AMORY LOVINS TO EXPLORE SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES AND GREEN BUILDINGS AT HERBST THEATRE IN SAN FRANCISCO

Lovins' Rocky Mountain Institute to Work with California Academy of Sciences to Develop Green Building for
New California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - As part of the California Academy of Sciences' 2003 series at the Herbst Theatre, co-founder and CEO of Rocky Mountain Institute Amory Lovins will appear in conversation with San Francisco Chronicle science writer, Keay Davidson on Wednesday, March 19th at 8 pm. Lovins and Davidson will explore the topic of sustainable communities, with specific attention paid to green buildings and the economic, social, and environmental benefits to the community in which theyare built.

The Academy has secured the consulting services of Rocky Mountain Institute to develop sustainable design and operational strategies for the rebuilding of its facility and exhibits in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Designed by Pritzker Prize winning architect Renzo Piano, the future Academy is designed to be an integral part of the community it serves and will blend with the natural environment of the park. The principles for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of a sustainable building are drawn from the Academy's mission to protect and understand the natural world. As one of ten pilot projects in San Francisco's "Green Building Program"of the Departmet of the Environment, the new Academy will incorporate a wide range of sustainable design concepts.

Amory Lovins is a world-renowned physicist, energy expert, speaker and co-author of Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution. In 1982, he co-founded Rocky Mountain Institute, an applied research center focusing on resource efficiency to make the world secure, prosperous and life-sustaining. Mr. Lovins, a Macarthur Fellow and consultant physicist, has advised and been active in energy, resource, environmental and security policy worldwide for 30 years, including work for the U.S. Department of Energy and Defense.
According to Newsweek magazine, Amory Lovins is "one of the Western World's most influential energy thinkers". Time magazine designated him a "Hero for the Planet" in 2000.

About the Academy
Since 1853, the California Academy of Sciences has been dedicated to exploring, explaining, and protecting the natural world. The Academy is the oldest scientific institution in the West, founded after the California gold rush to survey the vast resources of California and beyond. Today it has grown to be one of the largest natural history museums in the country, and is the only one in the nation to include both an aquarium and planetarium. The Academy of Sciences provides scientific knowledge and expertise to visiting scientists, educators, adults, students, parents, children, conservation organizations, government leaders, and the media.

The Academy has a research staff of 30 Ph.D.-level scientists - supported by more than 100 Research and Field Associates and over 300 Fellows - who launch dozens of expeditions each year to explore the natural world and discover more about our planet. It has eight scientific research departments in the fields of anthropology, aquatic biology, botany, entomology, geology, herpetology, ichthyology, invertebrate zoology, mammalogy and ornithology. Its research collections, which are among the worlds largest, are of international renown and include more than 16 million examples of plants, animals, fossils and artifacts essential tools for comparative studies on the history and future of the natural world.

Tickets for the lecture are $18 each. To purchase tickets contact City Box Office, 180 Redwood, Suite 100, San Francisco, CA 94102 or, call (415) 392-4400.