This story was originally published by The New Republic and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
LE BOURGET, France — A couple days ago, I walked past the U.S. booth here at the climate conference. There was a panel going on featuring investors and company representatives from Facebook and Mars Chocolate, among others, producing my second-favorite quote of the conference so far: “Mars cares about climate change.”
The better quote came from Letitia Webster of the VF Corporation, the Greensboro, N.C.-based parent company of North Face, Timberland, and Jansport. She said: “Change is hard. I think there are a lot of businesses out there that are very scared about how they’re going to win in this new economy.”
Webster was answering a question about why some businessmen in places like the United States and the Arabian Gulf, and the politicians they fund, have their heads shoved so firmly in — uh, the sand — about climate change. But if you replace “businesses” with “pretty much everyone,” I think she may have explained the entire Paris 2015 U.N. Climate Change Conference.
I wrote about money on Tuesday. I’m writing... Read more
