As I posted last Thursday, (Looking for live blogger at Built Green Conference), I will be blogging live from Friday’s 2009 Built Green Conference at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center. Earth911.com will be linking to me for the benefit of their readers, and I will also tweet green gems via #SeattleGreenRE on Twitter (follow @greenspacesre). What is all of the hullabaloo about?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (I will refer to him as RFKJ) is nephew to former president John. F. Kennedy and senator Edward M. Kennedy. He is “an environmental activist and attorney”. He’s had a few dustups with the law in his history, most recently serving jail time for trespassing at Camp Garcia, the US. Navy training facility on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico. He was part of a group that protested use of a small section of the island for naval training exercises. The incident did suspend live-fire exercises for almost 3 hours, and he was sentenced to 30 days in jail even though his attorney was former Governor of New York Mario Cuomo. Interestingly enough, his youngest son, born 5 days before his sentending in July in 2001, has “Vieques” as one of his middle names. It obviously was a memorable experience.

I think RFKJ can thank his 1983 arrest for heroin possession for getting him involved with the environmental group that launched his career, the Riverkeeper organization. His in a regional airport in South Dakota led to two years probation, periodic tests for drug use, treatment by joining Narcotics Anonymous, and 1,500 hours of community service. He joined the Riverkeeper organization in 1984 to satisfy his community service sentence. He worked with the group to sue alleged polluters of the Hudson River in New York (the location of the recent plane crash where everyone survived thanks to “Captain Sully”). After he fulfilled his community service hours, the group then hired him as their chief prosecuting attorney.

It obviously has been a great partnership, as he is still with Riverkeeper. From his formal bio on the Built Green Conference web site,

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s reputation as a resolute defender of the environment stems from a litany of successful legal actions. Kennedy was named one of Time magazine’s “Heroes for the Planet” for his success in helping Riverkeeper lead the fight to restore the Hudson River. The group’s achievement helped spawn more than 160 Waterkeeper organizations across the globe. Kennedy serves as senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, chief prosecuting attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper and president of Waterkeeper Alliance. He is also a clinical professor and supervising attorney at Pace University School of Law’s Environmental Litigation Clinic and is co-host of Ring of Fire on Air America Radio. Earlier in his career, he served as assistant district attorney in New York City.”

RFKJs family connections and lengthy body of work (even his run-ins with the law) have made him the man he is today. He is a prolific author and defender of the environment.

At the Built Green Conference on Friday he will be speaking on “the state of environmental activism and how to meaningfully address the environmental problems that face us”. I for one am really looking forward to this speech.

I also am appreciative of the opportunity to share this event with everyone around the world who is interested in hearing what he has to say, and what conference goers and participants are also doing to help improve our world. Individually we need to pay attention to what is our own largest contribution to our personal carbon footprint – our home.

Be sure to tune in Friday morning for live updates from the conference floor and the keynote presentation that may change your world for the better.