Michael Kieschnick, president of Working Assets, answers questions 0

Michael Kieschnick.

What work do you do?

I am the president of Working Assets, a social-change company that uses the business of wireless and credit cards to achieve environmental and social progress. Over the years, we have also generated over $50 million in donations to progressive groups, many of them working for wonderful environmental causes. Our customers have also written, called, and emailed at least 4 million times over the years in support of environmental action. I think I have the best job in the world.

What are you working on at the moment?

I am very excited about a couple of major environmental projects. To help those who drive lower their CO2 emissions, we have built a simple tool that lets consumers compare the CO2 emissions of essentially all used and new cars. We are also spending lots of time battling new coal-fired power plants -- in fact, we would like to see no new coal plants. We have been part of coalitions that have blocked a dozen plants so far -- only a hundred or more to go. Right now we are working in the great states of Michigan, Iowa, and Kansas. You can check out our Iowa campaign here.

How do you get to work?

I drive a Prius -- my family has two. I usually leave home by 6:30 a.m. to beat the horrible traffic.

Call of the wild.

Photo: iStockphoto

What long and winding road led you to your current position?

My environmental activism started in second grade, when I pulled up the wooden stakes marking the outlines of roads that would eventually destroy my favorite wild meadow near our house in Dallas, Texas. Later, I was inspired by the first Earth Day and the classic book Limits to Growth to earn undergraduate degrees in biology and economics. I convinced the National Science Foundation to fund my Ph.D. work with a proposal entitled "A Return to the Biophysical Foundations of Economics" in which I proposed to integrate the second law of thermodynamics and general equilibrium economics. That turned out to be too hard! I then moved on to working at the U.S. EPA, then as economic adviser to then-California Governor Jerry Brown, and eventually became a social entrepreneur. I started a small social venture fund called the Sand County Venture Fund, along with co-founding Working Assets.

Where were you born? Where do you live now?

I was born in Dallas, Texas, in 1953 into what would now be called a liberal middle-class family in a right-wing town. My parents helped to start one of the liberal antiwar, pro-integration churches in town (the public schools were racially segregated until I got to sixth grade). Dallas was a great place to grow up if you were white, middle class, went to church, and played football, and not so good for everyone else. Now I live in Palo Alto, Calif., which could not be more different.

What has been the worst moment in your professional life to date?

Easily the worst was when George W. Bush was allowed by Florida state officials and the Supreme Court to steal the 2000 presidential election. We worked very hard to stop this theft and failed. The cost has been almost unbearably catastrophic.

What's been the best?

There have been many! Among the ones that come to mind is our two-decades-long effort to prevent despoiling of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and our successful effort to get Mercedes-Benz to agree to pay reparations to the workers it used as slave labor during World War II.

What environmental offense has infuriated you the most?

I am aggravated every day by Rep. John Dingell's short-sighted protection of the American auto industry from being forced to modernize and make more fuel-efficient cars. Though he claims to care about the good middle-class jobs of autoworkers, the real result of his obstruction has been the loss of tens of thousands of jobs, with more coming every year that Detroit avoids facing the reality of global warming. While everyone should be free to marry whomever they love, his marriage to a senior executive of General Motors seems to have gotten in the way of protecting the environment.

Who is your environmental hero?

Aldo Leopold, author of A Sand County Almanac. His writings on a "land ethic" have influenced everything I do. He asserted, "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise."

What's your environmental vice?

It has to be drinking Dr. Pepper out of cans (even though I recycle). I had two aunts who worked at the Dr. Pepper bottling plant in Dallas where I grew up, and I've been addicted ever since. And while it is not my vice, my son has a truck (yes, he did carbon offsets, but still!).

How do you spend your free time (if you have any)? Read any good books lately?

My family thinks I work all the time, but I do have free time and would love more. I am spending a lot of time riding a bicycle, getting ready for a cycling vacation in September. I also spent quite a bit of time with The Beatitudes Society, which is preparing seminarians to be social-change agents, and with the Secretary of State Project, which helps to elect chief elections officers who are committed to clean elections in battleground states.

Working Assets selects and sells five progressive books each month in our phone bills, so I see literally hundreds of great books every year. I really enjoyed reading Plug-in Hybrids by Sherry Boschert, who spoke to several hundred people at a luncheon at Working Assets.

What's your favorite meal?

