'Mr. Earth Day' to Speak on Energy, Economics and Climate Change

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Denis Hayes, a leading environmental activist, solar-energy expert and organizer of the first Earth Day, is bringing to the University at Buffalo his message about how alternative energy, especially solar power, if aggressively harnessed, can combat some of the dangers of climate change.

Hayes, also known as "Mr. Earth Day" and one of Time magazine's "Heroes of the Planet," will give a talk entitled "Here Comes the Sun: The Solar Solution to Global Climate Change" at UB at 7:30 p.m. April 10 in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall on the UB North (Amherst) Campus. The talk will be free and open to the public.

Sponsored by UB Green, the environmental office of University Facilities, the talk will be preceded by a Renewable Energy Fair for the public in the lobby of Slee Hall beginning at 6:30 p.m. featuring vendor exhibits of renewable energy products and services.

Hayes also will address a luncheon at noon April 10 in The Church, Tupper and Delaware avenues. His topic will be "Greening Buffalo: Addressing Climate Change While Revitalizing Our Economy."

Marsha S. Henderson, UB vice president for external affairs, and Richard M. Tobe, commissioner of economic development for the City of Buffalo, representing Mayor Byron Brown, will welcome guests to the public luncheon. Tickets at $15 may be purchased by contacting the UB Green Office at 716-829-3535 or ubgreen@facilities.buffalo.edu. Reservations must be made by April 3.

Hayes' visit to UB and Western New York is a major event during a semester in which the university is celebrating its longstanding leadership among American colleges and universities in reducing energy consumption through extensive and innovative conservation measures, research and teaching and in promoting alternative energy sources under the theme "A Greener Shade of Blue" http://www.buffalo.edu/greener_ub.

At his evening talk at UB, Hayes will focus on recent breakthroughs in the solar-energy and renewable-nergy fields, which, he says, finally are getting the attention they deserve, primarily because of the powerful evidence of climate change.

"With the intense focus on global warming, the inhabitants of the planet are finally beginning to think of themselves as having a shared stake in the Earth's future," says Hayes.

Unfortunately, he says, that realization is coming rather late for the U.S., which squandered a leading role in alternative energy some 20 years ago.

"Although we were the global leaders in every renewable energy technology in the late 1970s, we foolishly abandoned that leadership position in 1981," he says. "Today, despite our great wealth, superb scientific base and entrepreneurial culture, we are not the global leader in any renewable energy technology."

Still, he says, all across America, individual communities are responding to the challenge.

"While Buffalo does not have the rich solar resource of, say, Phoenix, it certainly has sufficient sunlight to make it an attractive option for some of its power," he says. "Buffalo's early investments in wind and ethanol represent an intelligent place to start and its much smaller solar photovoltaic installations will provide operating experience that will be helpful as prices fall and solar energy becomes attractive for a wider variety of applications, even in Buffalo."

Hayes is the president of the Bullitt Foundation, a $100-million charitable foundation located in Seattle and dedicated to protecting the natural environment of the Pacific Northwest. He was national coordinator of the first Earth Day in 1970 and is credited with expanding Earth Day to more than 180 nations. He also directed the National Renewable Energy Laboratory during the Carter Administration.

For his environmental work, he has received the highest awards from the Sierra Club, the Humane Society of the United States, the National Wildlife Federation, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the American Solar Energy Society.

Sponsors for the April 10 luncheon event include at the platinum level, HSBC Bank, U.SA; the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority -- Western New York Energy Smart Communities and Steel Winds, LLC; at the gold level, AIA Buffalo/Western New York Chapter; Cannon Design; EarthKind Energy; Ecology & Environment; Knoer, Crawford & Bender, LLP; RiverWright Energy; Tucker Printers; URS Corporation and Wendel Energy Services; and at the silver level, Buffalo Audobon Society; Buffalo Environmental Management Commission; Buffalo First; Buffalo Museum of Science; Center for Sustainable Communities and Civic Engagement and the Natural Sciences Department at Daemen College; Citizens Campaign for the Environment; Great Lakes United; League of Women Voters of Buffalo/Niagara; Northeast Sustainable Energy Association; Partners for a Livable WNY; New York Solar Energy Industries Association; Sierra Club Niagara Group; WNY Climate Action Coalition; WNY Sustainable Energy Association and the Wind Action Group. The event is being held in cooperation with Buffalo Place.