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Jul 20
2008
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Doesn't this warm your heart - er, liver?Posted by Publisher in Untagged |
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The Blue Green Alliance, which if you don't know is the partnership of the Sierra Club and the United Steelworkers Association (yes you read that right), came out with an unequivocal endorsement of Al Gore's call to action. These guys are my favorite group...I mean could you have possibly imagined this partnership existing 5 years ago...strange times make strange bedfellows. When you think about their joint venture, however, it is not as surprising as you would think. The Sierra 
Club wants to save the environment and fight global warming, and the Steel Workers want to stop the bleeding of American manufacturing jobs and help stimulate the next great American industry...eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels. This effort will create millions of good Green Collar Jobs and bring to market products that will be in high demand and that we can actually - wait for it - build here and export! How great is it that these two goals not mutually exclusive? In discussions with friends and colleagues this weekend, I made the case that the former Vice President was using his new-found celebrity and gravitas to break new ground that the current politicians could not enter on their own. Just imagine the screams that would take place in the 'drill-our-way-out-of-this-mess establishment if Obama came out and said this...it would be as if a million 7 year old girls just had snakes dropped on their laps. But someone had to say it so that we could get used to the idea. The first time someone suggested replacing a human liver with a pig's liver, I'm sure people were horrified. But then it worked and it was suddenly not so scary. I feverently hope that this is the case with Gore's statement. Shocking at first, but worth opening a dialogue about. If we start discussing it like rational adults now, by the time our next president is taking office, we may have enough momentum to bring about the sea-change we need. America can figure out how to to save the planet and do so profitably. We have to. And two of our most iconic organizations have agreed that eliminating our dependence on fossil fuels in 10 years is the way to do that. Who else is going to sign on? Stay tuned.
Club wants to save the environment and fight global warming, and the Steel Workers want to stop the bleeding of American manufacturing jobs and help stimulate the next great American industry...eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels. This effort will create millions of good Green Collar Jobs and bring to market products that will be in high demand and that we can actually - wait for it - build here and export! How great is it that these two goals not mutually exclusive? In discussions with friends and colleagues this weekend, I made the case that the former Vice President was using his new-found celebrity and gravitas to break new ground that the current politicians could not enter on their own. Just imagine the screams that would take place in the 'drill-our-way-out-of-this-mess establishment if Obama came out and said this...it would be as if a million 7 year old girls just had snakes dropped on their laps. But someone had to say it so that we could get used to the idea. The first time someone suggested replacing a human liver with a pig's liver, I'm sure people were horrified. But then it worked and it was suddenly not so scary. I feverently hope that this is the case with Gore's statement. Shocking at first, but worth opening a dialogue about. If we start discussing it like rational adults now, by the time our next president is taking office, we may have enough momentum to bring about the sea-change we need. America can figure out how to to save the planet and do so profitably. We have to. And two of our most iconic organizations have agreed that eliminating our dependence on fossil fuels in 10 years is the way to do that. Who else is going to sign on? Stay tuned.
I told you so. And by you, I mean stupid American car companies, and their enablers in Congress that have been shielding them from the need to innovate for 25 years. And while I'm at it, you Japanese car makers aren't all that swift either (I'll get to that in a minute). The numbers that came out this week were staggering, although not surprising. In a shocker, GM's sales for the month were the best amongst the Big 3, down a mere 18% year over year (although their shares traded at a 50 year low earlier this week). Ford's numbers dropped a precipitous 26% (with the F150 pickup losing the top-selling vehicle status for the first time in 26 years), and Chrysler's year over year numbers were down *gulp* 36%. But you can't blame them, can you? I mean, how could ANYONE - especially these high-powered auto executives - have possibly seen this coming? Well, I did. Just ask any of my friends about my rants against SUV's over the years, and you will know that I was watching it come at us like a slow motion train wreck. And if a big dummy like me could see if coming, then missing the boat on this one is malfeasance. Now Detroit is going to have to pay the piper for their years of arrogance and stonewalling. Yesterday's 
(amazingly we drove 6% less vehicle miles this May than last May), airlines are contracting, and small farms are on the rise for the first time in a century. Closer to home, I just learned about a friend of mine that is starting to make biodiesel for his contracting business. His trucks and equipment all run on diesel, which seemed like a good idea 3 years ago, but the current fuel bill is threatening to put him out of business. So he bought $5000 worth of biodiesel conversion equipment and did deals with 2 local restaurants that use (and throw away) about 100 gallons of cooking oil a week and he and his wife are going to start making their own fuel in the barn. If they hussle, they should make about 80 gallons of good diesel a week which should eliminate the entire fuel bill for the company. Projected ROI on the $5000, about half a year, including the labor to make the diesel. (Current fuel cost = 70 gallons per week X $5.15/gallon this morning at the pump X 50 weeks = $18,025). I really feel like we are at the same point we were at in about 1995 with the Internet. We are entering into an age of remarkable change, and optimists like myself see unprecendented opportunity when there is this much change. The Internet revolutioninzed everything about what it means to be a business and how we communicate. Sure it caused pain to some businesses and eliminated outdated business models, but this churn also released trillions of dollars in new economic growth. Green should dwarf the Internet in terms of impact. With that said, this ride is going to change our lifestyle a lot more than most of us are thinking. As Professor McKibben puts it in a paragraph that is worth reading several times: 
I know many (most) of you have seen this film by now, but I hadn't seen it in over a year, and it is well worth watching again. It is powerful, to the point and drives home why we need to move to solve this problem as quickly as we possibly can, and why America needs to take THE leadership role. I have been so focused on determining how to help businesses make more money while going green, that it was good to have myself scared silly a little bit. The discussion of the movie led to some heated discussion at the dinner table that night (with the in-laws), but the question was not should we do something, but how to do it. I think that people (and businesses) everywhere are waiting for the answer to the question, 'what should I do?' Americans are already figuring it out on their own, and so are American businesses. If you have an idea that has worked for your business already - regardless of your industry - click on the 'Green Collar Forums' icon on the top of this blog and add your story to our "Success Stories" forum. We can't solve this problem on our own, and we need to share solutions that work, or we'll never succeed in time. Looking at An Inconvenient Truth again, really brought that home to me.