The Issue of the Red Greens

As I write this evening, The first story on BBC news is the story of the Islamic Extremists who planted car bombs in London and Glasgow. The second is of Islamic extremists in a firefight with Pakistani authorities at the Red Mosque in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. Kids with weapons dying because of the manipulation and deceit of adult
Islamic extremists.

The current state of global violence and instability is being fueled by an ideological movement of Islamic Extremists and is every bit as dangerous as the ideology of Nazism and Communism.

Every American is a potential target of Islamic Terrorists. Yet, day after day, we run our automobiles, factories and homes on energy largely derived from imported oil. Much of it from the Middle East. The danger to the security of of United States inported oil presents is enormous. And at the same time, the more fossil fuel we burn, the greater our contribution to Global Warming.

You would think that the nexus between national security and environmental issues would have brought people interested in either issues together a long time ago. One reason it has not is very well articulated by Rich Karlgaard in June of 2007 in Forbes Magazine. In many ways there are two very different green movements. The Red Greens see the ending of capitalism as necessary for solving contemporary environmental problems. It is very difficult for enviornmentalists of this ilk to work with Corporate America. Forbes Rich Karlgaard notes that "It's hard to find a major CEO today who isn't talking Green." His advise to CEOs who are skeptical about Global Warming is "zip your lip and go Green anyway...it's the smart, economical thing to do." Kirlgaard's basic premise is that "Going Green makes sense, dollarwise and healthwise." Corproate America is going green. Meanwhile, many Red Greens are upset because they are not doing it for "the right reason."


Hats off to the Environmental movement for bringing consciousness of environmental issues mainstream. In the present circumstances, it is urgent for both environmental and national security purposes that we break our addiction to foreign oil. In many ways today, however, it is not the environmental movement which is leading the way - its American business. Why? For some, certainly not all, in the environmental movement, it is very distasteful and unacceptable to think that American business will be a major player in the making the changes America must make. Even more unsettling to these folks is that Corporate America will make a profit in the process. Corporate America isn't the problem. Al-Qaeda and American complacency is the problem. If you dislike Corporate America so much that you'd rather continue the status quo than see Corporate America be a big part of the solution - Osama bin Laden loves you!