More than 80 environmental leaders and advocates from a variety of local organizations and agencies will take a first step toward realizing a sustainable future for the Lake Tahoe Basin with a daylong summit at Sand Harbor Sept. 16. The summit will focus on planning a World Sustainability Expo at the Lake in 2011.

Guest speakers include: Charles Goldman, Sierra Nevada College President Richard Rubsamen, David Hansen of the Embassy Suites hotel in South Lake Tahoe, Mark Twain impersonator McAvoy Layne and Steven James, a Washoe elder presenting a Washoe prayer.

By arriving to the congress by water ferry, kayak, bus, bike, and electric cars, the action of the group, known as the Tahoe Sustainability Congress, will be to help realize the recently completed Tahoe Prosperity Plan, which seeks to position Lake Tahoe as a leader in geotourism, green technology and health.

Congress participants will brainstorm on how activities that motivate acts of conservation can become the cornerstone of Tahoe’s new economy and prosperity.

In the next 11 months, workshops like these will seek to evolve a geotourism menu in concert with green innovation from around the globe ready to showcase at a basin-wide 2011 Lake Tahoe Sustainability Expo.

This economic vitalization progression is being hosted by a Sustainable Tahoe, a nonprofit looking to promote positive collaboration among existing organizations, agencies and commerce, to make the Prosperity Plan a reality.

For a list of participating organizations and information on this Congress and Sustainable Tahoe, click here.

For more information, call (775) 883.0831.