Climate Technology

Why are environmental activists so clueless at marketing climate change solutions?

Virgin Blue, the Australian extension of Richard Branson's airline empire, recently launched a program to allow passengers to purchase carbon offsets when they book a flight.

That's nice. But what struck me was this quote from Greenpeace's energy campaigner, Ben Pearson:

Virgin should not be criticized out of hand for this scheme, but it promotes the idea that dealing with climate change is easy and cheap rather than being about the difficult task of changing consumer behavior, government policy and investment.

Dirty money

And Rainforest Action Network has the soap.  Get scrubbing.

Goldman Sachs and other financial powerhouses get into the Texas wind biz

What is Goldman Sachs doing in rural Texas? Probably some of its bankers have wondered that themselves, when they find they’re three hours from the nearest latte. A Texas turbine. Photo: NREL / Cielo Wind Power One of Goldman’s subsidiaries, Houston-based Horizon Wind Energy, is constructing a $600 million, 400-megawatt wind farm in the boonies […]

Pep Raleigh

Google gives out bikes to 2,000 employees across the pond We have a vague recollection that there was life before Google, but it must have been a sad, empty sort of life. Anyone recall? While you’re casting your memory back there, lord, we’ll update you on the latest from the altruistic search engine: they’re giving […]

If organic food is so popular, why are so few farms transitioning their land?

On a recent trip to Austin, I visited the flagship Whole Foods — a vast space where people gather en masse to render financial sacrifice to that new god, organic food. From the depths of the parking lot, as you make your way up to the store, you’re urged again and again by a sign […]

Among bad deals, TerraPass’s methane offset project?

In the new issue of BusinessWeek: "Another Inconvenient Truth?" It warns:

New articles take a look

Interesting piece from Makower on some recent articles moving the climate conversation to more … prosaic concerns. That is to say: who’s gonna make out? The first is in the Harvard Business Review, and outlines these risks to businesses: … regulatory risk (the impact of emissions caps or carbon taxes); supply chain risk (disruptions or […]

An interview with Van Jones, advocate for social justice and shared green prosperity

Big business has finally realized that there’s lots of money to be made in the transition to a clean-energy economy. Van Jones wants to make sure working-class and minority Americans realize it too. Van Jones. Jones, a civil-rights lawyer, is founder and executive director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, an innovative nonprofit […]

Paying It Forward

U.S. investors worth $4 trillion beg feds for climate action For a long time now, the Bush administration has said it can’t possibly take action on climate change because it will harm the economy. Now the economy is all like, “Hurt me, baby, please.” Yet another business-oriented coalition — this one including investors who manage […]

How far has the movement come in the last 20 years?

Quick, name a historic moment from 1987. I’ll wait. Well, yeeessss, that was the year that gave us timeless songs like “I Want Your Sex,” “Shake Your Love,” and with a somewhat different message, “Keep Your Hands to Yourself” (by the immortal Georgia Satellites). They just don’t write songs like those anymore. Or let’s hope […]