Last week my inbox was flooded with articles, press releases, and email responses to the 60 Minutes hit job on the clean tech industry. The embattled news program's latest has been described as fluff and sloppy journalism, shoddy, and just plain wrong.
But, as my colleague KC Golden points out, this show was more than a case of bad reporting - it deliberately ignored the context within which clean tech operates: climate change. Here's KC on his blog, Getting a GRIP on Climate Solutions:
"Doing a story about a “clean tech crash” without mentioning climate is symptomatic of a form of denial that may be more destructive than straight-over-tackle lying about climate science. Denial is a remarkably resilient ecosystem, and this kind of silence is the essential host condition in which it continues to thrive.
Simply not talking about climate disruption in the context of a story about government-supported clean energy technology development is startling – almost aggressive – in its deliberate avoidance of the thing that matters most about the topic."
The producers at 60 Minutes would have us believe that clean tech is dead. You and I both know that's not true because there are thousands of business leaders, executives, and entrepreneurs here in the Northwest who are hard at work creating innovative clean technology solutions to power a clean energy economy.
Clean tech is in our organizational DNA at Climate Solutions. We are excited to work together with you to move policy forward, grow the clean energy economy, and accelerate practical and profitable solutions to our climate and energy challenges.
Some great clean economy events that highlight the rapid pulse of our community are listed below. And, as always, you can find more events on our events calendar.
Upcoming Events
Northwest Energy Angels-Cleantech Leadership Forum 2014, Seattle, WA | January 22
Early Bird Discounts are extended through TODAY!! Use our special partner discount code "cleantech12214" to register! Our good friends at the Northwest Energy Angels have put together a top-notch event for their annual gathering of the region's clean tech community. We're excited to partner with them to demonstrate that investing in clean tech is more important than ever.
Sustainability Leadership Awards 2013: Raising the Sustainability Bar!, Seattle, WA | January 31
Join Sustainable Seattle at the Sustainability Leadership Awards dinner as we recognize those who are raising the sustainability bar in our community.
Harvesting Clean Energy, Helena, MT | February 4-6
I hope you'll join our friends at The National Center for Appropriate Technology for the 2014 Harvesting Clean Energy Conference. This year's conference will draw participants from a diverse range of fields and we'll hear from leading experts and practitioners about the steps to successful clean energy projects that cut costs or generate power or feedstocks.
GLOBE 2014, Vancouver, BC | March 26
For the last 24 years, GLOBE has been at the forefront of new ideas and insights on business and sustainability. It has helped corporations understand and embed sustainability into their operations, influenced the international debate on climate change, and developed the global marketplace for environmental and energy technologies and services. GLOBE continues to draw the ‘best and brightest’ of the international sustainable business community, making it an utterly unsurpassed networking opportunity.
Global Marine Renewable Energy Conference, Seattle, WA | April 15
The 2nd Annual Marine Energy Technology Symposium, which is being held in conjunction with The Global Marine Renewable Energy Conference (GMREC), has received over 70 high quality abstracts. To accommodate presentations on these papers, the symposium and GMREC VII will be extended through 12:00 Noon PST, April 18, 2014.
Ceres Conference 2014, Boston, MA | May 1
The future is now and our mission is more urgent than ever. Join more than 600 sustainability leaders in Boston at the Ceres Conference 2014, April 30th - May 1st, to celebrate Ceres’s 25th anniversary and build a sustainable global economy.
GoGreen Seattle 2014, Seattle, WA | April 30
Save the date for GoGreen 2014! The GoGreen Conference is a sustainability learning experience for business and government decision-makers.
