It isn’t often that I feel blown away (if not woefully inadequate) when scheduled to appear as one of a list of speakers. Yet that’s exactly how I felt waiting in the wings during the opening plenary session at Greenbuild 2016, as one by one, each speaker before me wove his web of sustainable possibility.
Up first was Eric Garcetti, the honorable mayor of our host city, followed by California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom. Both speakers delivered compelling messages of environmental vision, hope and promise, while speaking directly to the wants and needs of a crowd of advocates and believers that, by its very nature, demanded more than simple lip service. And boy, did they deliver.
Mayor Garcetti’s address was more of a traditional welcome, but it hardly lacked for specific takeaways, as the mayor detailed the extent to which his Los Angeles continues to reinvent and retrofit itself into one of this country’s most progressive and environmentally responsible urban areas.
Lt. Gov. Newsom was as on-point as I’ve ever seen him. He made a compelling case for the greening of his state from a jobs/business development perspective. Newsom explained how under Gov. Brown, California has managed to turn the economic growth vs. sustainability debate from an “or” proposition to an “and” one. We’ve proven a state can have an economy that fosters economic growth and is environmentally responsible, Newsom told the rapt attendees.