Part 4 in a series

By Katie Kieffer

As a young professional, I’m puzzled when I hear another young businessperson make a statement that conveys the following idea:

“Stringent green practices are going to become law. We need to do what we can to make sure we are in compliance with the law before it gets here.”

Certainly climate legislation is coming down the pipeline. Yet, just because legislation is proposed and has momentum behind it doesn’t mean that it’s the best solution for national economic or climate issues. As a LEED AP, I personally believe that we should do everything we can to protect and preserve our planet. I also think that the business community needs to speak up for the interests of the economy and work with elected officials to find a fiscally responsible way to take care of the earth.

No one gets business better than business. As I blogged here, my participation in the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce’s Civic College courses taught me what I already sensed: Most politicians are not businesspeople. Politicians may have big hearts and quixotic visions, but if they do not have a business background, they are probably not going to understand the full implications of their actions on the economy.

Additionally, most politicians are not scientists, so they are not going to fully understand the ramifications of their proposed legislation on the earth unless they are open-minded enough to hear new scientific discoveries that may conflict with their political agendas.

I propose that instead of taking the passive, defensive, reactive approach of assuming climate legislation like cap-and-trade will become a reality – and building our business models around it – young professionals should take a proactive approach. This would entail:

1. Educating ourselves on all proposed legislation labeled as “green” or “climate-friendly.” Just because a politician – motivated by winning votes – says legislation is green and the best solution for our planet and our economy, doesn’t mean it is.
2. Educating our politicians about the negative economic impacts of cap-and-trade.

If you’re a young professional, a few non-partisan resources for you to start learning more so you can take a proactive approach to understanding planned climate legislation like cap-and-trade are:

• The Institute for a Competitive Workforce, the non-profit, non-partisan, 501(c)3 affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
• The non-profit and non-partisan, National Federation of Independent Business

Our generation is smart, creative and thoughtful. We possess the answers within ourselves to solve this current economic crisis while also caring for the environment. We can use our own ingenuity to solve these problems for less cost and with a better outcome than the government can.

Note: Click here to read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 in this series.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 6:04 am and is filed under Economy, Sustainability. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can trackback from your own site.