17 November 2023

09:35 – 10:20

Amphitheatre Faure

Dominique Bidou

Dominique Bidou, an engineer and demographer, has been committed to the cause of the environment since the late 1960s, in both associative and professional settings; the environment in the broadest sense, from everyday life to the planet. He was director of the French Ministry of the Environment, in charge of “quality of life”. Convinced that no far-reaching transition can be achieved without the active participation of as many people as possible, he has focused his efforts on mobilizing society as a whole, from citizen-consumers to political and economic leaders. “Creating the desire for sustainable development. “The time of the finite world has begun”, Paul Valéry told us back in 1931. It’s a new era in the human adventure, to be imagined and built together. An exciting prospect for all those with an entrepreneurial spirit. Dominique Bidou is an associate member of the Académie d’architecture, and Honorary Chairman of the HQE-GBC alliance and of the Centre d’information et de documentation sur le bruit. He is the author of several books on sustainable development in general, and construction and development in particular.

Conference: How to mobilize for the ecological and energy transitions?

A real headache. Ecology is the science of complex things, with innumerable interferences, of the living and the behavioral, the near and the far, the immediate and the lasting. Energy is part of this context, with its technical and cultural dimensions. The stakes are enormous, from the happiness of living “here and now” to the survival of humanity. These issues are beyond us. Time for experts and international negotiations. The urgency for action is well documented. Action is good business. Investments are highly profitable on a societal scale, even if not all of them are, in relation to individual decision-makers. But the strength of inaction is quickly summed up: unlike action, it decides for itself. “Immobilism is on the march! Many solutions are emerging, more from society than from experts. That’s where the genius lies. How can we stimulate society, make it a learning society, a creative society, to the point of upsetting established interests, which are conservative by nature? Fear, panic and guilt only work when it’s too late. To anticipate, we need to generate self-confidence and the desire to embark on an adventure.