When North America discovered recycled paper, environmentalism was the only game in town. The media was obsessed with it. Companies were terrified of being labeled a polluter. It was cool to be green.
That passion never waned in Europe and in some parts of North America, but it has been substantially sidetracked in corporate North America.
Iceland is committed to hydrogen-powered vehicles. Britain is making progress toward meeting its Kyoto targets.
In Canada, our biggest environmental hero is a prime minister who left politics 13 years ago? (Maybe not. )
The environmental revolution lost its place on the front pages to other issues.
I
t’s still a bad business decision to be a blatant polluter, but subtle (and not-so-subtle) polluters have had it easy. SUVs should never have been allowed to thrive as a status symbol, but North Americans want security. And those SUVs can plow through a sub-compact car without slowing down. I figure the September 11 attacks added another three or four years to the popularity of SUVs. By all rational measures SUVs should have become a symbol of decadent waste much sooner for our whole society, not just the green brigades.
D
ull, boring Al Gore is raising the temperature of public debate on climate change (you remember him, the nerd who thought global warming and the knowledge economy were important). He is having a renaissance as the champion of the environment.
Gore fronts a major documentary on global warming, coming to theatres in May. Wired Magazine features him. Vanity Fair publishes a Green Issue this month. Al’s back.
"Today, there are dire warnings that the worst catastrophe in the history of human civilization is bearing down on us, gathering strength as it comes," he says in VF.
"We can solve this crisis," he writes. "Today, we have all the technologies we need to start the fight against global warming. We can build clean engines. We can harness the sun and wind. We can stop wasting energy."
Don’t take Al’s word for it. Just look at Europe to see what’s possible.
Blog search on Gore and climate change, and climate change.
www.fuh2.com (more photos of H2s getting the finger)
Previous posts:Â Bruce Sterling’s Hurricane: Been There, Done That
Tags: environment, green, canada, trends, fuh2
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5 responses so far ↓
1 Andrea Weckerle // Apr 28, 2006 at 8:00 pm
As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. The Hummer one is probably worth two-thousand.
2 Serge Cornelus // Apr 29, 2006 at 3:26 am
In France and Belgium they do not just show 4×4s the finger: http://degonflees.blogspot.com/2005/10/in-france-push-comes-to-suv.html
3 Spamouflage // Apr 29, 2006 at 11:51 am
If you’re driving an SUV, at least stick a Terra Pass on it:
http://terrapass.com/
4 Eric Eggertson // Apr 29, 2006 at 8:12 pm
Thanks Spamouflage. The terrapass looks interesting. Sort of a personal Kyoto buy-back of greenhouse gas credits.
Serge: the birthplace of anarchy goes beyond shaming the gas guzzlers. Try that in Texas, and eight passers-by will whip out their handguns and start firing.
5 MotherPie // May 11, 2006 at 3:02 am
Media and Babies Go Green…
Vanity Fair published their first-ever green issue with the cover being a photograph by Annie Leibovitz. The magazine, with this May issue, is beginning an increased commitment to reporting on the threat to our precious planet. Earth day has come