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Is it time to be philosophical about climate change?

With apologies to another ancient Mediterranean civilization, is it useful -- when in Greece – to do as the Greeks might have when it comes to addressing climate change? In other words, with a crisis that demands such urgent and widespread human action, do we have time to be philosophical? Dr. Ole Faergeman, a renowned Danish cardiologist and co-chair of a groundbreaking international conference on the intersection between sustainable agriculture and land use, human nutrition, and climate protection opening this week in Olympia, Greece, has invoked Aristotle when trying to make sense of ongoing challenges to mobilize people globally on …

BP: The gulf between image and reality

The devastating and escalating events in the Gulf of Mexico underscore an amazing collection of problems: reliance on polluting energy, absence of a coherent national energy plan, the problems with lax government oversight, and dozens of others. Perhaps most clearly, it shows the gulf we should have seen years ago between the image of BP and the reality of BP. This spiraling disaster might literally have never happened if BP had made a real and deep commitment to changing more than its logo. Almost 10 years ago, BP -- the largest corporation in the UK -- spent an extraordinary amount …

The Perils of 'Green Watching'

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Modeling corporate climate action

It’s easy to get the impression that there is no hope for climate action. Perhaps you’ve heard that the recent DC snowstorms buried any chance to pass a comprehensive energy and climate bill. Or that hacked emails have set the climate movement back a decade. We have a completely ineffectual Senate, a gun-shy EPA, and a dysfunctional global climate community. Our political leadership seems to be paralyzed by fear to take on the climate crisis. That’s not the impression you’d get reading the business news, though. There, you would have seen a year of climate momentum. In October, several major …

Child safety? A Father’s Day call for a longer view

Every year around this time, the father in me starts thinking deep thoughts about why I’ve dedicated my career to environmental awareness and, in particular, helping people who don’t consider themselves activists understand why environmental issues should matter to them. In more recent years, it’s morphed into an almost singular focus for me on why the climate crisis should matter to all of us. For me, it’s simple. It’s the kids. As a parent, I want to do everything I can to make sure my kids are exposed to fewer hazards than I was. I always laugh when my own …

Big Pharma: The case for corporate climate responsibility

Today, Climate Counts is releasing our review of the pharmaceutical industry, and they’ve made for an interesting case: they are both extraordinarily profitable and have received the highest scores yet of any of the 14 industries on our Climate Counts Company Scorecard. But in spite of good scores on measurement and reporting, they’ve been weak on reducing their emissions and have, for the most part, failed to use their formidable collective lobbying muscle to help pass strong climate legislation. That’s quite a mixed bag--what does it all mean? Profits and climate action are (of course) compatible Fourteen of 16 pharmaceutical …

Wood Turner

Wood Turner is the executive director of ClimateCounts.org, a non-profit organization started with support from Stonyfield Farm that scores and ranks the world's most well-known companies on their efforts to address climate change. Born in North Carolina and a West Coaster for 13 years, he now lives with his family in New Hampshire.