On October 4th at 6pm, Blu Skye's Jib Ellison will join author Michael Pollan and Jack Sinclair, EVP of Grocery at Walmart for a discussion on the role of corporations in the sustainable food movement.  This class is part of the UC Berkeley course Edible Education 101: The Rise and Future of the Food Movement, which in addition to the 400 UC Berkeley students who are enrolled in the course is open to about 300 general public free of charge.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011, 6pm - 7:30 pm

Wheeler Auditorium, UC Berkeley

General public tickets available through TicketWeb starting September 28.   

Update: Missed the event?  You can watch it here.

Description: As the world's population grows from 7 billion to 9 billion, developing countries start eating higher on the food chain and demand for food production doubles -- all in a changing environment where extreme weather events become the norm and resource scarcity (e.g. demands on water) become increasingly severe, the way we produce food will have to adapt. Companies like Walmart play a key role in feeding the planet, and they are getting quite sophisticated in how they think about these issues. One trend we see is a move to put a value on nature - on ecosystem services - and companies involved in producing food are just beginning to explore how valuing nature and biodiversity will change the way they do business.

Speakers: Jack Sinclair, Executive Vice President of Grocery Merchandise, Wal-Mart, and Jib Ellison, CEO, Blu Skye Strategy Consulting in conversation with author Michael Pollan

JACK SINCLAIR

Jack Sinclair is the Executive Vice President of the food division for Walmart U.S., responsible for the company’s overall strategy for food and grocery. He works to integrate planning, category management, store experience and private brand development into the grocery business unit. Sinclair joined Walmart from McCurrach, a U.K.-based field merchandising business. He has worked in the retail food business since 1982 when he began his career as a trainee at Shoppers’ Paradise in the United Kingdom. He worked for Tesco and Safeway PLC, where he eventually served on the board of directors that led the merger of Safeway PLC and Morrisons.

JIB ELLISON

Jib Ellison is the founder and CEO of Blu Skye Strategy Consulting where he leads a team of strategy experts who work with Fortune 50 companies to transform markets – and to create new ones. His process is premised upon using sustainability to reveal new market opportunities, engage senior management and employees, and leverage his considerable network of experts to do well by doing good. In this way, Ellison and his team expand conventional definitions of value, opportunity and change. His recent clients include Hilton, Microsoft, SC Johnson, Sony Pictures, Staples, Walmart, and Waste Management.

MICHAEL POLLAN

Michael Pollan is the author, most recently, of "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto." His previous book, "The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals", was named one of the ten best books of 2006 by the New York Times and the Washington Post. He is also the author of "The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World", "A Place of My Own", and "Second Nature". A contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine, Pollan is the recipient of numerous journalistic awards, including the James Beard Award for best magazine series in 2003 and the Reuters-I.U.C.N. 2000 Global Award for Environmental Journalism. Pollan served for many years as executive editor of Harper's Magazine and is now the Knight Professor of Science and Environmental Journalism at UC Berkeley.