PEORIA -- Forget the GNP -- gross national product. It's meaningless. Replace it with the GHP, gross happiness product, author Hunter Lovins told a mostly student audience at Bradley University on April 16.
Lovins is a dynamic speaker who knows the value of show biz to get her message across.
Wearing her iconic black cowboy hat, she comes across as a wild west cowgirl, and someone you might expect to be an apologist for individualistic, corporate policies that are destroying our planet.
But with a sweet smile, a bit of humor, a strong voice, and a flawless powerpoint show with the frightening statistics on global warming, Lovins charmed her audience by telling them that we all must change now, and that corporations and institutions must lead the way.
She called on Bradley University to divest its endowment of companies that are not pursuing sustainable environmental policies. Many other universities have already done it, she said, and students and parents are watching and selecting those institutions.
The student audience, likely conservative, looked a little shocked, but no one argued with her.
Lovins’ presentation, titled “The Business Case for
Implementing Genuine Sustainability,” free and open to the
public, was the inaugural event in the Bradley Graduate
Student Advisory Committee Speaker Series.
Lovins is the founder and President of Natural
Capitalism Solutions, a non-profit organization in
Longmont, Colorado. A renowned author and champion of
sustainable development for more than 30 years, Hunter has
managed international non-profits and corporations. Chief
Insurgent for the madrone projectand a faculty member at Bainbridge Graduate
Institute, and Bard College, she has taught at major
universities, consulted for citizens’ groups, governments and
companies. In great demand as an inspirational speaker and
effective consultant, she has addressed the World Economic
Forum, the U.S. Congress, the World Summit on Sustainable
Development, and hundreds of major conferences. She was named
millennium Hero for the Planet by Time magazine and “the green
business icon” by Newsweek. She is the author of numerous books
including “Natural Capitalism” and “Climate Capitalism.”
She's been a consultant for Walmart, fossil fuel companies and others who may not have wanted to hear her message but apparently listened. Is she their token environmentalist? Maybe, but she said Walmart is working hard on sustainable solutions to its business, which includes revamping its transportation network to hybrid fuel trucks.
"Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is the most important thing we can do," she said. "Global warming is real," she added, pointing to extreme weather, rising oceans and global temperatures, diminished food supplies causing food riots and starvation, along with high unemployment.
The USA as a rich nation likely can buy its way out of the worst of the global crisis for this generation, she said, but may not be able to do that for future generations,.
"Water will be the petroleum of the next decade," she said.
Fracking is extremely dangerout because it pollutes groundwater, which then cannot be cleaned up. It must be stopped. "The oil and gas companies will outbid the farmers for water."
She added, "water flows uphill toward money."
Natural gas should be used to transition to sustainable energy technology.
She called on corporations to seek efficiencies with sustainable policies, from turning off computers at night to larger systems. Renewable energy technology exists today that could power the planet, and it's being adopted in Europe, she said. "The green economy will produce jobs."
The millenial generation "wants a green future," and those organizations that provide it will prosper, she said. "Companies that are sustainability leaders will outperform their competition."
She called on Bradley and other colleges to rethink the teaching of science so its exciting, not dull.
"What is the economy for?" she asked. "What do people want?" Many studies show people want happiness, she said. "The utopian vision of the future (is not) business as usual, which isn't working."
The GDP has gone up, but happiness has not, she said.
Unsustainability will cause collapse, and is already causing it, she said.
She closed by calling on Bradley to stop constructing buildings and put its money into quality education. Students must demand it, she said.
-- Elaine Hopkins