Taken from PORTSIDE/s•a•m•i•z•d•a•t•

LITTLE GREEN (business) MEN

Greens are traditionally dirt poor. Hence their crunchiness. Yet a new class of elite is ascendent: the social entreprenuer. Emboldened and backed by the largess and surfeit of Jeff (Skoll), Pierre (Omidyar) and other billionaire do-gooders and their Global X-men the treehugger.com crowd is on the lookout for a feel-good, fast buck.

Alas: good-capitalism (green, smilely-faced, or otherwise) has left the building.

Witness the corresponding rise of capitalist apostates, like George (Soros), Joe (Stiglitz) and a growing ranks of neoliberal naysayers. These folks are by no means part of some left lunatic Chavez-Evo Morales-Che Guevara-balaclava-wearing fringe. The naysayers of note just so happen to have built the house of capital they are now warning has collapsed--unbeknownst to the little green-bizness-folk who are trying to live and realize the dream.

The green-bizness-playas are clearly in the drivers seat, but are they aiming for the cliff?

Recently this tiddy-bit landed in my mailbox:

"...been in touch with the Wilderness Society regarding an exploratory meeting that will take place at X-Ivy league school next week and video-conferenced to [X and Y prestigous] colleges. The purpose of the meeting is to explore the potential to establish a special forestland investment fund, initially capitalized by investments from collaborating colleges and other supportive investors, to purchase forestland and manage it for sustainable timber harvest plus ecosystem services."

Sounds great! Capitalism is working for the planet! Can I get a wooo-hooo Homer... link ?

Hey, its just like this great deal TNC passed WCS a few years back. Remember it:


In Sept. 2004 "Goldman Sachs announced ... the unprecedented gift of a sprawling wilderness in Chile to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). The lands, on the island of Tierra del Fuego, are home to the world’s southernmost stands of old growth forests as well as unique grasslands, rivers and wetlands containing extraordinary wildlife. The more than 680,000 acres (272,000 hectares) of Chilean land were donated to WCS by the Goldman Sachs Charitable Fund in a novel and powerful alliance that will ensure conservation in the region in perpetuity." [check the nice promo video]

While the press oogled over Goldman's munificence, the background story stayed there. I learned it, in passing, a few weeks ago here at a Nature Conservancy run shin-dig on "Forests on the Edge". Before Goldman passed the largest foreign-held private land holding in Chile's history to WCS, Henry "Hank" Paulson the CEO at Goldman and Chair of the Board at The Nature Conservancy wanted to give the property to TNC. Ah, the vicissitudes of conflicts of interests... To avoid the naysayers, he called his son--Merritt. He just happens to be on the board of WCS. They sorted it out Daddy and son style and WCS got its just desserts.

In the end, another tall tale of capitalism saving the planet from peril, right?

But wait... is there something a tad bit off with this picture?

Where is the roll for legitimate and accountable public participation in these green-capitalist schemes?

To what extent do people, i.e., electorates--whether in Chile, New England or anywhere else-- get to collectively decide on the fate and circumstances of natural resources? Or do we even need people anymore, since the experts at TNC and WCS have our best interests in mind, right?

Should the people even have a say, or will the little green (business) men save us from our own ignorance?

Few, especially those on the look out for greenwashed-loot, raise these thorny "small-d" -democratic, public-interest issues. Will big-billionaires re-build public institutions in their own image or yours? Who will decide? Does it matter? Are there deep, systemic downsides to large-scale moves of got-rich-quick social entreprenuers? Some are beginning to consider the downsides. Most notably are Chapin and Dowie particularly on the green front.

The role-playing and shadow-boxing of green-capitalists is even more dire in the etheral realm green-business. Recent surveys reveal that most people have been effectively propagandized to believe the bp's new name is indeed, "beyond petroleum". (I'm going to come back to this in future posts, and in print, in due course.).

If George Soros is far less than sanguine and indeed downright disturbed on the benevolence of capitalism clearly more greens--especially American ones--need to get smart.

Free-market apostasy is on the rise; in part because the capitalism game has indeed gamed the system to the point of collapse.

Even those cheery experts at the World Bank are openly thinking about how to start "saving capitalism from capitalists". This kind of careful analysis by the market architects calls into question the dangers of underthought, quick-fix, green-business lap-doggery. Caveat emptor.