Philanthrocapitalism_ How Giving Can Save the World - Matthew Bishop [86]
Michigan is determined to lead the United States into a new era of clean energy and economic opportunity through NextEnergy, a nonprofit corporation founded in 2002 to advance alternative energy technologies in the automotive, electric power, and defense industries. NextEnergy is located in downtown Detroit’s TechTown, a village for high-tech entrepreneurs established (and now being expanded) by Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Wayne State University, General Motors, and Henry Ford Health System. NextEnergy offers entrepreneurs access to federal and private funding, laboratories, and testing equipment, access to research partners, and support in marketing viable technologies. I toured Next-Energy in April 2007 and saw an amazing array of new products, from hydrogen vehicles developed by the Big Three automakers and independent entrepreneurs, to more efficient solar and wind technologies, to more transformers, and other commercial and consumer products.
In 2006, the National Geographic’s Green Guide ranked the following cities as the top ten in providing energy-efficient, low-pollution, healthy living spaces: Eugene, Oregon; Austin, Texas; Portland, Oregon; St. Paul, Minnesota; Santa Rosa, California; Oakland, California; Berkeley, California; Honolulu, Hawaii; Huntsville, Alabama; and Denver, Colorado. Eugene ranked first because 85 percent of its electricity is generated from hydro and wind power, the city’s vehicle fleets are bio-diesel and hybrid, and there is a great deal of green space. Of course, most cities don’t have access to hydropower, but hundreds of them are in hot pursuit of a green future.
Cities all over the world are going green. As I said earlier, my foundation’s Climate Change Initiative is working with forty of them to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, beginning with an ambitious building retrofit program backed by $5 billion in financing commitments from big banks. The leader of the international effort, London mayor Ken Livingstone, is determined to reduce emissions to 60 percent below 1990 levels by 2025. Based on the progress he’s already made and his commitment of more than $150 million over the next three years, I wouldn’t bet against him.
The greening of cities offers many opportunities for citizen involvement. If your city hasn’t made a specific commitment to reduce emissions to or below the Kyoto targets, you should start by working with like-minded citizens to persuade its leaders to do so, emphasizing the large number of opportunities to save money, create jobs, and meet our climate change responsibilities. If your community already has a conservation and clean energy plan, you can help with the implementation and by convincing as many of your fellow citizens as possible to participate in the effort. The Citizen-Powered Energy Handbook by Greg Pahl has some good ideas on how to start. So does the British NGO Green Alliance. Its Energy Entrepreneurs Network lobbies government at all levels to embrace new ideas and integrate environmental considerations into all aspects of public policy.
The quality of government—its capacity to provide basic services, its level of competence, its responsiveness to its citizens’ aspirations and complaints, its adherence to the rule of law and openness to growth and change—is critical to the ability of citizens in developing countries to improve their lives and to the success of NGO activities and foreign assistance programs. Therefore the efforts of citizen groups who work to improve governance in developing