Profit vs. benefit

Bill Maher recently wrote an insightful post arguing that not everything has to make a profit in order to be a good idea. It's actually quite sad he even had to write that, it's a testament to how twisted some of our thinking has become.

Am not sure where this started. But one movement we can certainly point to as part of the problem is those who believe that paying any amount of taxes is bad, and that the government's responsibility is to keep as much of our money in our own pockets as possible.

Don't get me wrong, I like keeping as much after-tax income as I can. What gets missed though is the trade-off. The other side of the coin. And when Ilook I sure don't like what I see: Fast deteriorating public education. Non existent public health. Massive national debt.

Bill Maher is right. Profit is not the right measure for many things. Benefit is. We should look at how our public dollars are invested not based on financial efficiency, but on value generated. What is the benefit of adequately funded public education? What is the benefit of universal access to quality health care? What is the benefit of sustainable farming? What is the benefit of reducing dependence on fossil fuels? When asked that way, the question gets re-framed and the answer starts informing the choices we need to make.

I'll be the first to say that not all tax dollars are used wisely. And the ''pork'' that gets attached to most appropriations bills in Congress (or in State legislatures) is disgusting. Anti-tax militants love to highlight all those earmarks and amendments that spend huge amounts of public funds on obscure programs aimed at benefiting a small elite with usually no lasting value.

What is desperately needed is a bottoms-up budgeting effort to reset what we should expect from our government and what we're willing to pay for it. Next to each line item should be some kind of benefit statement, i.e. why is this here.

And I mean everything. Let's carve up the hundreds of billions of agriculture subsidies and understand where this money is going and what it's buying us. Are these subsidies encouraging responsible land use? Sustainable farming practices? A healthy food supply for the nation? The brilliant movie Food, Inc. argued the system is actually encouraging the opposite.

How about the hundreds of billions spent on defense? Where is that money going? How much of it is actually used to secure the nation's borders vs. funding offensive efforts away from our shores? What is the benefit statement, short and long term, for these investments?

In the end, what I'd love to see is a 'Bill of Rights'-like charter, maybe even a constitutional amendment, outlining the primary responsibilities of the government to the people of this country. Imagine seeing things in there like insuring a healthy food and water supply, access to clean and renewable energy, healthcare for all regardless of ability to pay, etc...

We take some things for granted. Like everyone expects the fire department to show up if their house is on fire, whether poor or rich. We all accept that the nation's roads and highways are for everyone. We all hope for (this one becomes questionable) equal treatment in the justice system.

Yet we've come to accept some blatant inequalities as fact of life. Ability to pay defines the type of healthcare you have access to, the quality and reliability of the food you eat and water you drink, even the air you breathe to some extent.

Al Gore, in his award-winning documentary, states that all research, data, facts about climate change point to an 'inconvenient truth'. This can be said for other things as well.

The US has led the world in many areas over the course of its history. It has never failed at anything when it pursued clearly defined objectives and applied the necessary amount of resources, time and focus to it.

Let's challenge our leaders to set their sights on ambitious, challenging and most importantly noble goals that will show the world we can muster our ingenuity and resources to produce the kind of free and equal society all should aspire to. Now there's something to get excited about!

Go solar!

“I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power!” Thomas Edison said this. In 1931.

Humans have long understood the power of the sun and its connection to life on earth. Early civilizations, from the Egyptians to the Aztecs, worshiped it as a deity.

For a few decades now we've known that we could harvest the sun's energy to generate clean, renewable energy. Yet much less than one percent of our energy supply comes from solar.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, enough solar energy strikes the nation in a single day to power it for a full year. Read that again and think about that...

I was reading earlier that solar seemed ready to break through in the early 80's after the Carter administration funded research into it. But then Reagan apparently killed all the funding and advances stalled. I wonder what lobby was behind that decision (big coal? big oil?)...

Seems like things are moving again, at a rapid pace. Lots of funding is fueling lots of innovation and technological advances. Subsidies are making solar commercially viable, something it will need for a while until a certain scale can be achieved.

