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February 7, 2007
Ted Turner and Timothy Wirth brought the debate on alternative energy to Houston. The pair spoke before an 800-person luncheon hosted by the World Affairs Council and the United Nations Foundation. The program was sponsored by Marathon Oil Company, BP America, as well as many other Houston companies and organizations. The largely corporate audience included Houston legends such as George Mitchell and former Texas governor Mark White.
In a conversation moderated by Matt Simmons of Simmons & Company International, Turner and Wirth discussed the growing need to transition to clean energy. Houston is the acknowledged capital of the fossil fuels energy industry and is taking steps to become the alternative energy capital too. Several hundred Houston companies are dedicated to sustainable energy, as the audience learned at the program.
Turner and Wirth also met a group of executives from Houston's major energy companies in an off-the-record session. Industry concerns and ideas were shared in what Wirth described as "really promising."
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After the luncheon, a group of high school students were given the chance to meet face to face with Turner in the Council series called Conversations with History. They asked questions about Turner's career in media, his ideas about clean energy, and what this means for Texas.
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The Council would like to thank the Alternative Energy & Houston sponsors.
Marathon Oil Company
BP America
Bracewell & Giuliani LLP
Ecology & Environment
El Paso
Fulbright & Jaworski LLP
Turner & Townsend
Wiess Energy Hall, Houston Museum of Natural Science
Anheuser Busch
Direct Energy
Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Horizon Wind Energy
Port of Houston Authority
Shell
Texas Solar Power Company
Deutche Bank
Simmons & Company
Ted Turner is the chairman of Turner Enterprises, Inc., and former vice chairman of Time Warner Inc., a leading media company. He is the founder of CNN, environmentalist, and philanthropist. Turner created the UN Foundation 1998 with his historic billion dollar gift in support of the United Nations. He has said that his gift is an "investment in the future of humanity."
Timothy E. Wirth is the president, of the United Nations Foundation and the Better World Fund. Wirth was chosen by Turner to run the UN Foundation because of his extensive experience with international issues, particularly the environment. Wirth spent more than 20 years in the United States Congress, representing Colorado both in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Matt Simmons is the chairman of Simmons and Company International, an energy investment bank. Simmons’ recently published book Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy has been listed on the Wall Street Journal’s best-seller list. He has written for industry journals and speaks at government forums, energy symposia and board rooms of energy companies around the world.
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