What’s a Tree Worth? – October 11, 2011

A Critique of the Limitations of “Ecosystem Services” and “Natural Capital”

Mark Tercek knows a thing or two about money. For years he worked at the mega investment firm Goldman Sachs, where he headed the Corporate Finance and Equity Capital Markets divisions, and later went on to found the company’s Center for Environmental Markets. Since 2008, he’s been the president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy. Given his background as a Wall Street titan, it’s not surprising that Tercek has taken his market mentality to TNC and tried to focus its efforts on making an economic case for preserving wild places.

“The environmental movement needs to shift gears and try some other approaches,” Tercek… more

by: Jason Mark

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Fracking Law Pits Corporate Secrecy Versus the Public’s Right to Know – October 4, 2011

Halliburton Says that Its Fracking Brew is a Trade Secret

What’s the right balance between corporations’ desire to keep some of their practices secret and the public’s interest in transparent disclosure of those same practices?

I’ve been thinking about that question a lot as I’ve learned about a slow-moving battle in the California legislature over a new bill that would require oil and gas companies to disclose the chemicals they use during hydraulic fracturing — also known as “fracking.”

Photo by M.V. JantzenAt Lafayette Square, Washington D.C., after the Power Shift 2011 rally.

The political fight in California is, in some ways, a repeat of earlier battles in Wyoming in Texas over the controversial fracking… more

by: Jason Mark

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GMOs: More of a Threat to Political Democracy than Public Health – September 21, 2011

Campaigners Would be Best Served by Dropping the Hyperbole

“The GMOs are coming! The GMOs are coming!”

Such was the Paul Revere-like tone in a pair of emails that I got this week from the folks at CREDO Mobile and Food Democracy Now, an outfit of farmers and ranchers committed to a more sustainable food system. The email — which warned that Monsanto is ready to bring transgenic sweet corn to major grocery chains — had everything I’ve come to expect in online political messaging: It was pithy, passionate, and full of punch. I was ready to count myself among those who, as the email asked, “refuse to purchase Monsanto’s genetically modified sweet corn.”

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by: Jason Mark

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Green Machine? – September 9, 2011

Ford Motor Company Says It's Serious about Sustainability

Every couple of years the braniacs at the Union of Concerned Scientists rank the environmental performance of the major auto companies. And every time the list comes out the US-based car and truck makers fall at the back of the pack. The 2010 ranking, for example, had Honda narrowly beating Toyota and Hyundai by a score of 86 to 87 (a lower score means better eco performance). Detroit, meanwhile, was at risk of getting lapped. Ford scored 108 on the UCS chart, which measures the smog-forming and greenhouse gas emissions of a company’s vehicle fleet. GM came in with a score of 109. For the fourth time, Chrysler was ranked… more

by: Jason Mark

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Keystone XL Will Not Reduce Oil Imports from the Middle East – August 30, 2011

We Won’t Be Able to Break Our Dependence on Unsavory Regimes Until We Break Our Dependence on Oil Altogether

If you’re following the increasingly heated controversy over the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that will bring tar sands crude oil from the far reaches of Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, you’ve probably heard this line by now: Increasing oil imports from Canada will reduce imports from undemocratic nations and reduce the money we are sending to the monarchs and despots of the Middle East. Russ Girling, CEO of TransCanada, the company behind the new pipeline, made that case earlier this year when he told reporters: “Keystone XL will improve US energy security and reduce dependence on foreign oil from the Middle East.” Supposedly, Americans face a… more

by: Jason Mark

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