The seismograph of social change in the USA is the economy. National trust in the mechanisms of the market is often greater than in political forethought. The current trend is toward environmentally compatible industries, toward renewable energy technology and sustainable design. Fund managers are looking right now for investment opportunities in the energy technology sector. Furniture designers like Jesse Johnson produce beautifully designed furniture without chemicals additives.Business representatives are surging into the political arena. At the end of January this year ten large companies, including the energy corporations BP America and General Electric, the chemical corporation DuPont, and the construction and mining equipment manufacturer Caterpillar have founded the United States Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) in Washington D. C. On their Web site the group issues a “Call for Action”. They maintain that the challenges posed by climate change will create more economic opportunities than risks for the US economy. If legislators don’t take immediate action, then the business world must step in with market-driven approaches. And, incidentally, the environment will profit from that.

Two of the leading thinkers on climate change, Peter Goldmark and Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, are addressing the breach between Europe and America over facing up to global warming in an article published in the German magazine "Der Spiegel". They not only see the year 2007 as a possible turning point when Americans finally will step up and act but also develop a practical policy guideline for what Europe should do while it is waiting to see if the US will enact a carbon cap.Read the whole article here

Peter Goldmark, director of the Climate and Air program for Environmental Defense in New York.Foto: www.environmentaldefense.org
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