Covering topics from Biosphere 2 and backyard gardens to pioneering pursuits and sustainable practices, the Dallas County Community College District sixth annual Sustainability Summit will be held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 15, at Cedar Valley College, in Lancaster. Keynote Dr. Mark Nelson will speak at 8:45 a.m. to discuss Ecotechnics and Biospherics: Innovative Approaches to Living Sustainably.

Participants can attend breakout sessions during the day covering four areas of interest: healthy living, environmental integrity, economic vitality and social responsibility and justice. Organizers have added synergy sessions throughout the day that will give attendees a chance to spend a longer period of time in broader discussions on a variety of other topics that include healthy, local and organic gardening; clean energy; movement building; sustaining policy; sustainability at home; and more.

Nelson is chairman and CEO of the Institute of Ecotechnics, a nonprofit research group working to bring ecology and technology into balance. During the 1990s, he was a member of the first team of “biospherans” participating in a two-year experiment in Biosphere 2, the largest closed ecological system facility in Arizona. It served as a laboratory for studying global ecology and was an early prototype for long-term space habitation.

Admission is free. Location: 3030 N. Dallas Ave., Lancaster. Register at dcccd.edu/sustainabilitysummit.