Warren Wilson to host Mountain Green Sustainability Conference: Event packed with speakers and events focusing on homeowners, businesses, going green; special guest the Carbon Free Girl

 Photo by Phil Cavali

Press release. This sounds like a great event coming up:

Registrations are still available for the 2009 MOUNTAIN GREEN SUSTAINABILITY CONFERENCE, to be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on June 24 at Warren Wilson College, just east of Asheville. The third annual event features presentations, discussions and tours on sustainability and going green, targeting homeowners, business and industry. Following the conference is a free evening program with environmentalist and NASCAR driver, Leilani Münter, also known as “Carbon Free Girl.”

Conference-goers will choose from among more than 40 presentations during the day, including those related to green architecture, landscaping and interior design, and the economics and financing of going green. There will also be segments of particular interest to professionals in tourism, development, real estate and manufacturing. Speakers include an array of local and regional experts, plus the following nationally recognized professionals:

Beth Sinnott, director of business development for Quaintance-Weaver Restaurants & Hotels, which built and operates the Proximity Hotel and Print Works Bistro in Greensboro, the first in the hospitality industry to be awarded LEED Platinum certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED is the USGBC’s rating system for designing and constructing the world’s greenest, most energy efficient and high performing buildings; platinum is the highest level of certification.

Simon B. Rich, CEO of Fuqua Rich Weeks LLC, a private equity partnership focused in the energy sector, speaking on “A Sustainable Future.” An article was published recently about Rich in the Triangle Business Journal (April 14, 2009) regarding a technique his company developed to convert garbage into a fuel to offset a power plant’s use of coal.

Robyn Griggs Lawrence, editor-in-chief of Natural Home, a magazine focused on sustainable home design and materials, earth friendly décor and natural lifestyles. She will present two sessions: one on sustainable purchasing principles and the other on green interior design options.

The evening program, free and open to the public with limited seating at Warren Wilson Chapel, begins at 6 p.m. with music by the blues band, Skinny Legs and All. From 7 – 8:30 p.m., Leilani Münter will speak about her mission to encourage professional racecar driving and its fans – the number one spectator sport in the country – to go green. With a B.S. degree in Biology specializing in Ecology, Behavior and Evolution from the University of California San Diego, Münter’s racing accomplishments have landed her on the pages of USA Today, Glamour, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Men's Journal, the Washington Post, Esquire and Sports Illustrated, as well as on ESPN and National Public Radio. 

Comments

[LOS Insider]

I don't know if I would go as far as to say she is a NASCAR driver. She drives ARCA, which is 4th tier racing behind Cup, Nationwide series (former Busch) and Truck. She also drives open wheel in the Indy light series.

[kpcommunications]

Thank you, Ash, for helping to publicize this event, which promises to have something of interest to everyone.

May I request that you correct your headline...she's actuall "Carbon FREE Girl," not "Carbon Girl."

Thanks as always! ~kp

[Asheville Dweller]

More green non-sense, Laddy-friggin-dah, buy up that Snake Oil People, buy it all up. Global warming is such a joke.

[Ash]

kp, sorry about that! correction made.

[Jeff]

He he. As nice as it is to have someone from the car racing industry attending a "green"/"sustainability" conference, I don't think that's much of a draw. She's a hotty and all, but the environmentalists I know and love, aren't much into NASCAR. I think they'd do better to feature a person who's a little closer to their core audience and interests.

Having said that, I will follow the link and calculate my interest to affordability ratio. Hippy chicks are hotter than NASCAR chicks.