The Trouble with CERES, BICEP, and the Way Forward (audio)

Back in the fall of 1989, CERES announced the creation of the Ceres Principles, a ten-point code of corporate environmental conduct to be publicly endorsed by companies as an environmental mission statement or ethic. Today, the Waxman/Markey Bill brings together energy efficiency, renewable energy, and cutting greenhouse gases. … good for business and consumers. Makes it easier to move toward a clean energy economy.

BUT the CERES principles fall short in some very important ways.

1. Adherence to the CERES Principles is voluntary; not mandatory.
2. The “CERES Principles” are just that – principles. They are not goals.
3. The government must fully support them, and back them, and push them, and enforce them.
4. While there are milestones in the 20 year history the Ceres Principles, there are no dead-lines for the future.

And we need to act now. As Gore noted, “We’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. …that’s got to change. … Enough wind blows through the Midwest corridor every day to meet 100 percent of US electricity demand. … Enough solar energy falls on the surface of the earth every 40 minutes to meet 100 percent of the entire world’s energy needs for a full year.

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