Redefining the American Dream

This conference will be held at Airlie House in Airlie, Virginia, April 23-25, 1995. It is intended to be a lively forum for discussing how to achieve sustainable patterns of consumption in the United States.

There is growing awareness that the scale of human consumption and enterprise are root causes of ecological damage. Yet our economy and culture have literally institutionalized consumption and growth as the bedrocks of modern industrialized life. Redefining the American Dream will attempt to move beyond an analysis of these problems to a deeper discussion of strategies for change. The Conference Planning Group wants to spark a public dialogue on individual and corporate patterns of consumption in the United States. This conference will help set the stage for launching one or more educational and action-oriented initiatives with mainstream America.

A carefully selected group of people from a variety of esctors, including academia, business, government, environmental gorups, labor, religious organizations, and consumer groups, will be invited. To ensure a collaborative and participatory atmosphere, attendance will be limited to approximately 75 people.

Confirmed Participants


Rebecca Adamson
President, First Nations Development Institute

Gar Alperowitz
President, National Center for Economic Alternatives

Matthew Arnold
President, Management Institute for Environment

Peter Bahouth
Executive Director, Turner Foundation

Patricia Bauman
President, the Bauman Foundation

Cliff Benzel
Executive Vice President, Evangelicals for Social Action

Brent Blackwelder
President, Friends of the Earth

Elissa Blanchard
Associate, Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University

Hooper Brooks
Program Officer, Surdna Foundation

Ruth Caplan
Coordinator, Economics Working Group

Diana Chambers
Executive Director, Servant Leadership School

Vicki Dompka
Senior Program Associate, Population & SUstainability Program, American Association for the Advancement of Science

Faye Duchin
Director, Institute for Economic Analysis, New York University

Alan Durning
President, Northwest Environment Watch

Robert Engelman
Director, Population and Environment Program, Population Action International

David Gershon
President, Global Action Plan

Andy Goodman
Executive Director, Environmental Media Association

Neva Goodwin
Director, Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University

Paul Gorman
Executive Director, National Religious Partnership for the Environment

Alisa Gravitz
President, Co-op America

Wade Green
Advisor, Rockefeller Financial Services

Jean Halloran
Director, Consumer Policy Institute

Ted Halstead
Executive Director, Redifining Progress

Jacqueline Hamilton
Director, Population, Consumption & Environment Initiative, Natural Resources Defense Council

Arthur Hanson
President, International Institute for Sustainable Development

Richard Harwood
President, The Harwood Group

Mark Hertsgaard
Freelance Writer,

Michael Jacobson
Director, Center for the Study of Commercialism, Center for Science in the Public Interest

Ann James
Consultant, Office of Sustainable Development & Intergovernmental Affairs, U.S. Department of Commerce

Will Keepin
Program Director, Positive Futures Project

Robert Lilienfeld
Editor, Use Less Stuff Report

Marianne Manilov
Co-Director, Unplug

William McDonough
Dean, Uni ersity of Virginia School of Architecture

Donnella Meadows
Professor, Environmental Studies Program, Dartmouth College

Josephine Merck
Trustee, Merck Family Fund

David Mermin
The Harwood Group

Margaret Morgan-Hubbard
Executive Director, Environmental Action

William Rees
Founder, Ecological Footprint, University of British Columbia

Vicki Robin
Co-Founder, New Road Map Foundation

Amy Salzman
Senior Program Officer, Consumption, World Wildlife Fund

Juliet Schor
Director of Women's Studies, Harvard University

William Shireman
President, Global Futures

Edward Skloot
Executive Director, Surdna Foundation

Ian Yolles
Vice President, Marketing, Patagonia



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