Prince Charles pitches sustainable communities in Kentucky

By Steve Bittenbender LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Reuters) - In his last stop on a goodwill tour of the United States, Britain's Prince Charles attended an international conference on sustainable communities in Louisville, Kentucky, on Friday, and said the world faces a historic chance for change. "If we fail here, we fail humanity," the Prince told a crowd of about 1,000 at the Cathedral of the Assumption in Kentucky's largest city. "As a grandfather, I have no intention of failing my, or anyone else's, grandchildren," he said at the end of a four-day tour of the United States with his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall. Prince Charles encouraged public and private organizations to work towards his vision of a sustainable future. "He's speaking the wisdom that we all must adopt if there's going to be any hope for our children," said Gary Hirschberg, chairman of Stonyfield Farms, as he left the cathedral. "I think sustainable economics, sustainable business is really the hope for our society, and he captured it perfectly." Earlier in the day dozens of local school children sang and played music to greet the heir to the British throne when he visited the Urban Laboratory Harmony and Health Initiative event at Kentucky African American Heritage Center. Other children held signs, many of which tied in with the prince's themes for the trip. "That's a big part of our curriculum, sustainability issues (and) environmental issues," said Jessie Holtzman-Rich, a teacher at Louisville Collegiate School who chaperoned 48 fifth graders to the centre. "We do that all year, but this was definitely an unexpected invitation. So, we quickly in the last couple days started bringing that into our curriculum a little bit more." The couple's visit to America, their first in nearly four years, sought to boost the relationship between the two allies in such areas as climate change and corporate social responsibility, the British Embassy said. (Editing by Fiona Ortiz and Sandra Maler)