Bill Clinton, Ted Turner, and How Communities Can Become Sustainable

Entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner will appear at the National Energy Summit & International Dialogue this September. He’ll be speaking at a leadership dialogue called "Enabling Technology Cooperation and Deployment to Achieve Energy Security, Sustainability and Competitiveness" moderated by Timothy E. Wirth, President of the United Nations Foundation. In addition to his pioneering work in telecommunications—also known as creating CNN and thus changing irrevocably the cable landscape—Turner started the Turner Foundation Inc., which is dedicated to supporting the development of a sustainable energy future. The foundation works to promote sustainable choices on a personal and community level, reinforcing the idea that climate change is something the world needs to come together on.

Former President Bill Clinton is also focusing on making sustainability a community-driven enterprise. He spoke to college administrators last week and made the case for energy renovations on campus, noting that the work to make lecture halls and dorms sustainable would also create new jobs.

"For all the good we’re doing, we’re just piddling compared to what we ought to be doing and compared to what we could be doing. Think about it: 6.7 million jobs lost. And all this work out there is laying on the ground, begging to be done with an absolute certain high return. I am anxious to speed this up. For all the good you’re doing, we should be doing three, four, five, 10 times what we’re doing as a country."

As I wrote earlier this month, college students themselves are anxious to get degrees in subjects that will help them run sustainable businesses. From environmental studies programs combined with MBAs to architecture students studying green design, young people are learning how to operate in a sustainable world. As Clinton said, the institutions need to catch up.

— Matthew Faraci

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