy in giving people the opportunity to engage in conversation with Tom Wessels, a first-rate naturalist and a perceptive, clear thinker.”