Combining the Philosophies of Environmental Advocacy with Entrepreneurial Spirit
A reader notes: Craig, the world desperately needs advocates like yourself. My fear is that wasting your talents on impractical rhetoric is irresponsible…. (I fear) you are squandering your considerable talent and credibility by embarking on a fruitless and erroneous crusade. I hope you don’t take offense.
I most certainly don’t take offense.
Having said that, you won’t see me backing off my agenda of coaxing the world into becoming more just, verdant, and peaceful. Some important changes need to happen, and some tough decisions need to be made; I have no reservation about advocating aggressively for things like environmental stewardship and clean energy, social justice, and peaceful resolution to world conflict. I don’t consider it a waste of my talents; in fact, I believe it was what I was put on Earth to do.
However, as an advocate of pure market economics, you make take solace in the fact that my approach is firmly rooted in business. The plummeting costs of PV, the advancements of the other flavors of renewables, and the advent of cheap energy storage, smart-grid, electric transportation, etc., all mean one thing: there are huge opportunities to drive profits from cleantech, as it becomes the defining industry of the 21st Century.
Moreover, there are opportunities for me personally, and, at the risk of sounding immodest, I know what success in business looks like. In particular, I am playing an ever-widening role in bringing together cleantech entrepreneurs who are sitting on good concepts together with the sources of investment capital that are required to forward their enterprise. I’ve done this successful twice, and I see many more such deals in my future.
Thanks for your concern about how and where I apply my talents, but I think “I got this.”
Craig,
I’m not sure how many times I must correct your inaccurate categorizing me as ” an advocate of pure market economics”.
Not every thing is black and white, either-or, good and bad. The dynamics of any society are complex and difficult to define in absolute terms.
Nor do I ask you to abandon your quest for “environmental stewardship and clean energy, social justice, and peaceful resolution to world conflict”.
What I queried, is the value of you resorting to the sort of emotive, but completely inaccurate, rhetoric usually employed by less well-informed and intelligent advocates. I see little value preaching to a small congregation of already converted.
I believe advocates like yourself need to reach out and engage a broader audience. Of course, a broader audience will not be more critical, and less likely to be inspired by extremist, emotive, or inaccurate rhetoric.
I have always applauded your assistance and encouragement of Clean Tech. Each successful example provides more inspiration and validation for environmentally friendly technology, and policies, than endless sermons and rants about “evil conspirators”.
When asked about how much opposition he had encountered from oil companies, Elon Musk replied “None” ! Yet, if you visit various web forums you will find rant’s by some of his army of supporters claiming all kinds of mad conspiracies.
Likewise Carlos Ghosn has enjoyed a remarkable degree of shareholder support for his hugely expensive electrification program. The government of France is a large shareholder in Renault and also a large shareholder in the very aggressive Oil company Total Oil.
Carlos Ghosn responded to the question of opposition or interference from Total, with the comment, “on the contrary, Total has been most cooperative with research facilities”. Ghosn went on to remind the audience that it was Exxon who developed the Lithium battery.
I guess my point is that vehemently inaccurate rhetoric like “Oil companies have bought the President and Congress ” and the “Republicans are owned by the Fossil Fuel Industry”, may appeal to a small congregation with closed minds and deep rooted prejudice, but risks alienating a wider and more productive audience.
Unfortunately, such rhetoric may also damage your credibility when you advocate more positive projects and policies.
Like you I am excited by the potential for growth and environmental progress with the creation of clean technology. Like you, I also invest ( with some measure of success) in developing and commercializing environmentally friendly technology.
With the likes of Trump etc, haven’t we got enough wildly inaccurate rhetoric ? Must ” men of good will” also indulge in “dumbing down” so every exchange becomes little more than a barrage of clichés ?
Craig …you are very good at this….the hour is late keep digging and writing and moving the green ball forward…opportunities are popping up all over…Things are changing and this concept of having to do business by the same old way isn’t working to save us and the planet…keep creating and thinking…