Comments on: Are We Nearing the Tipping Point?

By: Paul Sheldon

Paul Sheldon — Sun, 05 Feb 2006 13:12:45 +0000

Yep, Bush is insincere at best, straight up lying is more likely. Note his target date of 2025 is 17 years after he leaves office–how likely is he to feel accountable for THAT? No different than the auto industry in 1970 saying, “We need 10 more years to begin fuel efficiency standards.”
BUT, that Bush felt obliged to add “healthy energy” to his “health forests” and “clear skies” initiatives may just be the final indicator that the tippping point has arrived–if the imperial powers feel the need to be seen as jumping on the bandwagon, then there must be a bandwagon around here somewhere.
My index will be when scalpers on the street are selling tickets to Nick and Gil’s next presentation for $400 :-)

By: ProgGrrl

ProgGrrl — Sat, 04 Feb 2006 15:37:54 +0000

Unfortunately, I agree wholeheartedly with george on this one: the main reason Bush used the words “foreign oil,” as opposed to just “oil,” is to continue to push for increased drilling/mining of American parks, oceans, etc. I hate to be so negative on this, but the Republicans are pretty much transparent on this issue and are not backing down.
That said: I completely agree the tipping point has arrived, and I am hoping the so-worshipped Free Market is gonna move things in better directions. With or without government’s help.

By: george

george — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 15:34:08 +0000

The prez, unfortunately "didn't mean it literally." One day after President Bush vowed to reduce America's dependence on Middle East oil by cutting imports from there 75 percent by 2025, his energy secretary and national economic adviser said Wednesday that the president didn't mean it literally.

By: Jon Gelbard

Jon Gelbard — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 08:49:22 +0000

I think we’re getting close.
Unfortunately, we are also getting close ecologically and biogeochemically.
Meaning that the sudden acceleration of the rise in CO2 levels over the last few years observed at Mauna Loa could indicate that positive feedbacks toward a runaway greenhouse effect are kicking in (as has been predicted by scientists). With all the articles about melting permafrost, I fear that it is resulting in the decomposition of carbon that has been out of the active global carbon cycle for tens to hundreds of thousands of years (if not more). Combine that with the sudden (last century) injection of hundreds of millions of years worth of previously fossilized carbon (fossil fuels emissions) into the relatively thin layer of atmosphere that surrounds the earth (if the earth was an apple, as thick as the apple’s skin), and it’s easy to see how we’ve got a serious problem on our hands.
So let that thought keep motivating you in the urgency of your positive, solution-oriented actions.

By: Gil Friend

Gil Friend — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 21:17:20 +0000

In a presentation I gave to a bunch of industry execs in Phoenix last week, I proposed that the ‘tipping point’ is already here — that in fact we’ll look back some years from now and say ’2005 was it.’
My short list:
- GE/Ecomagination
- JPMorganChase
- Goldman Sachs
- WalMart, of all things (I know, I know; see http://www.natlogic.com/news/Year_In_Review/index.html)
- Katrina
- Wilma
And no doubt more. Sure, some of this may be lip service, but much of it isn’t. We’re seeing both more depth and more receptivity in the business words than ever before.
It’s time for full court press, team!