It was such a great privilege and an honor to see Robert F Kennedy Jr. speaking Friday at Sacramento’s Greenwise Conference.
It soon became obvious why he was named one of Time Magazine’s “Top 100 most influential people of the year” in 2008. As well as Time Magazine’s “Heroes of Our Planet.”
His flight to Sacramento arrived late which forced Mayor Kevin Johnson to keep the audience entertained while stalling for Mr. Kennedy to arrive. But the wait definitely paid off. I don’t think I’ve ever been so inspired by any speaker in my life. His passion for the green movement and promoting green awareness is unparalleled. His ability to bring a clarity to the impact of the green movement was eye opening.
Mr. Kennedy’s standout quote-
“Good environmental policy is identical to good economic policy”
Pretty much sums it all up. The economic stability of this planet is directly related to environmental consciousness. 63% of US voters polled said they think the green movement will have a significant impact on our future.
Countries like China are investing billions of dollars into green spending not because they think it’s a good cause but because, as they say it “We have no choice.” They’ve put 600 million new cars on the road in the last year alone. They knew how much of an impact this would have on the environment. China has allocated 454 billion dollars toward green spending by the year 2015.
If we had put more emphasis on diminishing our dependence on foreign oil we would never have gone to war in Iraq and Afghanistan wasting trillions of our tax dollars and, more importantly, tens of thousands of lives.
As Mr. Kennedy put it- We bow to the sheiks who hate us while we pay inflated prices for their oil and support their people who despise our culture.
Our economic stability is directly related to our ability to become energy independent.
Every nation that has de-carbonized its economy has experienced instantaneous economic prosperity. When Sweden shut its two biggest nuclear power plants and taxed carbon, tens of thousands of entrepreneurs emerged, Kennedy said. Sweden is now the sixth richest nation in the world by Gross Domestic Product, he said. Twenty years ago Brazil de-carbonized its transportation system and that country is experiencing a lengthy economic expansion, he said. Read more: Robert Kennedy Jr. pushes green future | Sacramento Business Journal
We need to align ourselves and take Green awareness to the next level.