LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Business executives, elected officials and students gathered at the University of Kentucky’s Gatton Student Center April 14th for the 6th annual Sustainability Summit to focus on local solutions for environmental challenges.
The event, hosted by Bluegrass Greensource, brought together decision-makers and community leaders to discuss topics ranging from artificial intelligence to flooding solutions.
"This is the only event of its kind in central Kentucky, and so we're really excited to have this," Executive Director Amy Sohner said.
When Bluegrass Greensource first started 25 years ago, people often thought of sustainability as an issue for the rainforest or the ocean. Now, people are realizing it is an issue right in their own backyard.
"Our goal is to bring regional ideas and big picture, really exciting initiatives from throughout the region from Ohio and Western Kentucky, eastern Kentucky, surrounding states so that we here in central Kentucky can learn best practices and get inspired and challenged to make our community more sustainable right here in central Kentucky," Sohner said.
The summit featured discussions on the environmental impact of emerging technologies, including a presentation on the sustainability of data centers.
"We have Ashley Willems who's going to be talking about data centers and how data centers are coming, they exist. We all use AI and so how is it that we can make them more sustainable right here in central Kentucky," Sohner said.
The event also focused on regional challenges like stormwater management.
"We have a panel on resiliency, how stormwater and excess flooding can be solved in a variety of innovative and new interesting ways," Sohner said.
The summit aims to bring together professionals who can implement lasting changes in the region to build a more sustainable future from the ground up.
"They do this for their job. They’re able to take off from their work to come and learn about this so it's filled with people who are decision makers and community leaders," Sohner said.
