It was both a pleasure and a privilege to photograph Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as the guest speaker at the 2013 Sustainability Summit.
The prospect of meeting a bona fide environmental crusader who has, and continues, to contribute to the betternment of our world is very exciting. Here is a man, both blessed and cursed with the Kennedy name, with his own all too human domestic issues, taking on Big Coal, Big Oil, Big Electricity in a fight for the preservation of our air and our waters.
On the podium, he really comes across as just another concerned human being, albeit with a Harvard law degree, vast experience as a New York Prosecuting Attorney, and a long resume fighting (and winning) corporate America. He has charm, and wit, and behind the tailored suit, the impression of a fit, tightly coiled streetfighter,
His message was, for me at least, surprising. Full-bore free market capitalism is compatible with saving the planet. (Isn't government regulation necessary for setting limits on whomever and whatever?). The only requirement is that the products delivered by the energy companies be priced it's actual cost. All subsidies (the cost of navies keeping the shipping lanes safe, the cost of maintaing the roads that tankers and coal trucks travel on, the cost of cleaning the water from fracking gas, the cost of carbon sequestration, the cost of leveling mountains and cleaning streams from coal mining, cleaning up spills, tailings ponds, etc) have to be, henceforth, be paid for with the revenues from the product itself. At this rate, gasoline at the pump will cost $30/gallon.
So price energy with its actual price and let the markets rule!
It was a very inspirational talk, one that more people should listen to!
The prospect of meeting a bona fide environmental crusader who has, and continues, to contribute to the betternment of our world is very exciting. Here is a man, both blessed and cursed with the Kennedy name, with his own all too human domestic issues, taking on Big Coal, Big Oil, Big Electricity in a fight for the preservation of our air and our waters.
On the podium, he really comes across as just another concerned human being, albeit with a Harvard law degree, vast experience as a New York Prosecuting Attorney, and a long resume fighting (and winning) corporate America. He has charm, and wit, and behind the tailored suit, the impression of a fit, tightly coiled streetfighter,
His message was, for me at least, surprising. Full-bore free market capitalism is compatible with saving the planet. (Isn't government regulation necessary for setting limits on whomever and whatever?). The only requirement is that the products delivered by the energy companies be priced it's actual cost. All subsidies (the cost of navies keeping the shipping lanes safe, the cost of maintaing the roads that tankers and coal trucks travel on, the cost of cleaning the water from fracking gas, the cost of carbon sequestration, the cost of leveling mountains and cleaning streams from coal mining, cleaning up spills, tailings ponds, etc) have to be, henceforth, be paid for with the revenues from the product itself. At this rate, gasoline at the pump will cost $30/gallon.
So price energy with its actual price and let the markets rule!
It was a very inspirational talk, one that more people should listen to!
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