Energy in the 21st Century: Can Muir, Patton, and Gandhi Agree?

As we make the decisions about what direction our society should take regarding energy -- we have to keep in mind that we need for it to be increasingly clean, secure, and affordable. What threats and problems should be at the center of our concerns, and what are some of the approaches that can help us deal with all three needs?

Jim Woolsey will help us look at these issues from the perspective of three very different and remarkable individuals of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who embody the struggles to preserve our natural world, defend our freedom, and lift the fortunes of the world's poor. Could John Muir (1838 – 1914, the Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of U.S. wilderness), General George S. Patton, and Mahatma Gandhi agree today on an energy policy for the future?

Bio

R. JAMES WOOLSEY, Venture Partner, VantagePoint Venture Partners

Mr. Woolsey is also the Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University; a Senior Executive Advisor to Booz Allen Hamilton; Of Counsel to the law firm of Goodwin Procter; and chairman of the Strategic Advisory Group of Paladin Capital Corporation. Before joining, VantagePoint in March 2008, He served five times in the federal government for a total of 12 years, holding Presidential appointments in two Democratic and two Republican administrations. Director of Central Intelligence (1993-95), Ambassador and Chief Negotiator for the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty in Vienna (1989-91), Delegate at Large (on a part-time basis) to the Strategic Arms Reductions Talks (START) and the Defense and Space Talks in Geneva (1983-86), Under Secretary of the Navy (1977-79), and General Counsel to the U.S. Senate committee on Armed Services (1970-73). He practiced law for 22 years, and has served on numerous corporate and non-profit boards.