Check out our nominees, and then vote in the poll below. And tell us who we missed in comments. (Also see our list of villains.)
Barack Obama
OK, it’s obvious—but that don’t mean it ain’t so. The community organizer made it to the White House on a platform of re-powering America. He’s already committed to billions in green investment, assembled a team of veteran operators to coordinate environmental strategy, and promised “bold action.” At this rate he’s going to spike the giddy-meter before he even takes office.
Oprah
Is there any cause this woman can’t turn to gold? The supreme talkmistress turned her gaze to green issues this year, from an episode on California’s landmark Prop. 2 animal-rights initiative to a three-week vegan stunt—oops, we mean stint—to her endorsement of swap parties as a way to lower the cost and impact of holiday gifts. Sure, she flew first-class on that 30 Rock episode—but if she can do for the planet what she did for books, we’ll get over it.
James Hansen
Hansen’s been ahead of his time ever since he first testified before Congress about climate change 20 years ago. This year he made a new clarion call: push atmospheric carbon dioxide back down below 350 parts per million or risk creating a climate like no human has ever seen. No one is more unsparingly honest about the task that lies ahead or more willing to champion radical solutions.
Michael Pollan
For Pollan, the year opened with the publication of the food book of the year—In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. It ended with the food essay of the year—“Farmer-in-Chief” . In between, the bald, bespectacled Berkeley prof tirelessly championed the cause of food-system reform in just about every forum imaginable. Even Obama’s reading his stuff.
Kathleen Sebelius
The Kansas governor, who fairly radiates good sense and managerial competence , has quietly become one of the pioneers in the fight against coal. Late last year her administration blocked permits for two new coal plants because they hadn’t made plans to reduce carbon emissions. The Republican legislature tried to overturn the decision, sending three bills to Sebelius; she vetoed each one. The utility, Sunflower, came after her with nasty ads and lawsuits. Not only is Sebelius not backing down, she withdrew her name from consideration for a Cabinet post in the Obama administration in order to stay in Kansas and see the fight through.
Van Jones
The ubiquitous guru of green brings audiences to their feet with charisma and moral clarity. Everyone from middle-aged money guys to inner-city families to lefty bloggers finds something to love in Jones’ vision of a “green wave that lifts all boats,” a wave driven by a unified progressivism devoted to innovation, investment, and equity. The newly prominent “green jobs” movement has many authors, but it’s difficult to think of another advocate who has done more, more quickly, to reshape the environmental conversation.
Bruce Nilles
One of the year’s most exciting and undercovered green stories was the wild success of the growing grassroots anti-coal movement, a spontaneous social uprising driven by outrage, empowerment, and a fierce sense of justice. Nobody has done more to lend coordination and savvy to that movement than Nilles, director of the Sierra Club’s National Coal Campaign, but as he would be the first to tell you, it’s the ordinary citizens in communities across the country who are the movement’s real heroes.
Thomas Friedman
Many lefties will never forgive New York Times columnist Friedman for his Iraq War advocacy and blind devotion to globalization, but nobody has done more to make green mainstream. Friedman (The Mustache of Understanding to his friends) advocates for sustainability—volubly, unapologetically, and on the big questions, accurately—to an enormous, devoted audience. He’s embiggening the tent.
Paris Hilton
She’s no rocket scientist, but she’s been educating the public in her own special way. In 2008, Paris flaunted green-message Ts, bought a hybrid, and spelled out her “energy policy” in this summer’s infamous campaign-ad spoof.
John Doerr
The legendary venture capitalist has piloted his firm Kleiner Perkins into cleantech in a big way, lending credibility and momentum to a sector that received $1.75 billion in VC investment—in just the third quarter of the year. The Microsoft of clean power is lurking in Doerr’s portfolio somewhere.
Will Allen
Fifteen years ago, a retired pro baller named Will Allen made a most unlikely career move: he decided to launch an organic farm in a low-income neighborhood in Milwaukee. His farmhands would be un- or ill-employed neighborhood teens. At the time, “urban farm” was an oxymoron. Today, urban farms are the rage. Allen’s project, Growing Power, has expanded to Chicago, and this year his efforts were recognized with a MacArthur “genius” award.
