2Sustain

I am writing this blog entry from seat 17F on a Virgin Americas flight from SFO to NYC. I left beautiful, sunny San Francisco at 8:55am and will arrive in cold rainy New York in a few hours. As I sit here I can’t help but think about Virgin CEO Richard Branson’s fanfare-laden announcement a few weeks ago that Virgin will be the first airline to begin flying some of their planes with a fuel mix that includes biodiesel.

While this will absolutely, positively not be the cure-all that reverses the global warming crisis, it is pretty cool nonetheless and warrants a bit of attention despite the many accusations that this is mere “greenwashing.”

Here’s my take. I met Richard Branson briefly a few years ago, and I was immediately impressed by his energy (yes, I know that is very San Francisco). His smile was mischievous and the look in his eye suggested that of a ten year old boy who was about to do a jump on his dirt bike. While we were hardly in a risk-taking situation (we were at the maître de station at Tao restaurant in New York), I could immediately feel in his energy and body language that he is a risk taker and someone not at all comfortable sitting in one place for too long, physically or spiritually. Sure I was projecting a bit, but I believe in the “Blink” mindset, and I could definitely sense his restless, entrepreneurial persona in the few moments we stood there chit-chatting. 

My feeling is that those who accuse Branson of greenwashing are simply reacting negatively to his showmanship and relentless self-promotion. I understand that this can be a turn off for some, but I also feel that we in the media and public should not dismiss his efforts to marry sustainability and business as mere marketing ploys. In fact, it is only through the leadership of the first movers, of truly leading-edge companies and individuals, that the mainstream will be dragged kicking and screaming into changing their behaviors.

So in this case let’s not focus on the fact that the actual impact from Virgin’s use of biofuels will have a nominal impact on global GHG emissions, let’s focus on the impact of the leadership Richard Branson is displaying. I assure you that the CEOs of United, American, Continental, US Air, British Air and all the others are watching closely, and I bet we hear some of these airlines make similar announcements soon. For example, note that Boeing is currently testing jet fuel derived from algae and other biomass, and says biofuels could soon become a feasible alternative to conventional fuels. This may not be directly related to Branson’s move, but I assure you these folks are all watching each other very closely, and all know where the innovation and leadership lies. So I applaud Branson despite the fact that it is easy for some folks to knock him for being overly opportunistic.