From president Ron Bowen ...

I recently had the pleasure of listening to Paul Hawkin speak on the topic of energy.  As you may know, he has spent much of his life developing ecologically sustainable businesses and exploring the concept of sustainability in general. He gave a great presentation that was thought provoking, realistic and challenging.  It is clear that there is much to do. 
 
His vision of the future is one that will include a much reduced supply of "easy" energy such as oil, coal and gas.  Renewables will become more important and we will need to be more efficient and conservative with what we have. Of course this is basically old news - we have all heard it before, but energy is a big story in the history of humanity and it will continue to have a huge impact on everyone as we move ahead.
 
At PRI we know that ecological restorations will be a significant part of the energy future.  After all, in a most basic analysis they provide the most efficient means of capturing and storing the energy from the sun.  That's what plants do and over the millennia they have gotten exceptionally good at it.  We intuitively know this but are only now learning how truly efficient diverse plant communities can be at providing an annual crop of biomass energy.  At PRI we believe that as stored fossil fuels diminish and we become more reliant on renewables these crops will become an important part of our energy future.
 
Paul Hawkin is clearly concerned about the future.  In fact, he admits that it is hard to be optimistic.  But, he also says that we must always move forward to confront challenges and find solutions.  I believe that is what you do when you plant a prairie, restore a wetland or sustainably manage your woodland.  You become a contributor to a small part of the solution and are not so much a part of the problem.  Thank you for that effort in whatever form it has taken.

Sincerely,

Ron Bowen
President

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