We’re especially pleased to have hosted Joel Makower as our keynote speaker. Joel spoke eloquently about the green economy and the myriad challenges that still face us. But he sounded a very positive note when he offered the opinion that we are living at a transformative moment – when we get to re-think and essentially redesign our economy.
Makower believes that we’re making significant progress – that major companies are truly seeing the environment not so much as a problem, but more of an exciting opportunity. He cited numerous examples of innovation and dramatically different thinking at large and small businesses and at governments at all levels.
But he also sounded an alarm with his belief that we, as a planet, have essentially 5,000 days – a little more than 13 years – to “figure it out”.
You can hear an edited fifteen-minute version of Mr. Makower’s speech here:
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Delta’s Director, Donna Ducharme, also spoke to the crowd, offering a kind of “State of The Institute Address”, in which she said that Delta’s state was “terrific”. Happily, after years of working on the transformation to the Green Economy with limited public policy support, the current political environment in Washington and Springfield now align well with Delta’s strategic goals.
In summary, those goals call for:
Reducing carbon emissions by 12 million tons
Achieving green ratings for 100 new buildings
Generating a quarter of a billion dollars in investments for pollution prevention, remediation and re-use
Creating fifty sustainable models for community economic development
Making green choices mainstream
Donna then announced the launch of the Green Business Development Center, which is opening later this year at the Green Exchange. Donna also announced the 2009 Partner in Change Awardee was Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP, which Delta Board member Jeff Fort accepted.