Mary Nichols
The head of California’s Air Resources Board is busy doing something nobody in the U.S. has done before: implementing a comprehensive climate-change plan in a major economy (California is the world’s 10th largest). This ain’t inspirational speechmaking—it’s thankless, painstaking work requiring superhuman patience and diplomatic skill. Nichols has got them.
Terry Tamminen
The one-time Schwarzenegger aide is the most important climate campaigner you’ve never heard of. Through sheer intelligence, hard work, and force of will, Tamminen has brought the majority of America’s governors together to plan for a climate future—and to strike deals with state and provincial leaders around the world. When national leaders finally get serious, they’ll find a policy superstructure already in place, and for that you can thank Tamminen.
Nancy Pelosi
Pelosi has imposed discipline on House Dems and passed piece after piece of green legislation (only to see them watered down or killed in the Senate). She outplayed one of the House’s wiliest operators, John Dingell, engineering a coup that put the more progressive Henry Waxman in at the head of the Energy Committee without leaving so much as a fingerprint. Now she’s ready to come out blazing with a huge green stimulus package in early 2009. Don’t be fooled by the pearls and smiles—Nancy Pelosi will cut you.
Dan Reicher
A brainy and committed green, Reicher is director of climate and energy initiatives at Google.org, the company’s quasi-philanthropic arm. His goal is to make Google the, um, Google of energy. (This year the big investment was advanced geothermal.) He’s also organized the clean-tech community to work with the Obama campaign and advised the Obama transition team on energy matters.
Shai Agassi
The charismatic founder of Project Better Place is bringing convenient, affordable electric-car infrastructure to Israel, Denmark, Australia, Hawaii, and now California. They said it couldn’t be done—and by “they” we mean the sclerotic Big Three. Guess they were wrong.
Miley Cyrus
This year the teen crooner released a song with the refrain, “Everything I read—global warming, going green/I don’t know what all this means, but it seems to be saying/Wake up, America, we’re all in this together.” Note to NASA: Like, totally.
Veroes? Hillains?
We couldn’t decide whether these final three folks were heroes or villains. What do you think?
T. Boone Pickens
On one hand, he’s probably done more to make Americans take wind power seriously than anybody on the planet, including that Al guy. On the other hand, he’s got some cockamamie ideas about natural gas and a jones for eminent domain we just don’t feel comfortable putting in the hands of a Texan. Anyway, we can’t shake the feeling that this whole energy-security thing is some kind of super-genius, triple-bank-shot scheme to make eleventy kajillion (more) dollars.
Jim Rogers
The CEO of Duke Energy has been a tireless advocate for carbon legislation and utility energy-efficiency programs. Hell, he was reportedly on Obama’s short list for energy secretary. Buuuuut ... his company keeps pushing to build deadly dirty coal plants and offloading the risk for those financially disastrous choices onto its ratepayers.
Sarah Palin
This good ol’ girl descended on the political scene like a spinning disco ball into a meeting of the math club. After a period of stunned gawking, America noticed that she kills moose and wants to kill polar bears, thinks all energy is oil and all oil is in Alaska, and doesn’t seem to quite get the whole global-warming thing. Which is, y’know, bad—except that it motivated millions of progressive voters to get off their butts and go to the polls (and Tina Fey to get even funnier). Thanks, Sal! (Can we call you Sal?)
Sorry, the poll you are seeking no longer exists. If you’re in a voting mood, suggest a poll and you might just see it on the site.
Top 25 reasons to give a damn about climate change
Hollywood’s next green generation
Change the world by changing your underpants, and more
Comments
View as Flat
stevenearlsalmony Posted 10:44 pm
21 Dec 2008
If President-Elect Barack Obama cannot bring about necessary change, I do not know who else can more adequately provide such vitally needed leadership.
Steven Earl Salmony
AWAREness Campaign on The Human Population, established 2001
http://sustainabilityscience.org/content.html?contentid=1 ...
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Earl Killian Posted 12:10 am
22 Dec 2008
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madorno Posted 6:19 am
22 Dec 2008
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rosweed Posted 6:23 am
22 Dec 2008
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carolynkay Posted 9:22 am
22 Dec 2008
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Delay And Deny Posted 10:34 am
22 Dec 2008
The time for whistle blowers and preaching to the choir has ended.
We need solutions, not proselytizers. And those solutions will come from technology.
