View Thread

  • 1.  Will Big Business Save the Earth?

    Posted 12-06-2009 10:52

    Will Big Business Save the Earth?

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/opinion/06diamond.html?hp

    In view of all those advantages that businesses gain from environmentally sustainable policies, why do such policies face resistance from some businesses and many politicians? The objections often take the form of one-liners.

    • We have to balance the environment against the economy.

    • Technology will solve our problems.

    • World population growth is leveling off and won't be the problem that we used to fear.

    • Even experts disagree about the reality of climate change.

    • The magnitude and cause of global climate change are uncertain. We shouldn't adopt expensive countermeasures until we have certainty.

    • Global warming will be good for us, by letting us grow crops in places formerly too cold for agriculture.

    •It's useless for the United States to act on climate change, when we don't know what China will do.

    While the United States is dithering about long-distance energy transmission from our rural areas with the highest potential for wind energy generation to our urban areas with the highest need for energy, China is far ahead of us. It is developing ultra-high-voltage transmission lines from wind and solar generation sites in rural western China to cities in eastern China. If America doesn't act to develop innovative energy technology, we will lose the green jobs competition not only to Finland and Germany (as we are now) but also to China.

    On each of these issues, American businesses are going to play as much or more of a role in our progress as the government. And this isn't a bad thing, as corporations know they have a lot to gain by establishing environmentally friendly business practices.

    My friends in the business world keep telling me that Washington can help on two fronts: by investing in green research, offering tax incentives and passing cap-and-trade legislation; and by setting and enforcing tough standards to ensure that companies with cheap, dirty standards don't have a competitive advantage over those businesses protecting the environment. As for the rest of us, we should get over the misimpression that American business cares only about immediate profits, and we should reward companies that work to keep the planet healthy.

    Best regards,

    Charles Wankel

    http://facpub.stjohns.edu/~wankelc
    Add me on LinkedIn:  http://www.linkedin.com/in/wankelc

     

     



  • 2.  Will Big Business Save the Earth?

    Posted 12-06-2009 14:38
    Excellent article. We need a balanced approach, not a taxation system that ingores the major polluters and taxes ordinary people, which is what the current Australian government has been trying to jam through.

    Lionel Boxer CD PhD MBA BTech(IndEng) - 0411267256
    Associate of RMIT University - lionel.boxer@rmit.edu.au
    Graduate School of Business
    my "Assessment of Quality Systems with Positioning Theory"
    now in a googe book - see link at http://intergon.net
    >>> Charles Wankel <wankelc@VERIZON.NET> 07/12/09 2:53 AM >>>
    Will Big Business Save the Earth?

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/opinion/06diamond.html?hp

    In view of all those advantages that businesses gain from environmentally
    sustainable policies, why do such policies face resistance from some
    businesses and many politicians? The objections often take the form of
    one-liners.

    . We have to balance the environment against the economy.

    . Technology will solve our problems.

    . World population growth is leveling off and won't be the problem that we
    used to fear.

    . Even experts disagree about the reality of climate change.

    . The magnitude and cause of global climate change are uncertain. We
    shouldn't adopt expensive countermeasures until we have certainty.

    . Global warming will be good for us, by letting us grow crops in places
    formerly too cold for agriculture.

    .It's useless for the United States to act on climate change, when we don't
    know what China will do.

    While the United States is dithering about long-distance energy transmission
    from our rural areas with the highest potential for wind energy generation
    to our urban areas with the highest need for energy, China is far ahead of
    us. It is developing ultra-high-voltage transmission lines from wind and
    solar generation sites in rural western China to cities in eastern China. If
    America doesn't act to develop innovative energy technology, we will lose
    the green jobs competition not only to Finland and Germany (as we are now)
    but also to China.

    On each of these issues, American businesses are going to play as much or
    more of a role in our progress as the government. And this isn't a bad
    thing, as corporations know they have a lot to gain by establishing
    environmentally friendly business practices.

    My friends in the business world keep telling me that Washington can help on
    two fronts: by investing in green research, offering tax incentives and
    passing cap-and-trade legislation; and by setting and enforcing tough
    standards to ensure that companies with cheap, dirty standards don't have a
    competitive advantage over those businesses protecting the environment. As
    for the rest of us, we should get over the misimpression that American
    business cares only about immediate profits, and we should reward companies
    that work to keep the planet healthy.

    Best regards,

    Charles Wankel

    http://facpub.stjohns.edu/~wankelc
    Add me on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wankelc