God save the queen and Richard Branson

NEW YORK (AP) — British business mogul Richard Branson said Thursday he would invest about $3 billion to combat global warming over the next decade.
Branson, the billionaire behind the multi-platform Virgin brand, said the money would come from 100 percent of the profits generated by his transportation and airline sectors. It will then be invested in efforts to find renewable, sustainable energy sources in an effort to wean the world off of oil and coal.
Branson made the announcement on the second day of the Clinton Global Initiative, an annual conference of business, political and nonprofit leaders hosted by former President Clinton.
“Our generation has inherited an incredibly beautiful world from our parents and they from their parents,” Branson said at a news conference with Clinton at his side. “We must not be the generation responsible for irreversibly damaging the environment.”
Clinton praised Branson, calling him one of the most “creative” and “committed” people had ever known.

 

i guess he looked at what gates and buffet were doing and decided he'd better get in on it too. good for him.

 

Some might argue that we're not the generation to blame and that the damage may have already been done.

 

I don't think that's the point.

Really, it's not our generations fault so why should we try to save the planet? The people who argue that will be blamed by generations to come for their inaction.

The bit about the U.S. promising $3 billion was telling, both for the lack of interest the country shows in actually combatting global warming and how powerful (and important) big corporations like Virgin are these days.

Sure seems like the big multinationals are getting into the things I used to think were the job of governments to do, but I guess as long as someone's doing it, I can't complain.

 

I thought Branson was smarter that that. Waste of money.

 

Can this $3 billion be added to the box office take for Al Gore's movie? Branson met Al Gore and quickly signed on

 

Not quite what I was getting at. Branson's quote made it seem like this generation is the culprit for Earth's decay. Personally, I think the whole downward spiral started 100 years or so ago.

Now, I believe we should do something. Hell, even a stroke patient should get treatment even if he has some paralysis. I'm happy $3 billion will be spent on reversing global warming. I think there should be $30 billion or $300 billion, but no amount of money will reverse all the effects. No amount.