The Editors of ETR went and saw a forum on climate change in NYC this past fall hosted by the North Country School and Camp Treetops. While I think all of us were were most excited to hear Bill Mckibben speak (and he didn’t disappoint), another one of the panelists also piqued our interest. Tom Steyer bubbled with enthusiasm and confidence. He is now making headlines, as he plans to bring his wealth and influence to fight climate change. When I say wealth, I’m talking “as much as $100 million” kind of wealth. You should read more about it in this NY Times Article.
As the article points out, Steyer’s approach begs some interesting questions in that age old balance of realism and idealism. The idealist in me wants to say that lobbying with big money is one of the biggest problems with our current system of government. The realist in me, which is winning out, however, thinks that if you want to win, you have to play the game, and it seems that right now big money is how you get on the board. And this kind of big money is a drop in the bucket compared with the oil lobbies. So… go Tom, go.
What do you think?
