We can’t successfully tackle climate change without changes to the corporate regime which has been in place in America since the Reagan presidency. That’s the underlying message of Charles Derber in his latest book, Greed to Green: Solving Climate Change and Remaking the Economy. It’s a message he delivers with directness in a book much more readable than I expected from an academic sociologist.

He accepts the position of scientists like James Hansen and others who point to the ominous dangers of tipping points in climate and conclude that we are already above a safe level of atmospheric carbon dioxide, which they consider no more than 350 parts per million. It’s not a happy acceptance. “No sane person would wish it to be the scientific truth,” he writes.

Derber recounts the terrible difficulty he had, after realising with despair the seriousness of climate change, in dealing emotionally with the prospect of mass, collective death — “more difficult than dealing with my own personal death.”

The only good news he discerns is that the scientific truth may be spreading and leading to a tipping point in the world’s social and political awareness. (more…)

Don’t expect climate change to get fixed by the governments of the world.  Don’t expect that, however noble in intention, the efforts of Gore, McKibben, Stern, and their many cohorts will succeed either.  Not on any large scale.  It won’t be clean tech or green products saving the day either.

Climate change, like energy scarcity, water pollution, and other serious global issues is merely one symptom of a larger global problem.  Tackle the symptoms individually, and at best you might get lackluster results.  Tackle the source of the problem, and everything attached to it will be positively affected.

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A greater percentage of consumers are viewing leading brands as being socially responsible, according to preliminary numbers from a consumer survey.

The SHIFT Report, an annual survey of 5,000 people from the North American general population by sustainability marketing consultancy Conscientious Innovation studies attitudes towards sustainability and leading brands.

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