ExxonMobil and Climate Change
Writing for RenewableEnergyWorld, my colleague Jennifer Runyon begins her recent article on ExxonMobil and climate change:
We don’t cover climate change news all that much here on RenewableEnergyWorld.com. The reason for that is that we view climate change as just one bullet point in a list of reasons why renewable energy make sense: energy independence, grid stability through decentralized generation and resource depletion are also on that list.
I’ve known Jennifer for many years, and I respect her deeply, but I don’t follow her logic here. She’s right, of course, that climate change is only one of many reasons to favor renewable energy over fossil fuels, just like cancer is only one of the many diseases that can kill you. But I’m not sure that’s a reason to pay little attention to it.
Here’s a talk I gave in Santa Barbara to a meeting of a group called “Community Planet.” It’s a small group, but they’re enlightened people; I was impressed with their level of engagement. I covered the technological, economic, and political challenges that stand in the way of a sustainable future for humankind. 
Lean manufacturing, an important component to sustainability, has been applied by many companies since then and even the successful Toyota auto production is a product of this. Lean manufacturing makes use of an effective system that was developed years agoin the United States – the Training Withinthe Industry system (TWI). This training deals with how the supervisor must act in terms of training its workers to achieve consistent results. The system is now being transferred and communicated all throughout the world via Lean manufacturing. 
I just received this:
