Still Green

Even with his wedding day drawing ever closer, Prince Albert II has not forgotten his first love: environmentalism. On the 10th (as seen above) the Sovereign Prince received the first electric "smart" cars for Monaco from the local chief of Mercedes-Benz France. The following day Prince Albert spoke at the "Natur Kongress" in Basel, Switzerland on the subject of ecology and consumption. The Prince has won many awards and hearty kudos around the world for his work in this area but also some criticism (particularly for his many pleas for reduced consumption) given that the lifestyle of a head of state and sovereign prince is not exactly conducive to a maximum limitation of pollution -particularly jet fuel.

Following that up, the next day (13th) the Prince of Monaco gave the opening speech to the scientists, environmentalists, businessmen and politicians gathered for the second edition of the Monaco Blue Initiative. This program is a joint effort on the part of Prince Albert's own Foundation, the Institut Océanographique de Monaco. There is also a large business convention being planned for September on marine bioresources and the biomarine business in France at St Nazaire and Nantes in which over 2000 people representing 1000 companies are expected to be involved.