OCTOBER 1 2007
AMERICANWAY 67
media for joking that people should fight
climate change by using less toilet paper),
and everything inbetween.
Over the past year or so, we’ve watched
this burgeoningmovement, withdelight as
well as some surprise, as it has burst onto
the scene and become mainstream. Wav-
ing the eco-flaghas become pretty hip. But
I’mmore interested inwhat happenswhen
the hip fades. Across theUnitedStates and
around the world, all kinds of people are
charting the course to a more sustainable
future. They are reshaping theway all of us
goabout ourdailybusiness andaremaking
it simpler for everyone on the planet to live
green—not because it’s trendybut because
itmakes sense.
Here are some of the trendsetters and
trailblazers towatch.
CorporateLeaders
Ten years ago, Toyota became the world’s
fir t automaker to offer a mass-produced
hybrid vehicle. Toyota has now sold more
than amillionPriuses and is still counting.
President andCEOKatsuakiWatanabehas
bighopes for evenmorebreakthroughs, de-
claring that he wants to develop cars that
actually clean theairwhile they’re running.
If you’d askedme a few years ago how en-
vironmentally conscious the CEO of Wal-
Mart was, I would have laughed. If you’d
askedme that same question about media
baronRupert Murdoch or muscleman Ar-
nold Schwarzenegger, I would have fallen
out of my chair. But today, those men are
among the unexpected leaders of a new
green movement — and, in a sense, the
joke’s onme.
Environmentalismused tobe considered
fringe territory. It was inhabitedmainly by
earnest, conservation-minded types, people
more likely to build yurts than retail em-
pires— in other words, people likeme. In
college, Ioncecarriedabagofmyown trash
around for a week to prove a point about
wasteand todemonstrate the folliesof con-
sumerism. Insufferable!
But after cutting my ponytail and plod-
ding through a serious job or two, I light-
ened up a little and created Grist.org, an
environmental website that mixes serious
newswithahealthydoseof humor.
For the past eight years, we’ve covered
the environmental movement from all
sides, dishing up hard news (like the latest
energy legislation), hard-to-believe news
(like Sheryl Crow’s being attacked by the
Jeffrey Immelt of General Electric has
been at the helm of that business during
its recent high-profile drive toward green-
ness. ThoughGE’s legacy is still tainted by
its past pollution of theHudsonRiver and
by its ongoing support of nuclear and coal
technology, the company is aggressively
selling wind turbines, energy-efficient ap-
pliances, and cleaner locomotives.
As CEO and chairman of DuPont,
Chad Holliday has been a leader in the
U.S. Climate Action Partnership. DuPont
has cut its greenhouse gas emissions by a
jaw-dropping 72 percent since 1990, and
last year, the company committed to dou-
bling its research anddevelopment of eco-
friendlyproducts and services.
Politicians
The chair of theU.S. Senate Committee on
Environment and Public Works, Barbara
Boxer, has used her position to take lolly-
gaggers to task. She cosponsoredoneof the
strongest climate-protection bills in Con-
gress, and over the past several years, she’s
done more than many lawmakers have to
forceCongress togo fromwords toaction.
Then there’s Arnold Schwarzenegger.
California’s governor has made his state a
GreenTeam
Twelvepeopleandplaces that are changingourworld.
ByChipGiller. IllustrationsbyTimBower.
The
