1	green DAYS Business leaders, academics, scientists, artists and policymakers from the U.S. and Latin America gather for the first Green Forum to discuss environmental solutions for the continent. read more...
2	ASK JULIE Financial columnist Julie Stav takes on index-based exchange-traded funds. read more...

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events

2007 PODER + NAA
green forum

One thing was immediately evident at the PODER magazine Green Forum, held April 20 at the Miami Museum of Science and Planetarium; we have turned a corner, but remain a long way from the finish line. There is a consensus in the scientific community about the seriousness of global warming, which was one of the topics discussed at the forum. Today, the threat of rising ocean levels and climate change seems as real as gravity. Yet, despite this, the road from understanding to implementation remains an uphill battle.
While the United States signed the Kyoto Protocol in 1998 with the firm pen strokes of former Vice President Al Gore, it stopped short of becoming a ratified member, making it merely a symbolic gesture.
Today the United States is still the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, producing almost 25 percent of global emissions. While support of the Kyoto Protocol at federal government level remains unchanged, it does not among state and local officials. California, under the leadership of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, has pledged to reduce its greenhouse emissions, as have eight other northeastern states and 418 cities representing over 64 million Americans. One such city is Miami, whose mayor, Manny Diaz, co-hosted the daylong event.
Calls to action were a recurring theme.“This forum is just one step, although an important one in a long journey we will all be taking together to identify policies, implement strategies and raise awareness around the world for what will happen if we are not successful in our campaign to reverse the impacts of global warming,” Diaz said.
The forum gathered hemispheric business leaders, scientists, policymakers, academics and journalists to discuss the environmental challenges faced by the U.S. and Latin America.
Discussion focused on issues ranging from climate change to the wellbeing of the oceans and waterways, and included panels on scientific findings and sustainable urban development, a discussion with Mayors Bill White of Houston, Jaime Lerner, former mayor of Curitiba, Brazil, Manny Diaz of Miami, José Fogaça of Pôrto Alegre, Brazil, Juan Carlos Navarro of Panama City and Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Nancy Sutley.
Notable speakers included Juan Rafael Elvira Quesada, Mexico’s secretary of the environment on his country’s environmental efforts, as well as Lynn Scarlett, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, and Colombia’s Defense Secretary Juan Manuel Santos, who spoke about the devastating environmental effects of the cocaine industry.
“We can all put forward the proposition, and act on it, that our family have a carbon neutral footprint by the end of the year,” said José María Figueres, former president of Costa Rica, former CEO of the World Economic Forum and founder of the Costa Rica Foundation for Sustainable Development.
The keynote speaker was Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who, accompanied by six of his cabinet members, gave an impressive address on the country’s environmental commitment, and spoke about the environmental perils of illegal crops.
The carbon-neutral event was organized by PODER magazine and the New America Alliance (NAA)–a group of Hispanic businessmen dedicated to access to capital issues for the Latino community in the United States–in association with the City of Miami, Miami-Dade College, Columbia University, Georgetown University, the National Geographic Society, the National Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense, the Center for American Progress, and the Boston Consulting Group, which also partnered with PODER magazine in presenting the PODER-BCG Business Awards.

Sofía Vergara, Colombian actress

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe

José Villarreal, president of the New America Alliance

Emilio Azcárraga Jean, Grupo Televisa president and chairman, presents the PODER-BCG PODER Award to Enrique Senior, managing partner of Allen and Company

Fher Olvera, lead singer of the Mexican rock group Maná, whose members were the recipients of the PODER-BCG Green Award

Eduardo Michelsen, Editorial Televisa CEO, presents Moisés Naím, editor in chief of Foreign Policy, with the Excellence in Media Award

Colombia’s Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos and Arturo Sarukhan, Embassador of Mexico

Houston Mayor Bill White, former Mayor of Curitiba Jaime Lerner, Mayor of Panama City Juan Carlos Navarro, President of Fondazione Ambiente Milano Amadeo Claravino and Mayor of Porto Alegre Jose Fogaca.

Ricardo Lagos, former president of Chile, was the keynote speaker for the PODER-BCG Business Awards and was
the recipient of the Hemispheric Leadership Award.

