March 21st, 2011

(This post by Andrew Winston first appeared at Harvard Business Online.)

It’s too soon to say anything definitive about what’s going on in Japan. Who really knows what the outcome might be from the frightening breakdown of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant (the radioactive releases could go on for months)? But the speculation about what this means for a much-touted nuclear “renaissance” in the U.S. began in earnest last week. As the New York Times reported, “U.S. Nuclear Industry Faces New Uncertainty.”

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February 24th, 2011

Activists at 350.org hope to expose the biggest financiers of lawmakers who are stalling on climate change.

Fed up with Congress, where many members deny that climate change exists and fight measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and switch to renewable energy, 350.org is targeting those officials biggest bankroller: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

“For many years, everyone has assumed that if we simply manage to communicate the problem (of climate change), it will lead to action. It hasn’t, for one simple reason: there’s too much money in the way. A wall of money that separates politicians from the scientific truth that we’re in a desperate crisis,” said 350.org founder and noted environmentalist Bill McKibben said in a statement today.

Industry groups, McKibben explained, have been raising doubts about climate change, thwarting Congressional action to mitigate it, and now they’re also trying to stop the EPA from protecting the air, water and atmosphere from polluters.

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