Hunter Lovins was voted by the members and visitors of Universe Spirit as our September Futurist Artist of the month.
L. Hunter Lovins, Esq., is the president and founder of Natural Capitalism and co- creator of the Natural Capitalism concept. In 1982 she co-founded the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI ) with Amory Lovins, and proceeded to lead that organization as its CEO for Strategy until 2002. Under her leadership, RMI grew into an internationally recognized research center, widely celebrated for its innovative thinking in energy and resource issues. By the time she left, the institute had grown to a staff of 50 people and a $7 million annual budget, half of it earned through programmatic enterprise.
In 2001, Hunter was named one of four people from North America to serve as a delegate to the United Nations Prep Conference for Europe and North America for the World Summit on Sustainable Development. She is also a Commissioner in the State of the World Forum's Commission on Globalization, co-chaired by Mikhail Gorbachev, Jane Goodall, Jose Ramos-Horta, Vandana Shiva, George Soros and others.
Lovins has co-authored nine books and dozens of papers, and was featured in the award-winning film, Lovins On the Soft Path. Her latest book, Natural Capitalism, co-authored with Amory Lovins and business author Paul Hawken, was released in September 1999. It has been translated into a dozen languages and was the subject of a Harvard Business Review summary. Recent articles by her have appeared in World Link, World Business Academy Review, American Prospect, and Los Angeles Times.
Trained as a lawyer (JD, Loyola University School of Law, Los Angeles), Lovins has managed international non-profits, created several corporations, and is in great demand as a speaker and consultant. Her areas of interest and expertise include Natural Capitalism, globalization, governance, land management, energy, water, green real-estate development, and community economic development. She has taught at dozens of universities, including an engagement as the Henry R. Luce Visiting Professor at Dartmouth College. She is currently Professor of Sustainability at Presidio World College in the first accredited MBA program in Sustainable Management.
Lovins has consulted for governments and the private sector, briefing senior management at such organizations as Interface, Inc., Bank of America, Allstate, Calvert Social Investment Fund, Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and numerous utility companies. Lovins' public-sector clients have included the U.S. Defense Civil Preparedness Agency, Environmental Protection Agency, the Bonneville Power Administration, the Solar Energy Research Institute, and the German Federal Environment Agency. She has addressed such audiences as the U.S. Congress, The World Economic Forum at Davos, the World's Fair Energy Symposia, the Industrial Designers Society's WorlDesign, the Epiphany service at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the State of the World Forum, Bioneers, the Global Economic Forum, the World Watch State of the World Conference and hundreds of conferences and college symposia. She has appeared on numerous television shows including "60 Minutes," "Good Morning America," Pat Robertson's "700 Club," "Merv Griffin," Bill Moyers' "NOW," and hundreds of news programs.
Lovins has shared a 1982 Mitchell Prize for an essay on reallocating utility capital, a 1983 Right Livelihood Award (often called the "alternative Nobel Prize"), a 1993 Nissan Award for an article on Hypercars, and the 1999 Lindbergh Award for Environment and Technology. She has received several honorary doctorates. In 2000 she was named a "Hero for the Planet" by Time Magazine, and received the Loyola University award for Outstanding Community Service. In 2001 she received the Leadership in Business Award and shared the Shingo Prize for Manufacturing Research.
In her spare time, Hunter serves on the local fire/rescue service in Eldorado Springs, Colorado as an Emergency Medical Technician. She is also President of Nighthawk Horse Company and is active training polocrosse horses, and competing at polocrosse and rodeo.
Lovins has served on the Boards of one government, three private corporations, and many public interest groups. She advises numerous companies and nonprofits, including GreenMountain.com. She was a founding director of RMI’s second for-profit spin-off, E source, until its 1999 sale for $18 million to the Financial Times group.
Other RMI web sites include:
- Winning the Oil Endgame
- National Energy Policy Initiative
- Small Is Profitable
- The Community Energy Opportunity Finder
For more information on Hunter Lovins work, visit www.naturalcapitalism.org and www.rmi.org