The Greenbuild International Conference & Expo received an energy boost yesterday from keynote Al Gore. The Nobel laureate and former Vice President urged the crowd at Phoenix’s Chase Field to take responsibility for expanding green building globally.
Gore linked the economic crisis to the climate crisis. He said that a shift to domestically produced renewable energy would create more jobs through building windmills, solar power, green construction, and retrofits on existing buildings. Among Gore’s other points were a criticism of "greenwashing" corporations and a plea for the designers and architects in the audience to do their part to help initiate change.
"We’re in a time now where we’ve got to make some big changes," said Gore. "The green movement is growing leaps and bounds across the U.S. and the world—the green movement is not only good for the environment, but for the economy and national security."
The former Vice President was introduced by U.S. Green Building Council Chairman and CEO Rick Fedrizzi who spotlighted the positive green building efforts across the world. He also emphasized how large and diverse the crowd was with 75 countries represented, and 28,000 in attendance.
Gore discussed and read excerpts from his new book on the environment, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, including imaginary letters to people in the future about what changes were made now to create a healthy and sustainable society in the years ahead.
"We’ve got to decide to seize control of our own destiny," Gore said, closing with the line, "I know that we’re going to solve this, because in the United States, political will is a renewable resource."