Allison Gannett to highlight annual Sustainability Week

Allison Gannett, an award-winning global cooling consultant and world-champion extreme freeskier, will speak at the Western Sustainability Awards ceremony Oct. 25 at the culmination of Sustainability Week at Western Washington University.

The ceremony begins at 4 p.m. in the Viking Union Multipurpose Room on campus.

Gannett, founder of multiple non-profits, including the Save Our Snow Foundation, also runs KEEN Rippin Chix – women’s steep skiing, biking and surf camps around the globe.

Always an advocate of walking the talk and becoming more sustainable, she has cut her carbon footprint in half, including growing and raising almost all her own food on Holy Terror Farm in Paonia.

Gannett has spent the majority of her life working on solutions to climate change. She graduated magna cum laude with honors from the University of Vermont in 1987 and went on to study alternative energy and energy efficient building design at Solar Energy International. She opened her first business dedicated to climate change in 1991 and has founded and runs four non-profits dedicated to global cooling.

Also taking place during Sustainability Week:

Sustainability Info Fair: "Park(ing) Day" - Noon to 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 22, in the C parking lots near the Wade King Student Recreation Center.

Organizations from throughout campus will temporarily re-purpose a portion of the WWU parking lots to hold an info fair. Come learn about the many organizations that contribute to Western Sustainability and find out how you can get involved. Information on energy conservation, sustainability classes and more.

Film showing: "Fixing the Future - Building Local Jobs, Income & Sustainability" - 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23, Viking Union Room 525

In Fixing the Future, host David Brancaccio, of public radio’s Marketplace and NOW on PBS, visits people and organizations across America that are attempting a revolution: the reinvention of the American economy. By featuring communities using sustainable and innovative approaches to create jobs and build prosperity, Fixing the Future inspires hope and renewal in a people overwhelmed by economic collapse. The film highlights effective, local practices such as: local business alliances, community banking, time banking/hour exchange, worker cooperatives and local currencies.

Keynote broadcast: "Preparing Students for a Changing Climate" - 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 24, Viking Union Room 567

Join us in celebrating the 10th anniversary of Campus Sustainability Day with a live panel discussing the role colleges and universities must play in creating sustainability education for all students which prepares the next generation of leaders to lead a just, healthy, and sustainable society. How can colleges and universities prepare students for a changing climate, society, and economy through sustainability education? 

Featuring Dr. Geoffrey Chase, leader of the Ponderosa Project, Julie Elzanati, Director of the Illinois Green Economy Network, Neil Weissman, Provost of Dickinson College, and Debera Johnson, founder of the Pratt Design Incubator for Sustainable Innovation, this panel invites questions from the audience to discuss best practices for creating ecological curriculum, advancing experiential and living laboratory learning, and engaging faculty and the surrounding community in meaningful and critical education.

Local Foods Farm to Table Lunch - 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 24, Viking Commons Dining Hall

Viking Commons will feature a local and sustainably sourced menu for lunch. $7-8

Gannett