Leadership Plus the Millions
The biggest news splash over the last two weeks came out of Washington with the U.S. House of Rep's passage of the
Waxman-Markey bill, which is now headed for a
fight in the Senate. The stakes could not be higher, both for us here at home and all those counting on leadership from the world's richest and heaviest emitter in Copenhagen in a few months' time.
And yet there is an equally important -- if quieter -- truth that is making its way through our physical and virtual "commons": leadership can get us started, but ALL of us have a critical role to play. A piece from Ceres President Mindy Lubber, "
Counting Carbon," uses the wonderful image of the new global carbon counter installed outside Madison Square Garden to illustrate the critical need for information, accountability, and corresponding action at all levels and in all sectors of society. Our news story on the expansion of
carbon labeling efforts by Carbon Trust gives us a glimpse of how this might look at the store.
Meanwhile in business, industry leaders from
cement to the
Internet continue to announce new energy efficiency targets and initiatives aimed at their most material sources of emissions, while others, such as
Dow and
Coca-Cola, pilot alternative energy technologies. Still others continue to wrestle with the role to be played by
carbon offsets in their climate change strategies. You can make your voice heard on this issue by participating in the
Carbon Offsetting Trends Survey 2009, a research report from partners ClimateBiz.com, EcoSecurities and Baker McKenzie.
Eric Olson is senior vice president of advisory services at Business for Social Responsibility.
