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WVPE is your gateway to green and sustainable resources in Michiana. Sustainability is meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This is accomplished by finding a balance between businesses, the environment, and our society (people, planet, and profit).State, National and International resources on sustainability include:The Environmental Protection AgencyThe Natural StepSustainability Dictionary45 Sustainability Resources You Need to Know Explore ways to support sustainability in the Michiana area through the Green Links Directory.Sept. 17, 2019 from 2-3:30pm"Global Warming: A Hot Topic"Sept. 17, 19, 24, and 26All sessions are from 2-3:30pmGreencroft Goshen Community Center in the Jennings Auditorium1820 Greencroft Blvd.Goshen, IN 46526The event will look at possible solutions and suffering as well as consequences beyond warmer weather. The event will examine what other civilizations have or haven’t done when faced with environmental problems. Plus there will be an exploration of the biggest unknown in the climate system: What will the humans do? Paul Meyer Reimer teaches physics, math and climate change at Goshen College. The events are presented by the Lifelong Learning Institute. The Institute can be reached at: (574) 536-8244lifelonglearning@live.comhttp://life-learn.org/

Engineers Can Help Save The Earth

As the CEO of BP, Lord John Browne acknowledged the connection between the fossil fuel industry and climate change for the first time. .
© 2018 David Levenson
As the CEO of BP, Lord John Browne acknowledged the connection between the fossil fuel industry and climate change for the first time. .

More than two decades ago, the CEO of BP, one of the biggest oil and gas companies in the world – gave a speech to the 1997 graduating class at Stanford University.

In the speech, John Browne acknowledged for the first time the link between the fossil fuel industry and global warming.

Afterward, the American Petroleum Institute declared that Browne had “left the church.”

The speech won him – and BP – accolades from environmentalists and activists that lasted up until 2010, when the Deepwater Horizon disaster became the largest maritime oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry.

But by that time, Lord Browne (he was knighted in 1998 and elevated to the House of Lords in 2001) had already left the company – and not by choice.

In 2007, he was outed as a gay man by the British tabloids. He resigned from his position at BP, and from a non-executive directorship at Goldman Sachs.

From a 2014 New York Times profile of Browne:

For Mr. Browne, the higher he rose in BP, “the more dangerous it would be to come out,” he writes, “because my ascent was accompanied by a rapidly expanding public profile.” He worried that any disclosure would damage his ability to negotiate with openly homophobic business and political leaders, including Vladimir Putin of Russia.

In 2015, he returned to the global oil business as executive chairman of L1 Energy.

In his latest book, he argues that engineers will save humanity from threats like disease, artificial intelligence and climate change.

We talk with him about his career and his latest book.

Produced by Paige Osburn.

GUESTS

Lord John Browne, Former CEO of BP, 1995-2007; current chairman of the Crick Institute; author, “Make, Think, Imagine: Engineering the Future of Civilization”; @LordJohnBrowne

For more, visit https://the1a.org.

© 2019 WAMU 88.5 – American University Radio.

Copyright 2019 WAMU 88.5