Can going green be good for business?

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Can going green be good for business?

In order to continue an open dialogue in the climate change arena, I recently picked up the book 'The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism' (Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2007), authored by Christopher C. Horner, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, described on its website as a "nonprofit public policy organization dedicated to advancing the principles of free enterprise and limited government". Horner has been making the talk show rounds touting his book and, as a matter of full disclosure, I learned about him and his book on Comedy Central's 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'. However, regardless of how I came to know the existence of this new tome, it's still important to explore all aspects of the monumental issue of global warming.

So far the book starts off strong by lamenting on the first page that "Environmentalism is big business and greens conspire with industry to raise prices for you." Where do you go from there? First, Horner is a part of an organization that is in the business of promoting business and protecting competitive practices. The CEI's board and group of experts are quite a selection of brilliant individuals who truly have a stake in this country's future. So it seems counterintuitive to begin your book with a statement that is at odds with some of the very practices you espouse. It's fully understandable for officers and directors in boardrooms all over America to be looking for the new "competitive edge." And part of this competition is embracing new technologies that actually help the environment. But profit motives have always bred strange bedfellows and this is just another example of the myriad ways in which our capitalistic system brings people together.

It seems preferable that large corporations actually take the time to see that "going green" may actually be good for business. A healthier population that lives longer certainly has many advantages, after all.

Although I haven't quite finished the book yet, and will do so in short order, I have to say that Horner's argument would be more compelling if he didn't constantly quote B-movies like Waterworld and cartoons like Bambi. This only detracts from what is obviously a well-intentioned primer-regardless of your opinion of Horner's thesis-and takes quite a bit away from Horner's credibility.

Want to hear about a specific topic related to the environment, real estate or the housing industry? I invite you to write down your thoughts and email them to us.

Jonathan A. Schein, President & Publisher
HouseMediaNetwork.com & New York House Magazine

MORE ON CLIMATE CHANGE
Since An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore's passionate plea to stop climate change, was released, the concept of global warming has taken fire. Even though pronounced "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people," by Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe in 2003, consensus has never been lacking among scientists.

Now global warming is spurring Texas' main energy supplier to cancel eight of 11 planned coal-fired power plants, western governors to band together to cut greenhouse gas emissions, and the business sector to request that Congress set limits on greenhouse gas emissions. Even before winning an Oscar on February 25, the film's accompanying book sold 850,000 copies, and the film became the third highest grossing documentary in history. Still feel skeptical yourself? Visit www.climatecrisis.net.

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