Greenbuild Announces 2008 Keynote Speaker

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has announced that Archbishop Desmond Tutu will be the opening keynote speaker for the USGBC’s annual Greenbuild Conference & Expo, which will be Nov. 17-19, 2008, in Boston.

Bishop Tutu, a Nobel Peace Laureate, lead efforts for social justice and racial conciliation in South Africa as then general secretary of the South African Council of Churches. Today he is recognized worldwide for his efforts to end poverty and human rights abuses, according to Greenbuild’s organizers.

“Bishop Tutu’s life, work and message, demonstrate the power of transformational change,” says Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chairman of the USGBC. “Bishop Tutu’s role in ending apartheid in South Africa and bringing reconciliation to its people will inspire us toward the transformation of our buildings to a sustainable future and will give us an extraordinary example of social justice in action.”

Tutu’s accomplishments include receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984; the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism; and the Magubela prize for liberty in 1986. His is committed to stopping global AIDS and has served as the honorary chairman for the Global AIDS Alliance. In February 2007, he was awarded the Gandhi Peace Prize by Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam, president of India.

More information is available at www.greenbuildexpo.org.