The event will feature Jason Aramburu as the keynote speaker, joined in a panel discussion by leaders in food waste recycling and sustainable wine growing.

At age 25, Jason Aramburu founded re:char, which uses low-cost technologies to help farmers in East Africa fight climate change while improving the quality of degraded soils to enable farmers to grow more food. re:char’s systems convert agricultural waste into renewable fuel and into biochar (made from crop and animal waste and carbon negative), sequestering atmospheric carbon and improving soil quality. For just a $60 investment, a farmer can save $200 annually, boost crop yield by 26%, and reduce chemical fertilizer consumption by 80%. Named one of the Top 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneurs by Forbes and one of Business Week’s Top 25 Social Entrepreneurs in the U.S., Jason is also an Ashoka Fellow, an Echoing Geen Fellow, a Pop!Tech Fellow, an Unreasonable Institute Fellow, and is a grantee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He has been featured in Forbes, New York Times, Fast Company, BBC, and has appeared on TEDx.

One day, enjoying breakfast at a restaurant with an all-eat buffet, Daniel Blake tossed his his leftovers into the trash and noticed the volume of uneaten food waste in the trash can. It didn’t sit well in his stomach and so he began to research American food waste, discovering that the U.S. produces 30 million tons of food waste each year. He thought there might be a way to transform this waste into useful compost and so along with two other classmates in college, Blake began raiding restaurant and grocery store dumpsters after dark, scavenging for food waste. In his dorm parking lot, he and his classmates created a makeshift research lab, testing composting techniques on 24 garbage cans full of spoiled food.With some help from professors, the trio developed a technique to transform discarded fruits and vegetables into nutrient-rich compost in less than three weeks—a good deal faster than traditional composting, which can take up to three months or more. They also added sawdust shavings and coffee grounds and aerated their piles once every three days, to provide the correct carbon-to-nitrogen ratio. In tests the team conducted, the EcoScraps soil grew plants as large as or larger than plants grown in soils using chemical fertilizers. According to the CEO of SparkSeed, a global nonprofit that invests in social entrepreneurs, the true beauty of the business lies in its simplicity: “essentially, they just sell dirt.” EcoScraps is a rare business model that provides an economic incentive to everyone involved to choose the green option. Daniel Blake was named one of America’s top 25 most promising social entrepreneurs in BloombergBusinessweek and was also featured as the cover of Inc. Magazine in 2011.

Andy Zeman is the Founder of Benjamin Vineyards and Winery, a family-owned winery in Alamance County of North Carolina. But it isn’t just any vineyard and winery. Sustainable economics, environment, and community engagement are all integrated into winemaking for Andy Zeman and Benjamin Vineyards. It is a “Zero Discharge” facility. This means all of its agricultural materials are composted and repurposed to enrich the soil of the vineyards. No process wastewater is generated from its winery operations. The vineyards are completely pesticide-free and only environmentally friendly fungicides are used. All of its paper, glass, cardboard, and wood are recycled. The vineyards not only contributes a significant percentage of its gross revenues to local non-profits, but even allows local non-profits to use the facilities for their fundraising efforts. Benjamin Vineyards and Winery is even a member of its local Chamber of Commerce, actively working to help drive local economic growth. He has been featured in the Herald Sun and the Times News.

Reserve your seats now! Sign up here!

From 6:00-6:30pm there will be a buffet provided

Kenan Flagler Business School, McColl Building