The best "grid" system to replace the current CO2 bound centralized system is a loosely coupled, multinode, individually owned one based on hydrogen and electricity created with renewable wind, solar and backed up with modern nuclear baseload.
With that in mind, I nominate Daniel G. Nocera of MIT whose electrolysis process, that mimics the low cost methods of plant photosynthesis, puts us on the the productive road to clean, low cost energy with zero CO2 emissions.
"This is the essence of science...you ask an impertinent question and you're on your way to a pertinent answer." -- Fox Mulder, S1E4, "Conduit"
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dobermanmacleod Posted 3:18 pm
22 Dec 2008
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/craig-venter-fuel ...
Geneticist Craig Venter Wants to Create Fuel from CO2
"Craig Venter is an interesting person. He seems to always be at the cutting edge of biotechnology: In 2001, he made headlines for sequencing the human genome. In 2003, he started mapping the ocean's biodiversity. Now he, with his firm Synthetic Genomics, is working on ways to produce energy with micro-organisms.
Still as ambitious as ever, he just announced at the TED conference: "We have modest goals of replacing the whole petrochemical industry and becoming a major source of energy, we think we will have fourth-generation fuels in about 18 months, with CO2 as the fuel stock." What's this fourth-generation fuel he's talking about? Biofuel alternatives to oil are third-generation. The next step is life forms that feed on CO2 and give off fuel such as methane gas as waste, according to Venter.
His team is using synthetic chromosomes to modify organisms that already exist, not making new life, he said. Organisms already exist that produce octane, but not in amounts needed to be a fuel supply. The genetics of octane-producing organisms can be tinkered with to increase the amount of CO2 they eat and octane they excrete, according to Venter."
Or Mark Goldes (CEO of Magnetic Power Inc.)
http://www.magneticpowerinc.com/summary.html
Magnetic Power Inc. Executive Summary
Energy Independence and a Powerful Economic Stimulus are on the Horizon
"MPI is developing breakthrough energy technologies. Based upon proprietary discoveries and a series of prototypes constructed in MPI's labs, motors and generators are being designed that operate continuously, without fuel, extracting electricity by converting an abundant, renewable, extremely dense, energy source that has never before been commercialized. The process will create no pollution. Variations will provide a permanent power supply that can recharge, and eventually replace, the need for batteries of all sizes. The cost of electricity from these technologies promises to be less than any competing form of power generation."
Both Craig Venter (turning CO2 into fuel biologically that for instance promise feasible clean coal) and Mark Goldes (producing solid state power generators that for instance promise clean self-charging batteries) are heros for thinking outside the box and promising us a solution for global warming (dare I say none of the other nominees on the above list meet that criteria).
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dobermanmacleod Posted 3:33 pm
22 Dec 2008
In other words, only by thinking outside the box can we solve global warming. Those that advocate a carbon diet schemes are no better than global warming deniers or delayers:
"Processes that would normally regulate climate are being driven to amplify warming. Such feedbacks, as well as the inertia of the Earth system -- and that of our response -- make it doubtful that any of the well-intentioned technical or social schemes for carbon dieting will (work). What is needed is a fundamental cure." --Dr James Lovelock
Any carbon diet strategy would be dependent upon clean coal:
"The vast majority of new power stations in China and India will be coal-fired; not "may be coal-fired"; will be. So developing carbon capture and storage technology is not optional, it is literally of the essence." --"Breaking the Climate Deadlock," Tony Blair, June 26, 2008
But, Vaclav Smil, an energy expert at the University of Manitoba, has estimated that capturing and burying just 10 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted over a year from coal-fire plants at current rates would require moving volumes of compressed carbon dioxide greater than the total annual flow of oil worldwide -- a massive undertaking requiring decades and trillions of dollars. "Beware of the scale," he stressed."
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christophersj Posted 4:02 pm
22 Dec 2008
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Glauke Posted 6:41 pm
22 Dec 2008
Plus, James Hansen is my Climate Champion of All Ages and Authoritive Source. That's not just 2008.
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Delay And Deny Posted 11:24 pm
22 Dec 2008
Give me even one single reason you are concerned about CO2 emissions.
'Cause you using up all my air, cuz.
