Green Street Scene

General Session Opening

The Opening Session of the Green California Summit features Alec Loorz and Rachel Gutter as keynote speakers.

Alec Loorz, a high school sophomore at El Camino High School in Ventura, California, founded the non-profit organization, Kids-vs-Global-Warming when he was 12 years old. He is a filmmaker, a graphic designer and a community activist passionately resolved to awaken youth to action on the most pressing issue of their lifetimes – environmental sustainability. A powerful and inspirational speaker, Alec has addressed school children and college students, green builders and environmental activists, politicians and UN delegates, urging adult leaders to integrate the voices of youth into their climate change discussions and the youth, themselves, to raise their voices. He participated as an invited speaker at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

Rachel Gutter is Director of the Education Sector for the U.S. Green Building Council. She oversees USGBC's National Green Schools Campaign as well as the LEED for Schools Green Building Rating System. She initiated the green schools and higher education programs at USGBC, which now has expanded to a full complement of green building and curriculum specialists. She supports new and existing green school policies at the local, state and federal levels and works closely with members of the Green School Caucus on Capitol Hill. With more than 5,430 K-12 and higher education projects LEED certified, or in the pipeline, her program has clearly taken hold.