Presenters:

Sim Van der Ryn, Visionary, Author, Educator, and Pioneer in Ecological Design

Josiah Raison Cain, Chief Design Officer, Design Ecology

In an era of climate chaos and other major uncertainties, resiliency is the key to a green world and sustainable future. What this means is the basics for life support – food, water, energy, buildings, waste recycling, communications, transport and basic community services must be adaptable to a wide range of scales from homes to villages, neighborhoods, towns, cities and regions. This means a shift from the rigid instability of large scale centralized systems to the flowing resilience of small scale localized systems. In our presentation and discussion, we look at how resiliency works  with examples  at all scales.

Presenter Bios

Sim Van der Ryn

Sim Van der Ryn is a visionary, author, educator, public leader, and internationally distinguished pioneer in ecological design. For more than 40 years, Sim has been at the forefront of integrating ecological principles into the built environment, creating multi-scale solutions driven by nature's intelligence.  Professor Emeritus of Architecture UC Berkeley, he served as California's first energy-conscious State Architect, authored seven influential books, and won numerous honors and awards for his leadership and innovation in architecture & planning. Sim's collaborative approach and meta-disciplinary accomplishments help show the way to an evolving planetary era that values both the integrity of ecological systems and the quality of life. Coordinator and Chief Wizard of the EcoDesign Collaborative, he was a keynoter at Living Future 2008 in Vancouver.

Josiah Raison Cain 

Josiah Cain is a landscape architect with 16 years experience as an ecological design professional. He is currently Chief Design Officer at Design Ecology, a landscape architecture firm specializing green roofs, living walls, and on-site water management solutions. He founded his first design/build firm in 1997, and for 8 years provided ecologically-driven master plans and innovative green projects to hospitality, schools, developers, and residential clients internationally. Cain then managed an office for an influential, nationally recognized ecological design firm, leading project teams for civic clients such as the New York Dept. of Environmental Protection(DEP), University of California, and the California Academy of Sciences, in addition to a high-end corporate and residential clientele. He holds a BS in landscape architecture from University of California at Davis and a Master of Design Technology & Environment from Harvard Graduate School of Design.