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Women interested in environmental advocacy and education will be able to come together later this month to discuss alternatives and action plans during the first-ever New York Women’s Conference for Sustainability, which will be held at the Stony Brook Southampton campus.
The Women’s Initiative for a Sustainable Earth, or WISE, a group of East End women whose members are concerned with global warming, will be sponsoring the gathering, which will run from Friday, March 27, through Sunday, March 29. Organizers hope that the forum, planned as an annual event, will draw more than 400 people who will discuss ways to achieve a sustainable climate.
“The goal is to mobilize for a cultural tipping point,” said Dorothy Reilly, the founder of WISE and the chair of the conference. “Another goal is so everyone comes out of there knowing what steps they can take.”
The summit is being co-sponsored by the Stony Brook University Center for Wine, Food and Culture and will feature guest speakers, panels, discussions and entertainment. Partners include a wide array of environmental organizations, including the Peconic Land Trust, The Nature Conservancy and the Group for the East End.
A Southampton native with a background in architecture, Ms. Reilly said she is now devoting all of her time to WISE. “I know that we are in a pivotal place with the changes that are happening,” she said. “If we can make changes now, we can make a difference.”
In addition to listening to speakers and attending workshops, conference attendees can participate in activities including World Cafe, where women will meet for coffee in small random groups and discuss sustainability initiatives. “Everyone is talking about the same topic,” Ms. Reilly said. “Then you take it to the next table.”
Speakers at the conference will include Harriet Fulbright, president of the J. William & Harriet Fulbright Center, Richard Leakey, an anthropologist and conservationist, and Sarah Newkirk, the director of the Coastal Resilience Project at The Nature Conservancy.
Ms. Reilly, who wrote her master’s thesis on green architecture in the 1970s, said she has been interested in sustainability for a very long time. She said she first got the idea to host the conference after attending a similar gathering in Wyoming.
“We invite all kinds of people,” Ms. Reilly said, referring to the upcoming conference. “The timid and the bold, the experienced and the novices.”
Louisa Hargrave, who serves on the conference committee and is director of the Stony Brook University Center for Wine, Food and Culture, said that she is excited to help bring the conference to Southampton. “I started the first vineyard and winery on Long Island in the 1970s,” she said. “So, I have a very keen interest in sustaining what we have.”
Ms. Hargrave, who writes the On the Vine column for The East Hampton Press and The Southampton Press, said she immediately wanted to get on board after learning of WISE’s mission. “I thought this is perfect,” she said. “I really wanted to partner with them.”
She added that the upcoming summit would be a departure from the typical conference, the latter of which can be dominated by lectures rather than facilitating a discussion and initiating action.
“We don’t want to spend a weekend hearing people telling us what to do,” Ms. Hargrave said. “What we really don’t know is how to take our collective wisdom, have conversations, learn from each other and figure out how to make the kind of changes that need to be made personally, politically, culturally and have fun doing it.”
She noted that although the conference is aimed toward women, men are welcome as well. “It’s really designed to empower women especially,” Ms. Hargrave said. “But we’ll be nice to them.”
Ms. Reilly said that her organization focuses on women because, as the dominant educators and spenders in society, females can significantly impact environmental initiatives. “We also have had less of a voice in the dominant conversation,” she said. “Let’s bring women in the conversation.”
Ms. Reilly said that above all, she wants people to leave the conference brimming with ideas and armed with new ways to help protect and preserve the environment.
“We will also come together to generate our own ideas,” she said. “People will really go out with concrete action plans and a network so they feel supported.”
For more information, or to register for the conference, visit sowise.org.
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