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Nearly 160 women, and a few men, gathered at Stony Brook Southampton last weekend for the first-ever Women’s Conference for Sustainability, a summit aimed at educating women on environmental issues and initiating a call for action.
The conference, sponsored by the Women’s Initiative for a Sustainable Earth, or WISE, began with an exotic tea tasting and included yoga classes, as well as hiking and bird watching excursions. An assortment of forums hosted by internationally renowned keynote speakers were also offered and Saturday evening’s activities culminated with a drum circle led by Suffolk County Legislator Jay Schneiderman of Montauk, who was accompanied by a few friends.
Louisa Hargrave, the director of the Stony Brook Center for Wine, Food and Culture, which cosponsored the weekend-long event, took a short break from making sure everything went off without a hitch Saturday to say how well she thought the event was going. “This is wonderful,” she said. “The energy level is fabulous.”
A number of environmental organizations, including the Peconic Land Trust, The Nature Conservancy and Group for the East End, partnered with WISE to make the event a reality. Ms. Hargrave explained that the summit’s focus was to allow attendees the opportunity to discuss their philosophical views regarding what can be done to protect the environment, and not necessarily to come up with concrete solutions. Another goal was to motivate women to take action, she said.
“The conference was for people interested in this issue to share ideas, so they can make new allegiances,” she said.
Michaelann Jannsen, a science teacher in the Longwood School District, said she attended the forum to learn about sustainability initiatives for her district and satisfy her own curiosity. During a World Cafe conversation, an event on Saturday where women sat together in random order to discuss their ideas on preserving the environment, Ms. Jannsen said she could not wait to share the information that she had learned at the conference with her students and coworkers.
“Even as a single person, there is a difference I can make,” Ms. Jannsen said. “And I can reach other people that feel the same way.”
Vendors of environmentally conscious products were also on hand throughout the weekend to discuss the ways that forum attendees could help the environment at home. Pat Howard of Pristine Environments, a Pennsylvania company that sells water and air purifying systems, explained that those products can remove pollutants from the atmosphere while also improving air quality.
“We’re electronically recreating what nature does on its own,” Ms. Howard said. “It helps on a personal level.”
Ms. Hargrave, who writes the On the Vine column for both The Southampton Press and The East Hampton Press, stressed that people must take environmental issues into their own hands if they want to see positive change in the world. She suggested that everyone can do their part in recycling.
“Nobody has to say ‘You’re the designated leader,’” she said. “We have to take it upon ourselves.”
Southampton Town Board Member Sally Pope said she attended the summit to learn what government can do to help and protect the environment. The Remsenburg resident said she was impressed with the way the conference was structured, noting that forum participants had the chance to share their ideas with others.
“Having a chance to see how these dialogue groups can work, that was important to me because I’d like to see us do this in Southampton Town, and not just on environmental issues,” she said. “Having a dialogue is the first step.”
Ms. Hargrave said that one of the shining moments for her was when paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey took the podium to try to mobilize the audience to fight global warming. “He was so inspiring,” she said.
According to Ms. Hargrave, Dr. Leakey grows his own produce and his home is not connected with the LIPA power grid. She said he encouraged forum attendees not to get discouraged because there are little things that they can do the nurture the environment.
“[He said] you have to do what you can do, change your light bulbs, eat locally,” Ms. Hargrave said, adding that the small things can make a huge difference when millions of people are doing the same thing.
Dorothy Reilly, the founder of WISE and the conference chair, said the conference, which organizers hope to make an annual event, was a complete success. “This is beyond our expectations,” she said.
Ms. Reilly said she was hopeful that forum attendees would leave the college campus with a better understanding of the ways in which they can make a difference in protecting the environment. “We can learn the tactics of grass-roots organizing,” she said.
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