Greenies
I just got done reading what I thought for sure was going to be a fascinating story about the world’s most famous entrepreneur, Sir Richard Branson, but ended up thinking far less about him. His story is truly something to admire; he dropped out of high school, started Virgin Records as a way to exploit his fledgling magazines earning potential, sold the successful record company to create an airplane company, and on an on and on 200 times over. Awe-inspiring indeed.
Then Al Gore, literally, showed up at his doorstep one day. Frankly, I don’t know why he didn’t just throw what had to look like a bearded homeless person a few shillings and shut the door in his face. But he didn’t and he let the ex-VP into his house to hear all the interesting things being done to the planet by heartless villains, um, capitalists, like himself. Needless to say Branson got hooked and immersed himself in the wet and wild world of environmentalism (communism). He read timeless tomes like the Weather Makers by Tim Flannery and the Gaia Theory by James Lovelock. Branson will also donate all the profits from his rail and airplane business to finding alternative sources of energy.
This story about Branson from Cigar Aficionado melds perfectly with another story from Fast Company regarding Wal Mart’s embrace of environmentalism. In its ironically aptly named story Working With the Enemy a young do-gooder who was once the darling of the environmentalist movement by becoming the youngest president of the Sierra Club is now hated because he is working with Wal Mart. While that is so very sad that he is hated by a bunch of nuts it is even sadder that he has conned a Wal Mart executive into taking all he has to say hook, line, and sinker. Adam Werbach, the environmentally insane one, got the Wal Mart exec, Andy Ruben, not only to read Rachel Carson’s go at a fairy tale, Silent Spring, but to also enact foolish change at the retailer that is responsible for lifting millions out of poverty. These changes range from cutting down on packaging by five percent to making all stores at least 25% more efficient.
Sure, people could make the case that even if humans were not responsible for the soon end of life on this planet it is nevertheless good that people and companies are making moves to use less energy and work to lead healthier lives. This is the trap that businesses are falling into anyways. It might be good PR but if the changes they make do not create a return on investment that is sufficient for them to stay in business, which will usually be the case, then it is the corporate version of cutting off one’s nose to spite his face. What this is all stemming from is corporations need to be seen as a good “global citizen,” something I’ve seen a lot of in the business world in the last few years. For some time now the main purpose of corporations have been shifting from making profits into serving different constituencies like environmentalist groups, employees, and other special interest groups who don’t really care whether or not you stay in business.
What I am getting at here is that business needs to do what business does best: make money. This is what American capitalism was founded on. And because we are the most successful nation in history we have made an impact on the environment, other countries, and every other facet of life. I think if one were to look at America’s record with regards to the environment they would have to say that we have been improving significantly since the industrial revolution and when one couples that with the fact that we are responsible for much of the world’s growth in GDP we have a disproportionally small impact on the environment. Furthermore, if business were left up to its own devices we will be allowed to realize quicker gains in alternative energy because the market is still the best method for bringing new discoveries to the market.
Environmentalists say we are doomed if we don’t do anything to save the planet. The fact of the matter is that the only way to save the planet from doom is to totally reject everything environmentalists tell us to do. BigT