One type of project that I find just brilliant: Making covered parking out of solar panels. For anyone living in the lower half of the US for example, where the sun is abundant, you know how painful it is to get back into a car that's been sitting in the sun. Many places - malls, employers, airports, etc... - have huge outdoor parking lots with no covered parking. What if we could cover all these parking spaces and pay for it by licensing the 'roof space' to electricity producers? Truly seems like a win-win.

Other examples are big 'box' stores like Wal-Mart's or grocery stores using their huge flat roofs to generate at least part of the power needed to run the store.

There is no limit to the ingenuity of human beings and the marvels that modern-day engineering can produce when enough time and resources and focus are applied. Let's make clean, renewable energy the challenge of this generation, let's succeed and make that our gift to the next hundred generations.

Defining the right measures of success

''The end justifies the means". How often we use that little phrase to excuse a whole lot of ugliness.

A quick Google search did not yield a clear source for this statement, but there are apparently clear references to similar sayings going as far back as ancient Greek writings. History is full of memorable endeavors that started with a clear pre-defined outcome (the end) and then set out to achieve that outcome at all costs (the means).

Many quests start out as noble: Every person should be afforded equal rights & opportunities; or we'll put a man on the moon in this decade. But also: let's keep Holy lands safe for Christians (led to the Crusades); let's protect the integrity of the Catholic Church (led to the Inquisition).

Others start out less noble and less specific in their successful outcomes, and that can be dangerous too. Ask most Iraqis how it's felt the last 6 years to be 'liberated'. Or look at the result of the 'advance of civilization' to native American or bison populations in North America.

My point here is that once we decide that a goal is worth reaching, decisions made in the process of reaching that goal are inherently biased. Whether that bias is good or bad is purely subjective and absolutely driven by the quality of the goal itself.

Two simple scenarios to illustrate:
1) I have to get to work on time. Once I've set that as my primary objective, I will find it much more justifiable to break the speed limit, to run lights or stop signs, to engage in aggressive or rude driving.
2) I have to get to work safely. Once I've set that as my primary objective, my behavior is likely to be very different, and certainly more socially acceptable.

In both cases here I am trying to get to work, but the way I qualified or prioritized how I would get there made a big difference in the choices I made to reach that end.

In the movie Food, Inc. (highly recommend), the argument is made that like it or not, the food industry we have today is a result of what we as consumers have valued most, namely convenience and low prices. In the race to compete for our business based on price and convenience, the food industry has made many questionable choices. If instead they defined success (the end) in terms of the public's health or the environmental sustainability of their operations for example, the means they would choose would likely be very different. And they argue they would if we as consumers valued that more than price or convenience...

As with all the big questions our society is having to deal with (healthcare reform, climate change, scarcity of natural resources, poverty, war, etc...), it's important to make sure we define success in the right terms upfront and make sure the means employed to achieve the desired end don't create more problems than they solve. History is full of such examples...

Unity over division

I just finished the book by Kyrsten Sinema, "Unite and Conquer: How to Build Coalitions that Win and Last'. How refreshing!! The book is enjoyable because it is sensible, practical, and to the point. A quick read with some easy-to-refer-back-to sections in each chapter.
I'll let you read the book and get the whole story because I won't do it justice. But in short, the idea is that in politics you can choose to entrench yourself in your ideals and always be a vocal minority who is completely ineffective. Or you can choose to reach across ideological divides, find common ground with the unlikeliest of allies, and do so by anchoring yourself in values and interests, not objectives and pre-defined outcomes. These principles are certainly applicable in the private sector as well where I intend to make good use of them.
Our world is in desperate need of more uniters. We need to reach broadly across constituencies to drive meaningful change in areas like climate change, energy policy or healthcare reform.
Sinema's brand of politics is inspiring and am hoping it starts becoming more the rule than the exception. Well done Rep. Sinema!

Enough about tax hikes!

I'm feeling feisty today, as I write this waiting for a flight that's 2 1/2 hrs late.

I am so tired of all the Washington windbags and others who argue against climate and energy regulation 'because it's just another hidden tax'. HELLO!!

