As the world becomes smaller and the notion of global villages becomes more familiar to all, the goal of creating and sustaining communities that include and support all, throughout the lifespan, is a laudable one. As professionals learn about innovative endeavors around the world, there are increasing opportunities for creating best practices in planning, policies, and programs. However, there continues to be opposition to such goals, and to respond to these questions, criticisms and fears, we must both be open to hearing those and be willing to work with others who have different perspectives in order to truly be inclusive. Calling all to focus on fundamental human values and realities such as interdependence, dignity, choice and autonomy, we must strive to work collaboratively to meet our common aims. Thus, optimism on many intellectual and practical levels needs to be the driver of our work, which is long-term, complicated and yet, ultimately rewarding.

 Symposium 1
 Systems Sciences in a Global Context: Environmental Factors for an
 Inclusive Community
 Chair: Tokie Anme, PhD
 Panel members:
          Duncan Boldy, PhD, Holger Stolarz, Mary McCall, PhD

     This would be people sharing examples from their countries on different aspects of Environmental Systems Sciences – could be policies, programs, building changes, environmental issues, etc. With lots of time for Q&A at the end, so each speaker would be 15-20 minutes, and then discussion.

 Symposium 2
 Systems Sciences Across the Lifespan:
                               Caregiving and Support Services
 Chair: Mary McCall
 Panel members:
           Els-Marie Anbacken,PhD, Kencho Matuura, PhD,
           Amaraa Amarsanaa Gan-Yadam, MA

      This session addresses issues facing nations in the area of care-giving – the challenges of who will do caring in the 21st century, how will care-giving be paid for and by whom, and how will caregivers be appropriately supported through policies and programs specifically designed to meet their needs.