Sir Richard the Green
I'm sure you've all heard by now that Richard Branson has committed to invest $3 billion over the next 10 years to help fight the fight against global warming. As you can imagine this kind of money can make a huge difference if used wisely. Listening to the radio on the way home from work it was amazing to me at how many folks that called in, dismissed this investment outright as a 'going nowhere waste of cash'.
To all those that think this money is going to end up in the toilet, I give you these thoughts:
1. Richard Branson started with a tiny, basement magazine and has ended up creating one of the most successful businesses in the world. You don't think that maybe, just maybe, he has a plan for this money?
2. As this investment clearly has some capitalistic gains driving it (see paragraph on Carbon Footprints), we all saw what a mere $10 million did for cheap space travel. If you don't remember, click here
3. In order for private enterprise to raise awareness in this day and age, you have to make a big splash to be noticed. If this doesn't wake some folks up to this issue, I'm not sure what will.
That aside, an ominous thing, aside from the fact that we may be slowly simmering on a planet sized stove, is that this points to some serious problems with our current, seemingly paralyzed, governing bodies. We've seen it before ( Disease Possibilities are Expensive, 01 Nov, 2005) where the government fails to spend the money where it counts, deciding instead to invest billions into wars in countries that now hate the US because of this 'investment' in their freedom, or defeating the bird flu epidemic that never happened.
Are we at a place where the government is becoming less for the people and more for the few? Why does it take a private citizen to commit that kind of money to combating this issue?
The good thing is that the presidential elections are just around the corner so I'm sure we will be hearing all sorts of promises that no one intends to keep.
To all those that think this money is going to end up in the toilet, I give you these thoughts:
1. Richard Branson started with a tiny, basement magazine and has ended up creating one of the most successful businesses in the world. You don't think that maybe, just maybe, he has a plan for this money?
2. As this investment clearly has some capitalistic gains driving it (see paragraph on Carbon Footprints), we all saw what a mere $10 million did for cheap space travel. If you don't remember, click here
3. In order for private enterprise to raise awareness in this day and age, you have to make a big splash to be noticed. If this doesn't wake some folks up to this issue, I'm not sure what will.
That aside, an ominous thing, aside from the fact that we may be slowly simmering on a planet sized stove, is that this points to some serious problems with our current, seemingly paralyzed, governing bodies. We've seen it before ( Disease Possibilities are Expensive, 01 Nov, 2005) where the government fails to spend the money where it counts, deciding instead to invest billions into wars in countries that now hate the US because of this 'investment' in their freedom, or defeating the bird flu epidemic that never happened.
Are we at a place where the government is becoming less for the people and more for the few? Why does it take a private citizen to commit that kind of money to combating this issue?
The good thing is that the presidential elections are just around the corner so I'm sure we will be hearing all sorts of promises that no one intends to keep.
posted by Alex Charalambides | 5:08 PM
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