Greed Joins Green
By golly, I finally—and for the first time—believe the “green” movement is gonna amount to something.
This revelation came a couple of weeks ago, at the city library, where one couldn’t help but notice that the business mags—Forbes, Fortune, and even The Economist—had articles about corporations trying to make green profitable.
Then, this week, came an e-mail from Delta urging me to “Support Delta’s Force for Global Good.” Delta, it seems, plans to plant trees around the world. If I buy tickets, Delta will plant more trees.
Seems to me that this is now a movement that can’t be easily stopped. Evidently, companies do things like this once they feel that most of the population wants green, and will reward profit-seeking firms that participate. Remember, we saw this happen with smoking. Once it was evident that much of the population was antismoking, we saw the growth of nonsmoking areas, smoke-free flights and other restrictions on the habit.
One thing about this country—when any movement is seen as a source of profit, we’re gonna see more of that movement. I have little faith in flaming liberals, but a lot of faith in profit seekers.
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Chris–
So sorry to be responding so late. Somehow, it slipped though the cracks.
You may be right on all counts–I’m not smart enough to know. It is obvious, though, that many different industries have decided there may be profit in this issue. Look at the evidence–airplanes running on jet fuel, ethane in gasoline, acreage being converted to corn–on some of this I, too, disagree. Nevertheless, it is happening and that’s good. When that many hard-working entrepreneurial types get involved some of them will surely put out good solutions to some problems. The rest will get out, and the taxpayers won’t have to pay for their failures. I like that.
Thanks for writing,
Ralph Hood
Keep in mind that this whole ‘Global-Warming/Green’ initiative was not borne from science but from politics. Politicians have been the ones most vocal on this. Why? If they can stake the ‘high ground’ and be seen as ’saviors,’ taxes will roll in to fund the programs (and the bureaucracy) that will be ‘necessary.’
Keep in mind, too, that the politicians are playing their favorite game of ‘Don’t-do-what-I-do/do-what-I-say.’ The whole ‘carbon offset’ charade is a way for them to continue flying their G5s while feeling ‘good about themselves’ in the process.