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Internationally Esteemed Environmental Consultant Hunter Lovins

November 21, 2007

San Diego, CA - On Tuesday, November 13, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) San Diego/Tijuana District Council held its annual Trends Conference to discuss the "dollars, sense and leadership of sustainability."

Author and sustainable development promoter Hunter Lovins headlined the conference, regaling the audience with stories about working alongside President Bill Clinton and the Prince of Whales, and for the country of Afghanistan and major international corporations to advance sustainable development and sustainable living.

Lovins, president of Natural Capital Solutions, who was named Hero of the Planet in 2000 by Time Magazine, told the audience that San Diego, along with New Orleans, is ground zero for the climate change crisis.

"Science doesn't matter," she said. "The earth doesn't care what you believe. Two thirds of the earth's ecosystems are polluted, and our ability to sustain future generations can't be taken for granted."

Lovins revealed that many of the major corporations that hired her to help them do the right thing were happily surprised that going green was also profitable.

"DuPont committed to decreasing their emissions by 65 percent from 1990 to 2010," she said. "So far, they have done very well, and so have their shareholders."

Lovins said the tipping point for the green movement was embodied in "the republican governator from California," and praised him for helping to organize the western states to declare a commitment to reducing greenhouse gasses. New England, she says, has done the same, and she forecast a "national climate change regime" within a year.

Additionally, she pointed out that 720 mayors have joined Seattle Mayor Greg Nichols in his call that U.S. cities sign onto the Kyoto Protocol. Many of those cities have instituted green building requirements.

"A zero to two percent building premium for a green building will produce a lifecycle savings of 20 percent," she said.

"Green buildings reduce vulnerability for any company," she said. "They can have light even during a blackout."

Alternative energy production and use is essential to future profitability, said Lovins.

"The Hubberts Curve theory says that oil is finite, and when we extract half of the source, the production curve falls as fast as it went up," she said. "The book "Twilight in the Desert" says we hit oil peak in 2005."

Lovins said future necessity will produce more "green collar jobs," with the potential for the current eight and a half million green collar jobs in the United States to grow to 40 million in 2030.

Additional indicators of the growing green trend, says Lovins, include the Harvard Business Review declaring that non green buildings will become obsolete, the Dow Jones sustainability index outperforming its competitors and the first lawsuit addressing carbon footprints being filed.

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