Earth Island Institute

The environmental movement is often caricatured as the domain of the limousine liberal. Yes, organic foods are better for the Earth, hybrid cars are wonderful, and passive solar panels on your rooftops help cut down on CO₂ emissions. But who can afford the grocery bill at Whole Foods, the costs of a brand new Prius, or the contractor’s bill for the solar array? You have to have bucks to save the planet – or so the conventional thinking goes.
That cartoonish depiction of the movement likely got a boost recently when some well-heeled folks decided to put their (substantial) money where they say their beliefs are.
The office of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II just announced that the monarch is investing in the world’s largest offshore wind turbine. The giant windmill, which is to be built on the northeast coast of England, will be operational by 2010 and will sell all of its electricity to the national grid. The queen, who is worth about $420 million, is also using her property company, the Crown Estate, to develop wind farms off the Scottish coast.
The announcement of the Queen’s investment came as the heirs of John D. Rockefeller sought to use their influence to compel ExxonMobil – the world’s largest publicly traded oil company and the progeny of Rockefeller’s Standard Oil – to start investing more in renewable energy sources. A resolution under consideration at the oil company’s annual meeting called for establishing an independent chairman position to guide investment in energy technologies other than oil and gas. The shareholders’ resolution was similar to those proposed in the past – only this time it had the public support of descendants of the Exxon founder. The resolution failed to pass, but it did garner 39 percent of shareholders’ votes.
Of course, you don’t have to be a millionaire to make a meaningful contribution to saving the ecosystems on which we depend. As Van Jones of the Ella Baker Center passionately points out, the only way to successfully create a sustainable society is through ensuring that everyone – regardless of income or ethnicity – is provided a way to transition to the green economy. If we rely on the Royals and the Rockefellers, we just end up with green apartheid … and then that limousine liberal caricature will ring true.
Still, the news is good news. After all, someone has to put up the money to get the green economy up and rolling.

 

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