FORUM HIGHLIGHTS
“Over our history, we humans have learned to deal with scarcity of resources, fundamentally in three ways: 1) to use them more efficiently and to reduce consumption; 2) to negotiate and allocate quotas and negotiate solutions between competing parties; 3) by conflict. Use force to secure one’s own supply to the detriment of competitors.
It seems safe to predict that the No. 3 scenario, the conflict scenario, will be become a default scenario if we don’t make sufficient progress with the first two options. It’s already happening now as larger economies rush to secure access to the remaining resource of oil.” —Stephan Schmidheiny, honorary chairman, The World Business Council for Sustainable Development

“Sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs. We cannot be a dictatorship over the future.” —José Fogaça, mayor, Pôrto Alegre, Brazil

“The most important thing that government can do to help alleviate [the water shortage] crisis is to make water a human right. Government needs to enshrine the human right to water into legislative frameworks. A good example is South Africa.”
—Stella Thomas, executive director, Global Water Fund

“Every line of coke snorted at a party by well-dressed yuppies in New York, London or Madrid means several cut trees in the primary forest, contaminated water sources along the Amazon Basin and dirty money to finance terrorism, bombs and murders that affect the Colombian people and others in Latin America.” ––Juan Manuel Santos, Colombia’s defense minister

“When you have an American solider and an Amazonian medicine man talking the same language about climate change, it means that good things may indeed happen.”
–– Dr. Mark Plotkin, president, Amazon Conservation Team at the Smithsonian Institute’s Museum of Natural History

“In Miami, we’re taking this campaign seriously. If the Atlantic Ocean continues to rise at its current level, by 2100 it may have risen by as much as seven feet. This would make much of Miami defenseless against rising tides and storm surges. This is not something that we can put off into our future; it is something that we have to address right now.” —Manny Diaz, mayor, Miami

“Not only do we need to take many different approaches. We have to take these on a scale heretofore unimagined. We’re not talking about 100 windmills; we’re talking about 100,000 windmills. We’re not talking about a few Priuses driven around by celebrities; we’re talking about every car driven in every country in the world getting twice or three times the gas mileage it gets now.”––Peter Lehner, executive director, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

“I believe innovations that blend economic and environmental goals are key to a better future.” ––Lynn Scarlett, U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Interior

“If we continue to fish in the same way, we will have driven every fish population in the world to a state of collapse in 40 years.” ––Jim Simon, CFO and general counsel, Oceana

“The next 10 years may be the most important little piece of time in the next thousand years, through what we do or through what we don’t do.”––Dr. Sylvia Earle, explorer, National Geographic

PODER-BCG Business Award Recipients
The PODER BCG Awards were celebrated immediately after the Forum. Award recipients were presented with a plaque.

Hemispheric Leadership Award:
Ricardo Lagos, former president of Chile

Philanthropy Award:
Stephan Schmidheiny, honorary chairman, The World Business Council for Sustainable Development

Best Anti-poverty Initiative:
Hernando de Soto, founder, Institute for Liberty and Democracy

Lifetime Achievement Award:
Luis Nogales, managing partner, Nogales Investment Group

Leadership Award:
José Villarreal, chairman, NAA

Education’s Best Award:
Carla Sanger, president and CEO,
LA’s Best

Excellence in Media:
Moisés Naím, editor in chief, Foreign Policy

Best Communication Strategy:
Alberto Alemán Zubieta, administrator, Panama Canal

Best Strategy in Business:
José Alberto Veles, president,
Cementos Argos

Understanding the Latino Community:
Sergio Bendixen, CEO, Bendixen and Associates

2007 PODER Award:
Enrique Senior, managing partner, Allen and Company

Green Award:
Maná, founders, Fundación Selva Negra

GO GREEN
For information on how you and your family, business and events can become carbon-neutral visit:

Natural Resource
Defense Council:
English: www.nrdc.org
Spanish: www.laondaverde.org

Carbon Emissions
Calculator:
www.greentagsusa.org/GreenTags/calculator_intro.cfm