January 16th, 2008 · 1 Comment

A: Well, excessive consumerism is something to avoid, but it’s through the marketplace that these kinds of innovations get developed.

Q: Where are you from? Have you always been environmentally oriented?

A: I’m from the suburbs of New York City, from Westchester County, and I was raised to be very progressive, socially aware, and to some degree socially responsible, but the environment was not a particular part of my family when I was growing up. … I went from being a ski bum in Vail after college to moving to Nanjing China for two years (where he taught at a university, thinking he wanted a career in diplomacy). . . . While I was there, in 1995, I got a job at a factory called Kryptonite, which made bicycle locks, sent them to the United States. And I thought, Maybe we should try to sell the bike locks here (in China) since there are so many bicycles in that country. So I did that for about a year, traveling around and selling those. It was one of the most important experiences of my life. . . .Also I’d lived in France for a while. So I came back to the States, not thinking my country sucked but thinking that America does really well when we are the good guys, but we’re also better when we have an adversary — like during the Cold War.

But I thought, now the (post Cold War U.S.) adversary will be China, economically. I said, My gosh, they’re building highways, bridges and all these infrastructures for the automobile. And I thought, they’re not going toward bicycles, they’re going toward cars, and I’m not sure the environment can’t sustain another billion cars… That helped me (shift more toward becoming an environmentalist).

Q: What about the claims that “It’s too expensive to be REALLY green”

A: I don’t buy that. Granted, we can’t all put solar panels on our house, but there are little things. We can change the thermostat to monitor the temperature in your home. … Or, when you’re going out to buy something that you don’t actually need like a new pair of jeans, why not buy organic. . . . But if you don’t really need it, don’t buy it. If you don’t really need a new dishwasher or refrigerator or washer right now, don’t buy one. But when it comes time to do that, there are good choices to make.

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