<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Please forgive cross-postings</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#830000" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">The Alliance for Global Sustainability invites you to:</SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#830000" size="5"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;">"Designing Pathways for a Sustainable World: at Scale, in Time, and for All" </SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><B>28-31 January 2008</B></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><B>Massachusetts Institute of Technology</B></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><B>Cambridge, MA, USA</B></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><B>Register: </B><A href="http://web.mit.edu/agsam08/reg/"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#002BF0">http://web.mit.edu/agsam08/reg/</FONT></A></DIV><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px">The complexity of responding to the challenges of climate change and sustainability has created an impasse to effective action. A strong current of pessimism runs through the public dialogue, which seems to have evolved from “nothing is wrong so we need to do nothing” to “everything is so wrong that there is nothing we can do.” But it is not too late. Instead, it is time to deploy the knowledge we have–or will soon have–to pursue sustainable pathways.</P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px">The AGS meeting focuses on the development of the “pathways” concept as a framework for advancing near-term transitions to sustainability. The basis of the pathways concept is how we transition from our present systems, based on today’s technologies, infrastructures, and markets, toward more sustainable systems. In navigating this transition, we must consider scale, timing, and social equity in order to respond to the urgent need for substantive action on climate, energy, food and water challenges. The meeting will bring together approximately 300 international scholars, business leaders, and government and NGO representatives.</P><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><B>Registration / Conference Website - </B><A href="http://web.mit.edu/agsam08"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#002BF0">http://web.mit.edu/agsam08</FONT></A> </DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Online conference registration is now OPEN. We invite you to visit the AGS annual meeting website where the most up-to-date information will be posted, including the meeting agenda, registration and hotel information, directions, and the call for posters. Online registration will close on 14 January. (The MIT/AGS will cover the registration fee for MIT faculty, researchers, and students who want to attend the meeting.)</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><B>Poster session</B></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">The deadline for submission of abstracts for the poster session is<B> 15 October</B>. We invite you to visit the AGS annual meeting website <A href="http://web.mit.edu/agsam08/papers/"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#002BF0">http://web.mit.edu/agsam08/papers/</FONT></A> for guidelines on submission. </DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#000600"><BR></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#000600"><B><I>The Alliance for Global Sustainability (AGS)</I></B></FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#000600"><I> is a network of international science and technology-based universities - Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA, USA), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Zurich, Switzerland), The University of Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan), and Chalmers University of Technology (Göteborg, Sweden) - committed to joint research, education, and outreach to address the issues around global sustainability. The AGS was created a decade ago to help understand the complex issues that lie at the intersection of environmental, economic, and social goals.</I></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><B>Contact: </B>Karen Gibson, Email: <A href="mailto:kgibson@mit.edu"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#002BF0">kgibson@mit.edu</FONT></A></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">We look forward to seeing you in January!</DIV></BODY></HTML>