As he usually does, Paul Hawken captivated another packed house this past Thursday at the Sustainable Industries Economic Forum held at the beautiful Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle. Most that we talked to afterward agreed that it was one of the best events we had been to in recent memory.
Paul Hawken is an expert at knowing and speaking to his audiences, and was spot on with his long and detailed speech geared towards an advanced group of sustainability professionals – who came out in force to hear his latest take on developments in social and environmental progress.
He started with a detailed description of his time in Greenland, observing scientists from around the world who are there taking and studying ice samples. He touched on the dynamics of “long” energy (i.e. oil), “slow” energy, and “fast” energy (food, rain) & their interrelated dynamics.
One conclusion was that we have probably no more than 15 years left of oil as we know it, carbon-related prices are going to start spiking in the not so distant future and $5-$10 per gallon gas in the U.S. is coming with certainty – based on his study of commodity reports from the past few years. It’s really a supply issue & the new oil fields are just taking too long and costing too much to keep up with global demand.
Finally, he suggested that we need to take the USGBC example and start similar organization for all major industries – how about a U.S. Green Telecom Council? Watch for it soon…
Closing out the AM session was an amazing panel that had the audience really fired up, adding a whole different and local dimension which backed up much of what Paul had said earlier. The panel included Ash Awad, Vice President – Energy and Facility Services at McKinstry; Jill Bamburg, Dean Emeritus, Bainbridge Graduate Institute; Bruce Herbert, CEO of Newground Social Investment; and Kelly Ogilvie, Founder, President and CEO of Blue Marble Energy.
Congratulations to the Sustainable Industries team for putting on a top notch and amazing event – looking forward to San Francisco in November!
Sustainable in Seattle,
Gina Diamond
Posted in: Events
