The Green Prophet

"How do I feel being called a green prophet?" asks John Picard. "I feel good now. For a long time I wasn't comfortable. I hadn't lived long enough in the space to sense the amount of change that's happening in the direction. So I feel better and better every day because I see more and more being influenced in this space. I want to be more than a prophet. I want to be a change agent."

Picard began his professional career as an architect building expensive homes for people who, as he puts it, "had way more money than sense." After a life-changing ride in a private jet, Picard set out to use his talents to help others envision and implement sustainable business solutions.

Picard's insights and practical energy solutions were instrumental in the Greening of the White House in 1993. This led to the creation of the U.S. Green Building Council USGBC), now one of the world's most influential and fastest-growing nonprofit organizations.

"If there's one person you want at your side when navigating the ever-shifting issues of energy, technology and sustainability, it's John Picard," says Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chairman of USGBC. "He's one of the rare individuals that can comprehend possibility and then link it to specific, actionable activities, something CEOs like me value beyond measure."

"The next economy is a natural systems economy," predicts Picard. "Nature. Biomimetic engineering. We have all the guidelines. It's right under our nose. You're going to see the world shift from architecture to a state of engineering that's based in natural systems. I see it happening in major proportions in the next 10-to-20 years."

The Green Prophet is the first in a series of six thought-provoking special edition Design Insights videos titled Into the future.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Green
• John Picard
• Design Insights