I saw an article in the New York Business section yesterday which reported that Richard Branson hosted a high powered get together of some of the world’s top businessmen to discuss climate change. Amongst the attendees were former British prime minister Tony Blair, Google’s Larry Page, Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales, Vinod Khosla, Better Place PLC.’s Shai Agassi, and Tesla’s Elon Musk amongst others.
Branson wants to create a coalition of respected business leaders called the War Room to
help champion environmental “best practices” — a resource for governments and multinational companies looking for help as they develop environmentally sound policies
Changing tack for a second, I read another article yesterday on the WorldChanging site called the Politics of Optimism and it really resonated with me. The central thesis of the post is that optimism can be revolutionary:
cynicism in average people is the attitude exactly most likely to conform to the desires of the powerful – cynicism is obedience.
Optimism, by contrast, especially optimism which is neither foolish nor silent, can be revolutionary. Where no one believes in a better future, despair is a logical choice, and people in despair almost never change anything. Where no one believes a better solution is possible, those benefiting from the continuation of a problem are safe. Where no one believes in the possibility of action, apathy becomes an insurmountable obstacle to reform. But introduce intelligent reasons for believing that action is possible, that better solutions are available, and that a better future can be built, and you unleash the power of people to act out of their highest principles.
I have always felt that but never saw it expressed so well.
I strongly believe that the tide is turning. The Bush’s of the world are in the minority and the urgency of Green Agenda is now coming into mainstream consciousness.
When you have groups of people like the War Room mentioned above self-organising to tackle Climate Change, one can’t help but be more optimistic.