My birthday dinner, which almost always ends either with German chocolate cake or Boston cream pie.

Which stereotype about environmentalists most fits you?

What kind of question is this? Surely every Eagle Scout who played high-school football in Texas grows up to be an environmentalist.

What's your favorite place or ecosystem?

Desolation Wilderness near Lake Tahoe is the place I have spent the most magical moments backpacking with friends and family over the last four decades.

If you could institute by fiat one environmental reform, what would it be?

This one is easy. I would like to see car and truck fuel-efficiency standards raised quite a bit -- say to a fleet average of at least 40 miles per gallon over 10 years. It is somewhat horrifying to recall that this action was the first Working Assets citizen action in 1991. It is maddening that decades have passed since there has been any real progress, even though the technology exists.

Who was your favorite musical artist when you were 18? How about now?

When I was 18, it was probably a three-way tie between Tom Rush, Jefferson Airplane, and Holly Near. Now it would be Sting -- for Father's Day, my 17-year-old daughter took me to The Police reunion concert, which was heaven.

What's your favorite TV show? Movie?

How can it be anything other than The Daily Show? During these bizarre times, I need a lot of good laughs delivered smartly. Easily my favorite movie has to be The Mission, the great story of ambition and betrayal of native peoples, starring Robert DeNiro and Jeremy Irons. It is haunting and the music will never leave you.

Which actor would play you in the story of your life?

Could it be Matt Damon? He is the only actor who ever cited Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States in a mainstream movie (Good Will Hunting).

If you could have every InterActivist reader do one thing, what would it be?

Surely they should become a Working Assets Wireless customer, which would connect them to hundreds of thousands of others who care deeply about the environment and are working hard to reverse the damage.

I have Working Assets for my long-distance service. The rate is great, you provide educational information on all manner of topics, have great customer service, and give a portion of your fees to charity. What is it that you are doing differently than other companies that allows you to spend money on social justice and still provide a quality product?    -- Heidi Hunt, Topeka, Kan.

Michael Kieschnick, president of Working Assets.

By doing what we started the company to do -- bring like-minded folks together to achieve social goals with a human touch -- we have great customers! And these customers tend to pay their bills, commit less fraud, and stay longer than the customers of many of our giant competitors. It is really a virtuous circle -- by making donations and supporting activists we are able to provide excellent service and stay in business.

What is Working Assets doing to influence or pressure its credit card provider, Bank of America, to divest in coal companies like Arch Coal and Massey Energy that are devastating the environment and peoples of Appalachia through mountaintop-removal mining? Have you considered changing credit card providers to a company that is in line with the Working Assets mission and philosophy so your customers do not have to fund mountaintop removal and dirty coal every time they use their Working Assets credit card?    -- Mark Smith, Willowick, Ohio

Unfortunately, we've never come across a credit card provider that is in line with the Working Assets mission and philosophy. There are some individuals who choose to eschew corporate influences and live off the grid. But for the rest of us, we offer credit cards and wireless phone alternatives to help consumers mitigate some of the negative implications of their transactions. We believe that the $50 million we've raised makes it worthwhile to swim in the stream of American commerce, but we have no illusions that it's free of pollution.

That said, one of our major activism initiatives this year is to prevent the construction of all new coal-fired power plants. We are working with a broad coalition on this effort, including Rainforest Action Network's Dirty Money campaign, which calls on banks to stop investment in new coal plants. Just like when we advocated against the bad bankruptcy bill rewrite, which the credit card companies pushed through, we won't let our business relationships color our positions or philanthropy.

Given your passion for the environment, have you been able to integrate eco-practices into the daily business of running Working Assets? If so, what are those initiatives?    -- Josie Scanlon, San Francisco, Calif.

Perhaps the most important attribute about our internal operations is that we are the only tree-positive company around. Not only do we use recycled paper -- primarily post-consumer recycled paper -- we go well beyond that and estimate how many trees we need to plant as if we were recycling nothing. We started this after reading a challenge many years ago by Paul Hawken to companies that use paper to start planting trees. Since then, we have donated over $700,000 to wonderful nonprofits that plant trees around the world.

While big business is quickly becoming an integral part of the solution to global climate change, I fear that even if we reduced carbon emissions by, say, 80 percent by 2050, we still might see significant economic inequalities in our society. How can we ensure that the greening of our economy doesn't only solve environmental problems and neglect the social divide we already see in the environmental movement?    -- Emily Wheeler, Middlebury, Vt.

