November WorldChanging Articles

Water, Sun and Dung  Environmental challenges make supplying the ever-growing population of Tibet with sufficient and sustainable electricity a logistical conundrum. 

Puntso’s yard is piled high with dung – specifically, wind-dried dung.  The 68-year old is a herder in the village of Niangqu, in the Nagqu area of Tibet. The household uses dung for fuel for cooking and winter heating. 

Dung is an essential part of Tibetan life and is Tibet’s most common form of biofuel. The 420,000 residents of the Nagqu area burn an estimated two million tonnes of dung per year. 

The dung would make good fertilizer to help the grass in the pastures grow. Its use as a primitive fuel source causes pollution and breaks the link between grass and grass-eating animals.  Read More.

Why Cleantech Investors Haven't Panicked   The short-term blowback from the global financial panic has been pretty logical: A flight to value and safety and reallocation of assets to deal with longer-term risks of the new economy. So what does this mean for cleantech investing? 

"Everyone is in shock about what the new world is going to be," V. John White, executive director of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technology, told the New York Times. "Surely, renewable energy projects and new technologies are at risk because of their capital intensity." 

While it is true that the short-term panic means an interim dry-up of financing, the same can be said for nearly all venture capital, private equity, and even public equity. But the fear that cleantech projects may take a back seat to economic recovery efforts ignores the fact that cleantech is still being embraced by many forward-thinking U.S. companies and investors -- and may just be the driving force behind economic stimulation. 

Both presidential candidates are supporting job creation and have emphasized the role clean technology can play. But even more important, smart investors and companies are already there.  Keep Reading.

Seizing the Moment to Build a Sustainable Economy  As we headed to the polls here in the U.S., the economy, the environment, and our collective common sense told us the old ways are not working. The stumbling financial markets show the consequences of unfettered pursuit of profits in a system that has no debits on the ledger for environmental degradation and no credits for a social conscience. The troubled climate is bringing home the cost of fouling the air and abusing fragile ecosystems. And inequitable use of resources is widening the gap between rich and poor.

The election of Barack Obama and a strengthened Democratic Congress is a pivotal opportunity for the nation to reset its course. We must accept the president-elect’s offer in his victory speech to “join in the work of remaking the nation.” And we must hold our new leaders to their promise to assure a future that is livable, safe and just for everyone.

The new administration and Congress must shun the inevitable excuse that it is “too expensive” to curb global warming, or to end our allegiance to high-carbon fuels. It is too expensive not to act, and the cost of inaction is a future world of 9 billion people is what Barack Obama on election night called “a planet in peril.” It is a world in a headlong rush toward climate instability, water scarcity, high food prices, deeper global poverty, and dangerous addiction to oil and coal.

We believe that investors, companies, and those who work for them, are just waiting for the signals from Washington to begin building a green and sustainable economy—one that creates new business opportunities, trains legions of workers, and assures our future.  Check out the rest of the article here.