Policy Paper: Fairly Trading the World's Timber 

By David Callahan in the Washington Post

So the blown-out oil well in the gulf has finally stopped gushing, plugged with heavy mud and awaiting the ultimate "kill" by a relief well. Yet, even with the largest oil spill in the nation's history in the background, what seems to have been killed much more quickly is Washington's will to take meaningful action on the environment. After axing climate-change legislation in late July, the Senate is now taking up a modest energy bill -- and even that effort may go nowhere.

 Hopes for a pivotal BP-driven eco-moment -- remember President Obama's call in June for a new "national mission" to get America off fossil fuels? -- have dissipated, seemingly confirming the common view that powerful energy firms, and corporate America more broadly, stand as the sworn enemies of any bold new environmental rules and that they have the clout to get their way.

Except that old view is no longer quite right. In fact, big business is more divided on energy and the environment than ever before, and the growing rift reflects major power shifts in the economy. On one side are business leaders and shareholders who derive their wealth from resource extraction, fossil-fuel-based power generation and energy-intensive manufacturing -- they are the "dirty rich." On the other are business leaders who run knowledge or service companies that generate very little pollution -- the "clean rich."

The dirty rich are dying off, and the clean rich are coming of age.

Read the rest of the article at the Washington Post

Image via flickr, user bbcworldservice