Former VP Gore to keynote USGBC’s Greenbuild Conference

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has announced that former Vice President Al Gore will be the opening keynote speaker for USGBC’s annual Greenbuild International Conference & Expo being held Nov. 11-13 in Phoenix, AZ.

“Al Gore’s impressive career and bipartisan outreach have helped elevate global climate change to the main street public consciousness,” said Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO & founding chair, USGBC. “The role buildings play in our lives, our health, the economy and the global environment — including being responsible for 39% of the carbon emitted in the United States — means the built environment is a tremendous opportunity for us to make real change, and Vice President Gore’s keynote address will be an inspiration to the Greenbuild community to make 2010 yet another banner year for green building innovation and growth.”

Gore’s keynote address will kick off the Nov. 11  ceremony at Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Gore is regarded for his pioneering role in environmental awareness, with his best-selling book and Academy Award-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. In 2007, he was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for his environmental activism. In 1992, Gore published Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit and instituted environmental policy and initiatives in the Clinton-Gore Administration to help safeguard the environment.  

Greenbuild 2009 will feature more than 100 educational sessions, LEED and Education Provider workshops, off-site educational sessions, a two-day Residential Summit, the World Green Building Council International Congress, and tours of local green building sites throughout the Arizona area. Exhibitors at more than 1,700 booths will showcase technologies and products in green design, construction and operations.


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