July 3rd, 2007
Disclosure
I have modest investment in mutual funds here and overseas, mostly there because I fear for the future of our economy, based as it seems to be on endless borrowing from Japan and China. Is there debt insurance against political instability in China? A Google search wasn’t reassuring.
I have spent most of my adult life working for large American corporations. I know how they function, make decisons and what they are about. Many of my closest friends and relatives are scientists–I respect what knowledge has done and can still do for us. I have covered the innovation, growth, implosion and evolution of Silicon Valley for decades. It’s a story that mixes the best of human genius, some of the worst of greed, mix in a little science, some brilliant insights, a knack for takiing risk that dates back to California’s FIRSt Gold Rush, and I see some reason for excitement and optimism in the Green Tech world.
I drive a Prius, occasionally. Take public transit when it’s available. Have to fly in airplanes but carry several Gs of guilt over how much planes pollute. Quietly miss the days we lived in Britain. Four years and never owned a car. Vaguely remember being able to ride a train five hundred miles to college from my parents’ house. Kiss those days good-by in car-bound America.
I own a house, pay taxes that get used for corrupt and wasteful purposes by our “leaders,” resent the short-sightedness of individuals and organizations who pollute our nest for short-term gain or pleasure and assume eventually our deep debt to Mother Nature will be paid in full. Cancer, asthma and obesity may just be our first installment. Yet I know that humanity is flexible and given to spurts of insight and progress. Many countries have abandoned slavery and burning witches. See how proud we should be of our progress?
