Just as Al Gore is beating
the drum on global warming and inciting his treehugging
supporters into a frenzy, almost every government in the
world is spending less money to fight global warming
according to the NYTimes.
For example, U.S. spending into global warming research
and development is half what it was just 25 years ago,
but it isn't just the U.S.
"Internationally, government energy research trends
are little different from those in the United States.
Japan is the only economic power that increased research
spending in recent decades, with growth focused on
efficiency and solar technology, according to the
International Energy Agency."
Ironically, many energy experts expect total energy use
to increase by some 50 percent in less than 20 years,
with most of this increase coming from China and India.
If we can't get control of energy consumption now, how
are we going to do better in the next 2 decades when
issues such as Kyoto don't even include these countries?
This should be cause for serious concern if you believe
Gore. If the world is almost past the point of no
return, yet energy consumption is still rapidly
increasing, isn't Gore's battle already over?
I say Mr. Gore is simply telling the wrong story. Mr.
Gore is a politician at heart, rather than an activist,
and in the back of his mind, I think, Gore is simply
posturing for another run at the Presidency. Global
warming, Gore believes, might just be his ticket back to
the big white house, and I say he's right, but he's also
missing the point and
his opportunity.
If R&D spending is declining as Gore wins awards and
acclaim around the world for An
Inconvenient Truth, what's the problem?
The messenger - Gore - simply isn't delivering the right
message.
Mr. Gore, it appears, is trying to use the Republican
ploy of using fear to influence voters. It seems Mr.
Gore believes that if he can scare people into believing
that global warming is going to destroy the world unless
we act right now, the people then might look to the
leading messenger for the best solution. What better way
to do that than to vote for him as the next president?
Well, doom and gloom only goes so far, just ask the
Republican party about the political success of their
doom and gloom war on terror.
The only solution to global warming, I believe, is to
follow the lead being set by Japan.
I'm told that the Japanese word for crisis also means
opportunity. A crisis isn't always something to get
depressed about, rather it is an opportunity to do
something better. Is there any wonder the Japanese have
cornered the market for hybrid
cars first?
Japan is more efficient by culture - it's become a way
of life. The Japanese are driven by efficiency, or the
opportunity to do things better. Moreover, they have
realized that doing things efficiently is not only
cost-effective, but profit driving, especially used with
long-term thinking.
For example, whether global warming is real or not, oil
demand is almost certainly going to increase as supply
runs out. Thus, Japan's focus on efficiency helps
prepare them for oil shortages while also fighting
global warming. In the long run, fighting global warming
isn't just good for the environment, it's also a great
capital investment.
Even Walmart, a favorite whipping boy of Democrats, has
begun to realize the opportunity that global warming
presents. Already, the company has started to send
engineers into its chain of suppliers to find ways to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions and profit
by doing so (more).
"When Wal-Mart first sent engineers into
supply-chain factories, "what we found absolutely
staggered us," said Stanway. He said they helped
cut electricity bills by 60 percent at the first factory
they audited by installing readily available low
emissions lighting and technologies".
Wow. You mean you can make money by fighting global
warming? Now that's something more people can buy into,
money.
While we should acknowledge the doom and gloom
possibilities of global warming, we should spend more
time crafting a message around opportunity. Yes, global
warming is a crisis, but we must turn global warming
into an opportunity. We can't scare people into doing
the right thing, we must excite them into doing the
right thing.
Inevitably those countries that put the most R&D
into fighting global warming, will make the most profit
from defeating global warming. Those companies will be
the economic powers of the future.
American-made Hummers, for example, aren't going to be a
very good weapon or profit maker in the future war on
global warming. American-made fuel cell hybrid vehicles,
however, could be a great weapon. Moreover, such
vehicles could also help keep GM and its many 10's of
thousands of workers working in the U.S. with high
paying jobs for many decades to come.
It is this reason - future economic prosperity that
actually benefits human-kind - that should be driving
the global warming conversation, not doom and gloom.
That message might not sell many movie tickets, but it
could probably take the White House if you told the
story correctly.
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