Thursday, November 12, 2009

Al Gore speaks at GREENBUILD

Big night at GREENBUILD– Al Gore spoke to the 28,000 attendees gathered at Chase Field (Diamond Back Stadium). He said never before has the U.S. had three crises coming at us simultaneously, namely economic, climate and security and they all have a common thread, i.e., dependency on carbon-based fuels. He was also quick to point out that we have all the tools and the people we need to solve 3 or 4 climate crises with the possible exception of political will. And he stressed “shared purpose” with other countries. He was preceded by eleven representatives from Green Building Councils in countries from Australia, to Italy, to Taiwan each giving a 60 second update on the state of resource saving steps being taken in their area. I was struck by the rep from London, England who said they have a mandate for zero carbon emissions in all new homes construction by 2016. He remarked that this short time frame has created an “unprecedented level of innovation” in the built environment.

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