Naturally Interesting

Today’s environmentalist can be found at a renewable energy start-up, one that is funded by venture capitalists concerned with both the environment and profit. Saving the world right now is focused on one thing: energy

and while the old green virtues of conservation, of simple living, must play a part in our response, the key will be technology. This is a race that will create new billionaires. It’s a huge opportunity for America. But it’s an opportunity that the U.S. will miss if it fails to enact the policies to match its technology. That’s the underlying message of Earth: The Sequel

Fred Krupp of the Environmental Defense Fund argues that renewable energies can be price competitive once they achieve economies of scale. And that will require governmental support, in Krupp’s view, through a carbon cap-and-trade system.

The idea that new technology can get us out of the climate fix that old technology put us in is an attractive one — especially if we can make a buck while doing so. Venture capitalists invested $3 billion in clean tech in 2007, according to Dow Jones VentureSource, and they’d like a nice return. (But at least the VCs are spending money — federal investment in renewable energy research is a paltry $1 billion, or roughly a day of revenue for Exxon Mobil.) But there’s no reason that business can’t be a major part of the climate change solution, or that profit isn’t concordant with a desire to save the Earth.

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