Over the past 16 years, I have been involved in 5 successful startup companies ranging from an energy company, to several .com companies. Now I am focusing all of my attention on creating the tipping point in the sustainability movement by pushing initiatives in government, business and the broader social landscape. 
Many people are curious, what I am doing since I left Powerset. Well, the short story is that I have decided to dedicate myself to what I call the new Green Economy and I am working on several initiatives with other leaders in government and businesses that all fall under the responsibility of non-profit that I am founding called SF Green. UNBOUND LOGIC
Green Libertarians...Huh?
Why all Libertarians have to be Green by definition
In a society driven by the rules of capitalism and consumerism, it actually doesn't matter if an individual believes in global warming, it's whether the masses of consumers believe in it or not. See how I convinced a Libertarian that this will be the century businesses will go green. This is an extra sentence to test out my new styles. I need to see what happens with overflow.
Clay Shirky thinks Libertarians are greenies too - read up on Clay's great article on why he think Libertarians must be green.
Tom Friedman disagrees - Tom thinks that Libertarian could be the root of all of the trouble.
Liberal Libertarians to the Rescue - read up on Clay's great article on why he think Libertarians must be green.Tom Friedman disagrees - Tom thinks that Libertarian could be the root of all of the trouble.Clay Shirky thinks Libertarians are greenies too - read up on Clay's great article on why he think Libertarians must be green.Tom Friedman disagrees - Tom thinks that Libertarian could be the root of all of the trouble.Liberal Libertarians to the Rescue - read up on Clay's great article on why he think Libertarians must be green.Tom Friedman disagrees - Tom thinks that Libertarian could be the root of all of the trouble.Liberal Libertarians to the Rescue - read up on Clay's great article on why he think Libertarians must be green.Tom Friedman disagrees - Tom thinks that Libertarian could be the root of all of the trouble.A while ago, one of the folks that read my blog accused me of being a tree hugging dark green liberal and stated that he thought global warming was a fad, that none of it will stick and emailed me a slew of videos, papers and information to support his argument. In response, I sent him an email letting him know that his premise was flawed - that whether or not we will do anything about global warming is a separate question from whether or not it is happening. In other words what I told him is that perception is reality in human movements and what consumers perceive as reality in a capitalistic world is what is king.
Speech marks. Curly quotes. That annoying thing cool people do with their fingers to emphasize a buzzword, shortly before you hit them.
You see, while I personally believe global warming is in fact happening and that we need to do everything we can to halt our negative effects on the climate, I don't think it is actually relevant to whether or not the world is going to do anything about it. What is relevant is whether or not people who by products (the Jones') think global warming is happening. But isn't this an incredibly capitalistic and, dare I say, libertarian view? Well, maybe... but keep reading and I will go full circle back to power to the people.
The way I see it is that if consumers are worried enough about global warming that they see products that fight global warming in some manner are worth more, or have added value, then they will buy those products. Companies, who want to improve the bottom line, will react to this consumer sentiment regardless of their position on global warming.
Thus, I think that it is not only possible, but probable that even a company who thinks global warming is all a bunch of hogwash will still respond strongly to this type of consumer demand.
This was the basic argument that I laid out to the reader that had challenged me to the global warming duel. In the conclusion of my email, I let him know that if he is a true libertarian then he will have to agree with me - global warming is as real as it gets.
The only difference between he and I was that I personally believe global warming is happening and he personally didn't believe in it - but we both had to agree the consumers overwhelmingly agree with it, are demanding products that fight it and are driving companies to react. What I asked him was "if you were a CEO of a company that sold products, would you be making 'green' products?"
His answer: "YES"
What this highlights is the growing power of the consumer, especially organized consumers. Think about translating my argument with my new libertarian friend beyond global warming and to all of the key areas of sustainability. Who cares if Pepsi or Coke believes in the importance of having enough drinking water for the world. I wouldn't waste a single second trying to convince the executives at those companies about the "goodness" of these things. I would spend every second convincing their consumers so these companies see a direct a substantial effect on the bottom line
It is for this reason that I think the power of social networks will play a major new role in the development of the human race. The people on these social networks are connected in a way that couldn't have even been imagined 5 years ago by the leaders of industry or the leaders of governments. There are over 900 million people connected across all social networks in the world and each social network could soon have power that rivals that of a single country - (if Facebook were a country, it would be already be the 5th largest in the world). In addition, while many claim social networks are simply one big teenage party, the demographics of the networks are rapidly changing.
Did you know that the fastest growing demographic on Facebook is 35-54 and the second fastest is seniors. Within 2-5 years the demographics of social networks, like Facebook, will be roughly equivalent to that of the voting population of the US - with one major difference - they have an incredibly powerful tool at their disposal to help them organize in ways that no government or business can control. What's more is that the power of social networks extend far beyond the democracies and developed countries. In fact the largest social network in the world isn't in the US, it's in China. And the third largest is in Brazil.
Liberal Libertarians to the Rescue - read up on Clay's great article on why he think Libertarians must be green.. read up on Clay's great article on why he think Libertarians must be green. read up on Clay's great article on why he think Libertarians must be green.