"This is the essence of science...you ask an impertinent question and you're on your way to a pertinent answer." -- Fox Mulder, S1E4, "Conduit"
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Cynewulf Posted 4:58 am
24 Dec 2008
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Komako Posted 7:21 am
24 Dec 2008
Let's face media truth: Paris Hilton may star in some satirical skit, wear t-shirts, and encourage people to buy hybrids, but contributes nothing to the actual meat of the green movement. It's small aristocrats like Terry Tamminen, with honest, environmentally concerned agendas that push policies and get things done--whether they be California or DC.
Admittedly, there are many qualified candidates on the list. But, Terry takes the cake in my book; he's a future star on the right track to make a huge impact in our "green" world.
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mathnsci Posted 12:59 pm
24 Dec 2008
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wildleaf Posted 1:31 pm
26 Dec 2008
The Black Car Project Killing cars before they kill us!
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amazingdrx Posted 7:32 pm
26 Dec 2008
The people rooted in your continent are sadly plagued by the abuse of fire that has over-run that space. They do not feel the Earth, the womb of soil or hear the whispers of the trees or see the green people in the forest. These voices have not been silenced yet these messages have been ignored. Fire was always used to help create life in the old way. Not to obscure it! Fire was used to bring peace and union to the earth with the sacred pipe. Not to plunder it! The worst abuse of fire that even I can scarcely speak of is the use of fire with intent to dominate the earth and claim superiority over all other creatures!"
"This is the abuse that has created your people's confusion as you cling to gadgets and conveniences yet have no instinctive practices. The ways of uniting with the earth as primal beings and in rituals have been twisted into delusions of superiority instead of connection. You hold your tools of fire before you like saviors from the 'filth' of earth, and in this mind belief you develop technology!
http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin
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mkk144 Posted 12:17 am
27 Dec 2008
http://www.yellowsandblues.com/postDetail.php?id=245& ...
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xchopp Posted 11:24 pm
30 Dec 2008
OK?
Oh and changing the Earth's energy budget: CO2 is a RADIATIVELY ACTIVE gas. Sure there are other forcings but that's the biggie according to the folks who devoted decades to looking at the atmospheric physics rather than relying on their gut feeling, "common sense", Bill O'Reilly, or "ooh, it's cold in Minneapolis today". There are uncertainties, largely around the roles of aerosols and clouds -- but just because we don't know everything doesn't mean that we know nothing.
If you are really serious in your desire to learn more:
(a) take out subscriptions to Science and/or Nature and/or Global Change Biology; and
(b) get yourself to a meeting of the American Geophysical Union so you can listen to/grill the scientists in person. You'll have a choice of -- oh I don't know -- over 15,000 scientists if the Fall meeting was anything to go by. Be prepared to be totally blown away by the size and scope of the meeting (search the Fall meeting abstract database).
When you've done even some of these activities, please come back here and relate the story of how you discovered that digging up and burning billions of tonnes of ancient carbon is a problem after all.
A third reason to be concerned: there seem to be so many people who appear absolutely convinced, in spite of all available evidence, that CO2 is not a problem -- in a context where a lot of $$ are at stake. Smell fishy to you? It sure does to me.
P.S. If you are really, really, really serious in your desire to learn more: go back to school and get that PhD for yourself.
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xchopp Posted 11:38 pm
30 Dec 2008
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gdenemark Posted 6:28 am
03 Jan 2009
I take issue with your article title: "Holding out for a hero". With the nature of the global warming problem being one of such tremendous magnitude with such potentially catastrophic consequences and furthermore, factoring in that the window of opportunity for adequately responding to this crisis is quickly diminishing, I feel that we greatly reduce our chances of creating necessary change if we are "holding out" and looking for others to become our heroes.
As we've seen throughout history, real change comes from the people. As we've so very recently witnessed, the trickle-down approach has failed miserably. The kind of change that is truly needed will come from the bottom and percolate up.
But again, unlike some other causes, we have tight time constraints for accomplishing almost more than can be imagined. So it is critical for every one of us to stop holding out for a white (er, GREEN) knight to come riding to the rescue, and instead we should look to ourselves to take to the streets, to our computers, etc and get the movement MOVING!
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rjbender Posted 7:00 am
06 Jan 2009
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Noelle Robbins Posted 10:53 am
09 Jan 2009
Best,
Noelle Robbins
(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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