Earth Day Gets Real And Finds a New Champion
Every true artist strives for perfection and leaves masterpieces in his wake. So it is with President Joe Biden who has pledged his – and our nation’s – all out efforts to slash the United States’ greenhouse gas emissions to 50 percent below the 2005 level by the year 2030.
Mr. Biden launches a lofty, idealistic goal in the face of a very real threat. It is exactly what is needed. Most likely it is the only strategy that holds any chance of success. Every business leader knows that major innovations cannot be achieved incrementally – backsliding from baby steps is too easy and comfortable. Our reach must disruptively exceed our grasp. Best scientific estimates state that if climate change is not addressed, it will avalanche more than $23 trillion in damages within the next thirty years. It is not a price tag which can shunted off onto poor nations alone.
Most media have responded to the Biden challenge, alas, by betting on the horse race and laying out the odds. Can he cross the finish line by the due date? How muddy is the political track? Is this the right jockey? And most frequently, what will be the personal inconvenience incurred by citizens during the race? In short, journalism pours its considerable talents into cynically reminding us that if Joe Biden cannot win this race, there doesn’t seem to be any point in trying at all. (Interestingly, no one is asking whether the President’s climate change challenge is just a mere political stunt. Everyone knows better. Like all revolutionaries, Mr. Biden, and his entire administration are in deadly earnest.)
Now I am not naive. Achieving this 50 percent cut, or even coming close to it, will wrench us drastically from our current economy and life styles. It is probable that coal fired power plants will cease, and be replaced by wind, solar, nuclear, and gas sources – modes of power each with very real scalability and danger problems. Nearly half America’s beloved automobiles on her beloved (hopefully repaired) roadways will have to convert to electric power within eight years, including all the new infrastructure such a change entails. Massive programs for new and retrofitted energy efficient buildings will doubtless be demanded. Job re-training, carbon pricing vs. rewards…the innovation list goes on.
The risk is great, the outcome far from guaranteed. But General George Washington did not muster his troops with, “Let’s take to the field, boys, and see what we can do.” He called for an unthinkable victory over the British, which came within eight years. And in 1962, President John Kennedy did not call for continuing the space program, but rather he challenged us with, “We choose to go to the moon.” Seven years later Neil Armstrong set his foot on the lunar surface. Will President Joseph Biden fill his pledge by the end of the decade? We do not know. But I do know that if a leader’s vision does not frighten the people at least a little, she or he is most assuredly aiming too low. And in his striving for this nearly impossible greenhouse gas emission cutback, win or loose, Joe Biden may just leave behind his masterpiece: a more survivable planet.
Wishing you every success,
– Bart Jackson
Prometheus Social Enterprise Awards 2021 A Call for Nominations
The Prometheus Social Enterprise Awards recognizes those exceptional individuals who by their personal example and their inventive enterprises enrich the human community and shed light into our world.
Do you know an unsung, modern-day Promethean who is putting his or her creative sweat and energy behind a beneficial undertaking and deserves to be held up to light?
Send their nomination to info@bartsbooks.com or complete the contact form on Prometheus Social Enterprise Awards – BartsBooks
The Awards are sponsored by Prometheus Publishing in coordination with the Rothman Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
The Hopeful Generation
“We could could put seed packets in books and distribute them to school children and families…We could connect with universities… employ environmental groups…gain business sponsorships…”
That is the sound of Fairleigh Dickinson University students brainstorming how to re-forest our planet with one trillion (yes, trillion) more trees.
I know it’s traditional to look at the upcoming generation and fear for the future of our world. But let me assure you there seethes an energy, idealism, and creativity in today’s college students unequaled in many decades. Yesterday, FDU professor Gerard Farias invited me to speak to his “Managing Enterprise and Organizations” class. As part of the course, the students select some social need and create an enterprise aimed at fulfilling that need. These students have begun engineering a venture that will provide computers to computer-less young people so they may attend schools online. I challenged them with trillion-tree project, which is currently being undertaken and by social entrepreneur Roland Schatz (with astounding success.) These students’ enthusiasm and depth of thought, along with their unabashed optimism struck me forcefully. Having sat through many a “creative” session with businessfolks twice their age, I have seldom felt such positive hope. ‘Twould not surprise me to come across some of these individuals in the future as candidates for the Prometheus Social Enterprise Awards. So allow me this simple observation: whatever our generations have done to bring us to our present condition, we need not worry. Hot on our heels is coming a horde of freshly inspired successors dedicated to making things a lot better.