Then again, many of these guys were at the wheel over the past 40 yrs while we repeatedly raped and abused and depleted our poor planet. What's YOUR plan? Do nothing because it might cost money? Didn't seem to bother you to go spend over a trilion dollars to fight an unjust war or bailout Wall Street, but God forbid we spend anything to restore some honor to this generation and leave something sustainable to the next.

Do I sound mad?? Try outraged. Revolted. Mortified. And I'm keeping this PG. Is this going to cost money? You bet!! Try running a bulldozer through your house, then see if you can make it habitable again without paying for it.

Even if there was no other upside than doing what's right it'd be worth doing. But there is in fact plenty:
- Renewable energy technology, sustainable manufacturing methods etc. are going to be in huge demand globally for decades to come. Japan dominated the fuel-efficient car market from day one and hasn't looked back. Does the US need to lose this race also because lobbies are so bent on protecting the status quo?
- The US produces more than 25% of the world's pollution with less than 5% of the world's population. How do you think that makes the world feel about the US when we refuse to sign Kyoto protocol etc... If any other country did this, we'd probably wage war on them citing national security interests. And that'd probably be a good reason!

There is no match anywhere for the power of US ingenuity combined with its entrepreneurial spirit. Let's lead the world in shifting to clean energy, let's make better use of scarce natural resources, let's all make better choices as consumers and citizens. Imagine being able to tell our children we're leaving them the Earth in better shape than the one our parents handed us.

This isn't about money. Or politics. It's about humanity and love for our planet and all its creatures, damn it!!
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Time to stand up and be counted

"It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable." ~ Jean Baptiste Moliere

I came across this quote on Twitter today. Inaction, or not doing something about a problem, can be as damming as doing something to cause the problem. In France for example, 'non-assistance to a person is danger' is a criminal offense. If you see someone in urgent need of help and do nothing, you are criminally negligent.

There is overwhelming evidence that some of our actions as a people are reckless and putting many animal species as well as fellow human beings in mortal danger. The beautifully produced documentary Home makes a very compelling argument not only about the catastrophic effect of global warming (something some people still like to deny is a problem), but the irrefutable fact that we are depleting vital natural resources at an unsustainable rate.

Many of us - myself included - are aware of and concerned about these problems. We lament the dismal example being set by political and corporate leaders and their myopic focus on the next election or quarterly earnings. But when does OUR inaction become complicit in the fact that we are not addressing the problem? Many ordinary individuals at grassroots levels or through NGOs make great personal sacrifices to make a difference. But many more of us need to step up and take an active part in changing our ways, changing our world.

I have a comfortable, privileged life, even by 'Western world' standards. I have more resources at my disposal than a majority of my fellow citizens. I have a choice to make: Do I continue using these resources to avoid the problems of our world (pay more for 'healthy' food, hire home security services, air conditioning, etc...)? Or do I refocus my spare time and resources to help confront and address these problems?

The answer is obvious. Still, inertia is a powerful force, and I realize the crucial first step is to change my ways, my consumption before I can effectively or credibly seek to change anyone else's.

I'll try to keep coming back here to keep track of concrete steps I'm taking in that direction. All advice and comments are welcome!

Beyond Good Intentions

I ran across this interesting project. Check it out at http://www.beyondgoodintentions.com/. An innovative, fresh look at the important question relative to the effectiveness and net impact of various international aid programs and solutions.
A couple of interesting takeaways so far:
- Rather than import 'Western' solutions and answers, use external resources to empower local people to apply locally-sourced solutions. In many cases this seems to be more effective in the short and long term.
- International aid volunteers seem to overwhelmingly feel like they gain more than give from their experience. Not that this is a bad thing in itself. These individuals are likely to come back to their own communities with a new sense of purpose, a new sensitivity and awareness beyond what the media may portray, and hopefully translate that into some sort of local activism or information sharing.

Certainly, we shouldn't turn away from parts of the world that are suffering. But all help is not created equal. Kind of like your buddy who says he can help you fix your roof. He sure means well and will try his best, doesn't mean he'll do a good job of it, and in the end it may rain inside your house :-)