BBC World TV/News 24 airs EVUK "Eco Tech" plea. (Sept 19,2002)

Update 2003: According to a Worldwatch Institute report "Renewable Energy for the 21st Century" wind and solar markets have been growing around twenty times faster than the market for oil over the past five years: "In order to find such growth rates comparable to those of renewables today, you have to look at the recent history of such sectors as cell phones and the internet." All the more scandalous, therefore, that our mainstream media pretends not to notice while banging the oil-drum ever louder...

- A small but significant victory was celebrated here at EVUK today when BBC World Business Report hosts read out and displayed - to a worldwide audience - an EVUK missive (OK - a good chunk of it...) calling for the establishment of a global "Eco Tech" Sector to take over where the overblown Tech & Biotech Sectors have so miserably failed.

Even more encouragingly the programme's male host himself commmented - clearly approvingly - that "we are getting an increasing number of emails calling for the same kind of thing.." (Please, folks, feel free to email "the same kind of thing" to biznews@bbc.co.uk !!)

Sir,

Business as usual after Jo'burg Summit?

You know - it really is high time the financial powers-that-be established an "Eco Tech" Sector to take over where the Tech Sector failed.

Renewable Energy(wave, wind,solar,tidal,biomass), fuel cells for cars and electricity generation, hydrogen, energy-saving technologies, zero energy housing etc. etc. - it really is time the business media - and the financial community generally - gave up its obvious King Canute reluctance to "talk up" - or even talk about - anything that could threaten or undermine the oil economy, auto sales, the "Energy=Oil" status quo.

I have been an avid but jaundiced viewer of BBC, CNBC, and CNN business coverage for many years now - but can honestly say I could count those broadcasters' sum total of grudging references to renewable energy / eco-technologies etc. on big toes and thumbs.

So why does the business world at large refuse to demonstrate that it is 'ahead of the curve' and thinking 'out of the box' on this one? When will financial advisors at last have the vision and guts to cut themselves loose from entrenched and defiant oil-blinkered mindsets? And to lift the taboo on discussing clean/green/sustainable high-tech and fresh alternatives that have real, healthy growth potential?

Yep - it's high time the smart money - what's left of it - moved out of the hollowed-out, ultra-high risk Tech Sector and into a global yet-to-be-created "Eco Tech" sector - towards smart, 21st Century eco-technologies. And away from volatile, high-risk Mid East turm-oil and madness and instead into alternative energy and clean power sources that nations don't fight wars over.

If powerful vested interests with strong pharmaceutical links have managed to create an, as yet, scarcely reliable or viable Biotech sector - then we certainly have a right to expect the establishment of a clearly defined and high-profile "Eco Tech" sector together with a media willing to talk it up and to include it in their everyday vocabulary. A final jaundiced rebuke: Financial analysts, advisors and media pundits love to tell investors to think long-term...well, please take your own advice when it comes to Energy and the future of this planet....not to mention the long-term future of my portfolio.

Paul & Moira G.
(EVUK)

Recommended reading:

Environmental Finance(UK) - unique magazine covering impact of environmental issues on the financial / investment sector.

Ecologic Investor(USA) - aims to "provide access to companies providing entrepreneurial solutions to the tragedy of environmental degradation".

Green Futures(UK) - probably the best business-oriented environmental/eco-tech magazine on the planet.

GreenEnergyStox.com(USA) - top-flight renewables business/finance/investment site. All the latest breaking ecotech press releases and up-to-the-minute stockwatch.