"Dialogue for Development: Investing in Sustainable Communities" is the unifying theme of the two-day Earth Day Symposium, to be held at the Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Blvd. The University is co-sponsoring the symposium as part of a collaboration that involves 39 organizations, government entities and companies.

The program's goal is to provide the St. Louis community with new tools and strategies to enable profitable development, a clean environment and the long-term livability of healthy, dynamic communities.

The University-led program on sustainable rivers will be held from 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. April 22 and will feature Pratim Biswas, Ph.D., director of the Environmental Engineering Science Program in the School of Engineering & Applied Science and the Stifel and Quinette Jens Professor of Environmental Engineering Science; Charles Buescher, professor of environmental engineering; Robert Criss, Ph.D., professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences; and William Lowry, Ph.D., professor of political science in Arts & Sciences.

The forum will provide a history of rivers in the St. Louis region and their various uses in transportation, agriculture, power production, recreation and public water supply.

Although the sustainable-rivers colloquium is being offered to the public as part of the St. Louis Earth Day celebration, it will also mark the final event in the University's yearlong Environmental Initiative, a series of educational programs exploring the role that research universities can play in addressing issues related to the environment.

Other highlights of the two-day program will include more than 20 presentations by local, national and international experts, participation by local government representatives, interdisciplinary workshops, technical seminars, a green building expo and a post-conference barge trip on the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.

Other topics to be addressed in educational tracks include community design and water quality, green buildings, transportation, and economics and policy of sustainable development.

The public is welcome to attend, but registration fees will be charged; fees range from $25 for a policy seminar to $75 for a daylong symposium event. The fee for the University-led forum April 22 is $75.

For more information, go online to www.stlouisearthday.org; call 962-5838; or e-mail karla@stlouisearthday.org.