Do you remember when I started a column with a quote from Von Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia? He had finally determined the future ownership of Patagonia. He gave the company to “the earth” and pledged that profits would support environmental projects all over the world. And, while this move is certainly altruistic, it has actually happened. The latest annual Patagonia report celebrates support of environmental activities in Argentina, Alaska, Europe, New England, and others. 

Certainly, this remarkable gift to the earth, or to us, is an example of philanthropy of the highest order. I urge you all to read about Patagonia’s activities. It is absolutely worthwhile.

Against this is the ongoing political rhetoric in the US from Republicans and Democrats alike, much of it fueled by the new Republican conservative right. As I pen this, a battle for Speaker of the House is occurring. Jim Jordan, Republican from Ohio, is challenging several others to replace Kevin McCarthy as Speaker. I can’t tell if Jordan is a member of the Freedom Caucus, or whether, as described by former Speaker John Boehner, he’s just a legislative “terrorist.” 

Sadly, right now, today, we have this wasteful debate occurring in Washington while Hamas is murdering hundreds of people and the Russians are bombing funerals in the Ukraine. “Where have all the flowers gone!?”

Amidst this is the debate on a clean economy. The phrase “the best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better” (Francis of Assisi, 1182-1220) doesn’t belong with this crowd. In fact, as an American I am embarrassed by the changes and chaos in our culture over the last dozen years or so. Interestingly, as Jason Mark, editor-in-chief of Sierra Magazine, says, it’s all about following the money. This is what touched me off before I was sidetracked by “Sustainability at Labelexpo.” 

My colleague, John Penhallow, jabs at it in his columns. But, he’s too much of a gentleman to come out and say, “We are afloat with alligators!”

Jason Mark hits the nail on the head when he starts his letter from the editor with “a funny thing happened on the way to the clean economy.” The irony, of course, is that the Republican party always exemplified – stood for – big business, laissez faire. Republicans have said for years that free markets make capitalism work. And, free markets mean less regulation and lower taxes. 

Democrats, historically, were associated with the working class and labor (note, President Biden’s march with striking UAW membership). But things have changed and that’s not only the irony but the dilemma for the Republican party. “The test has come in the form of a striking divergence between financiers’ interest in profiting from the booming renewable energy industry and the fossil fuel corporations’ desire to keep profiting by setting things on fire.” 

Which way should the Republican party go: free enterprise (e.g., clean renewable energy) or corporate greed (fossil energy, gas and oil)? To add fuel to the fire (an unintended pun), in the October 12 edition of The Wall Street Journal, Exxon announced a $60 billion, that’s right $60 billion, purchase of Pioneer Natural Resources (another irony), the largest fracking company in the US. As Jessica Aguirre writes later in the same Sierra issue, “Drill, baby, drill” versus what I would have written, “Burn, baby, burn.”

Republicans for sure are at a crossroads – which comes first, free trade, supporting the growth of renewables or supporting old and established energy providers that support oil and gas extraction? Which comes first, supporting a clean energy in a free market environment, or as Mark says, reassessing their commitment to “dinosaur-energy” production of big oil?” Jason Mark continues with this thesis in his column discussing ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) and finishes with, “But some Republicans see ESG as a nefarious plot, and so, surfing their latest one – note rhetoric, they’ve sought to brand it with an epithet ‘woke capitalism,’ they sneer.”

For years I have advocated balance and moderation. With the new brand of Republicanism, I guess what everyone calls ultra-right conservatism, we have lost our way. We don’t have balance. The search for which way to go, clean renewable energy vs. the same old story, clearly makes identity impossible.

To be sure, Exxon, BP, Shell, Chevron, and others, do have clean energy projects that include wind, solar, plastic to gas, and so on. However, if we are to meet national standards as committed to by the US at the last COP conference, these projects must grow and grow fast.

As I write this, we are on track to record the hottest summer since record keeping began in 1850. June of 2023 was the hottest June ever recorded. In August, a global temperature surge killed thousands of people and animals, causing an historic marine heat wave that caused ocean temperatures to reach over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, another terrible record. Winds caused by the climate crisis drove wild fires across Hawaii, destroying the town of Lahaina on Maui, killing at least 100 people and displacing thousands more. This past spring, California recorded snow pack melts that caused flooding, which not only displaced hundreds but cost millions and millions to the economy, both personally and professionally.

Need I say more! It isn’t just the Republican party that’s at a crossroads, it’s everyone, including our industry. We have made great strides, I agree. But it’s not enough. Balance and harmony can only be achieved if all of us commit to change. My last column on landfills offered an alternative. We must consider alternatives to a lineal society, to a throwaway environment. 

In closing, I want to share with you one of the best definitions of a circular economy that I’ve seen. It comes from the European Parliament:

“The circular economy is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. In this way, the lifecycle of products is extended.”

As we begin 2024, let’s commit to change that exemplifies the above definition. It will help us meet our commitments to a better world.


Calvin Frost is chairman of Channeled Resources Group, headquartered in Chicago, the parent company of Maratech International and GMC Coating. His email address is [email protected].