Al Gore visits the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne
Al Gore, Nobel Peace Prize winner and Former Vice President of the United States of America, visits the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne.
On April 15 the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne had the immense honour of welcoming Mr Al Gore to its campus to address the students and the members of the Swiss French Speaking Chapter of the Family Business Network on the challenges and opportunities linked to Sustainable Development for future generations. Mr Gore spoke before an audience of 500 people which included nearly 300 students.
The announcement that the Former Vice President of the United States and Nobel Peace Prize winner would visit the Schools campus generated a wave of enthusiasm amongst both EHL students and staff. Al Gore was in Lausanne to receive a doctorate honoris causa from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) during Research Day 2008.
The visit was made possible through the kind offices of Mr Thierry Lombard, Senior Partner of private bankers Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch & Cie who are in partnership with Generation Investment Management, co-founded by Al Gore and David Blood. Mr Lombard is personally attached to the school; he has great respect for what it has achieved over the years and the role of the hotel industry in the world. Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch has recently endowed a scholarship at EHL.
Also among the audience were members of the Suisse Romande chapter Family Business Network hosted by their new president, Mrs Anne-Marie de-Weck.
Young people were the focus of Al Gore's speech. The author of the award-winning film An Inconvenient Truth addressed both EHL students the next generation of the family businesses sensitizing them to global warming and the related disruptions whose first effects are now being felt: the melting glaciers, rising sea levels, prolonged droughts, etc.
The goal of Al Gore's discourse, both passionate and committed, and reiterated on all fronts, is to mobilise the young generations and persuade them of the necessity to act in the interests of the planet's future.