By your location and your discussion of reducing carbon emissions by 80 percent, I wonder if you were involved in creating Step It Up? If so, many thanks. Working Assets was an active participant and organized one of the largest Step It Up events in which we picketed the local Hummer dealership. After a dare by a fellow employee, I went dressed as a polar bear.

Most social movements face tensions over class and economic inequality, and the environmental movement is no exception. We try to support great nonprofits that explicitly tackle this tension -- in recent years, we have backed the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights (with a big focus on creating green jobs in urban areas) and the Apollo Alliance, which is bringing together labor unions and environmental groups over a shared agenda to create well-paying jobs in the transition to an environmentally sustainable economy. We have also been an early and frequent supporter of the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, founded by activist Lois Gibbs.

Given the health risks posed by cellular towers, how do you justify your company's aggressive marketing of cell phone service?    -- Ayn Lowry, Berkeley, Calif.

Definitive data on cell phone towers and health risks does not yet exist; scientific research in this field is ongoing, and my hope is that by the time the scientific community reaches consensus, the government agencies charged with protecting our health are run by true public servants, not industry shills. The donations and activism generated by our wireless and credit card customers are aimed at achieving exactly that result. As realists, we recognize that cell phones are here to stay. Our data show that customers who sign up for Working Assets Wireless are simply making a choice among carriers; they're not deciding to use a cell phone where they otherwise would not. When they use Working Assets instead of AT&T or Verizon, their donations and activism empower American consumers to challenge the decisions of big business and advocate for stronger health-related regulation of all industries. We will welcome regulation to protect health; in fact, we recently resigned from the mobile-phone-carrier industry group because we objected to their anti-consumer positions.

What has been your most effective stance in convincing corporations that a greener way of doing things is smart business?    -- Ken Billings, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

It has been a long slow road in convincing other companies that it makes business sense to operate in an environmentally thoughtful manner. Honestly, when we started the company in 1985, we were hopeful change would come far more quickly than it has. We try to serve as an example to other companies that it is possible to thrive as a business precisely because of our environmental values. We also have found it helpful to be an active participant in social networking groups such as the Social Venture Network, where entrepreneurs can come together and challenge each other to find better ways to be in business. Perhaps the most enjoyable is teaching -- both Laura Scher (our chair and CEO) and I teach courses each year at Stanford University on social entrepreneurship. I am confident that in the coming decades, some of our students will emerge as the next generation of business change agents.

What do you mean by preparing seminarians for social-change work? Are you suggesting they step out of the pulpit and into the streets?    -- Beth Thornton, Santa Barbara, Calif.

The Beatitudes were literally blessings -- blessings of good things such as peacemaking -- as opposed to the negatives of the Ten Commandments. The Beatitudes Society is dedicated to supporting students at seminaries and divinity schools who wish to take on the hard task of leading a life committed to social and environmental change. Religious leaders have unparalleled credibility, and we indeed are training students to fulfill positions of leadership.

We must do something to help the people who suffered so greatly from Hurricane Katrina. I believe that Working Assets could or should put a temporary hold on the 50 projects/organizations that they give to, or maybe lower the percentile to 10 percent of all donations, and give the remaining money to specific organizations that are trying to help communities affected by Katrina. Would you be up for a major campaign like that? If so, when? If not, why not?    -- Julie du Bois, West Hills, Calif.

The failure of our country to seriously address the ongoing needs of those devastated by Katrina is a moral stain on the nation. We have not done what you have asked, though we have done a lot. In the immediate aftermath of Katrina, we helped organize flights for refugees to temporarily leave the area for prearranged shelter, and sent staff to Houston where we worked to break through the bureaucratic obstacles. We have worked extremely closely with our ally ACORN, which is headquartered in New Orleans, not only raising money through special appeals but focusing with them on citizen actions to push Bush, Congress, and other decision-makers to follow through on their promises.

On a personal note, my wife has led several groups to do reconstruction work, and is a fierce advocate for maintaining a focus on the Gulf Coast. But heartbreaking as it is, too many other critical organizations depend on us for funding and activism to simply set them aside. There is nothing harder than making choices about our limited money when there is so much at stake. But that is one reason why we are committed to growing our wireless business, so we can increase our support for essential needs.

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