Each year the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado honors an individual who makes far reaching contributions in the field of sustainability, both in Colorado and across the globe.
2011 Hero of Sustainability
Our 2011 Hero of Sustainability is Mr. Denis Hayes. In 1970, Denis Hayes was National Coordinator of the first Earth Day, which is often credited with launching the modern environmental movement. An envi
ronmental lawyer by training, Denis headed the federal government’s Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI, now known as NREL, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory) during the Carter Administration, and was a founding co-chair of Ceres and the Ceres Principles. He is now President and CEO of the Bullitt Foundation, a $100-million Seattle-based environmental foundation. He is a board member of the Energy Foundation and serves on the boards of other environmental groups. Denis has been honored by the Sierra Club, the National Wildlife Federation, the American Solar Energy Society, the Humane Society of the United States, and the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility, and was selected by Time magazine as one of its “Heroes of the Planet.”
Our 2011 Heroes of Sustainability Awards and Fundraiser was held on September 8th at the Grand Hyatt in Downtown Denver. The event lured in over 260 attendees, including both Mayor Michael Hancock and Governor Bill Ritter; both of whom spoke. Shortly before Heroes the White House approached the Alliance to see if we were interested in serving as a hub for green building in Denver. At the Heroes event we approached Denver’s Mayor Hancock about the potential for Denver partnering the White House’s Better Building Initiative. He was enthusiastic about the potential of spotlighting for the Alliance, the Living City Block, Denver, and Colorado on the national ‘green building’ stage;
If you would like to connect with Denis on his current work, please visit the Bullitt Foundation’s website, and follow him on Facebook!
See a snipet from Denis’ key note address in the video below.
2010 Hero of Sustainability
Our 2010 Hero of Sustainability was Mr. Lester R. Brown. Lester is the founder and President of Earth Policy Institute, and has b
een described by the Washington Post as “one of the world’s most influential thinkers” and as “the guru of the global environmental movement” by The Telegraph of Calcutta. The author of numerous books, including Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization where he develops a vision for an environmentally sustainable economy, chapters, articles, etc., he helped pioneer the concept of environmentally sustainable development. His principal research areas include food, population, water, climate change, and renewable energy. In 1974, he founded Worldwatch Institute, of which he was President for its first 26 years. As President, he launched the World Watch Papers, the Worldwatch/Norton books, the annual State of the WorldWorld Watch, the annual Vital Signs, and the Institute’s News Briefs.
The 2010 Heroes of Sustainability Awards and Fundraiser was held on May 20th, 2011 at the Historic Oxford Hotel in Downtown Denver. Packing the house, the 180 event attendees heard from the likes of then Colorado Governor Bill Ritter and Dr. David Orr of Oberlin College.
To keep up to date on Lester Brown’s current projects, please visit the Earth Policy Institute website, follow him on Facebook and Twitter, and make sure to get a copy of his new book World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse, published in 2011.