Inaugural Peace Honors – Optimism Takes Wing Congratulations of PeaceTech Lab’s CEO Sheldon Himelfarb and Board Chair Nick Donofrio
Congratulations of PeaceTech Lab’s CEO Sheldon Himelfarb and Board Chair Nick Donofrio for launching their inaugural International Peace Honors awards ceremony last night (Jan. 17th). Peacetech Lab employs data, media, and technology, to build scores of grass-roots peace-building enterprises worldwide. Sheldon himself is a 2019 Honoree of the Prometheus Social Enterprise Awards, and Nick Donofrio is a sponsor. Hosted by Ntalie Jimanez, Peace Honors explodes as a lavish , entertaining evening with songs by Sting, Ricky Martin and more. Honors went to Vint Cerf – father of the internet; Opal Toometi – founder of Black Lives Matter; Ricky Martin – who uses his singing talents & funds to enhance and protect children worldwide; Goodwill ambassador and humanitarian Ricardo Montaner; Covid-battling Anthony Fauci – Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; and Amazonian Chief Raoni – fierce advocate for Brazil’s rainforests and indigineous peoples.
To learn more, visit PeaceTechlab.org. To hear Sheldon Himelfarb’s Torchbearer Talk visit Bartsbooks.com – Pormetheus Social Enterprise Awards.
A New Ebook
At last, here is your complete sourcebook of business humor. Here’s your chance to dip in, seize a fistful of wry wit, and pass it along to your fellow dream chasers at work. Bart Jackson believes that the greatest wisdom flies in on the wings of laughter, and for the last decade he’s become known as the man who portrays business in the jocular vein. Bart’s Business Quips books have provided professionals with barrelsful of quotable zingers to spice up their workdays and their presentations. As host of The Art of The CEO Radio show, Bart has been joyously jesting at the lunacies, piercing the pomposities, and celebrating those clever, inventive folks who make up the business community. This volume culls and combines the very best and funniest of his quips, jovial repartee with radio guests, and those sardonic, final takeway Parting Shots which Bart always launches with, “In the Words of My Wife’s Husband…” May you read. laugh, share, and grow nearly wise. P.S. Don’t miss Bart’s Curmudgeopedia with its devilish definitions of business jargon.
Look Who’s being Honored by the Prometheus Social Enterprise Awards….
As you read this, Global Peace Builder Dr. Andrea Bartoli is hammering out a conflict resolution with the warring factions in the Central African Republic – as he has done with countless other nations. Andrea is one of those to be honored at the PSEA ceremony on November 19th – for leading the innovative enterprise Sant’Egidio Foundation for Peace & Dialogue which sheds light into our world. Visit https://bartsbooks.com/prometheus-awards/” to see the other honorees and (after 11/19/2020) to hear his uplifting Torchbearer Talk.
P.S. The Conflict in the C.A.R. is based on whether the factions will recognize the results of the upcoming election – sadly, we of the U.S. are not alone.
Announcing the Prometheus Social Enterprise Awards Nov. 2020
The Prometheus Social Enterprise Awards recognize those exceptional individuals who by their personal example and their inventive enterprises enrich the human community and shed light into our world. The Awards are sponsored by Prometheus Publishing in coordination with the Rothman Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
The 2020 Honorees are Andrea Bartoli, Bruce Boyd, Laura Doherty, Key Han, Roland Schatz, John G. Thompson and Honoree Kendrick Kemp.
https://bartsbooks.com/prometheus-awards/
Greg Williams – Global Master
Proof once again that The Art of the CEO radio brings you the most capable experts on this terrestrial orb.
Renowned research organization Global Gurus recognized repeat art-of-the-CEO guest Mr. Greg Williams
as one of its Top 30 Experts in the World. At the Global Guru ceremony held July 16 in Toronto, Greg became
officially ranked as the Ninth Top Negotiator, and the 18th Body Language Expert worldwide.
Our heartiest congratulations to Greg for the well deserved honors and acknowledgement of his mastery honed over the last three decades.
To share in Master William’s wisdom, enjoy his several shows, available on this site: just search “Greg Williams” and enjoy – we particularly
recommend “Body Language – What Our President Was Really Saying.”
