The TH Interview: Michael Kieschnick, President of Working Assets
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles 
on 08.23.07
Back before it was considered hip or socially responsible to allow consumers to guide a firm's green investments by voting with their wallets, Working Assets - a progressive company based in San Francisco, CA - was leading the way with its innovative "green" credit card. The company pledges to donate 10¢ to tree planting and alternative energy groups - such as the Union of Concerned Scientists, Bluewater Network and Rocky Mountain Institute - every time you buy gas with the card and will donate a further 10¢ to nonprofit organizations for all other purchases. Doesn't sound like much? Last year alone its members helped raise almost $5 million for various nonprofit groups, and the company has donated $50 million since its inception in 1985 - including close to $10 million to environmental groups.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the card is its unlikely source of inspiration – a little known story Michael Kieschnick, Working Assets’ president, was only too happy to share with us when we sat down for an interview a few days ago. He and fellow Working Assets co-founder Peter Barnes first came up with the idea a few years ago after seeing Lee Iacocca – the former chairman of Chrysler Corp. – hawking an American Express card as part of an extensive ad blitz the company had just rolled out, pledging to donate a portion of its proceeds (about one thousandth on every cent) to the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation. As he recounted it, the first thought that occurred to both he and Barnes upon seeing the ad was: "We can do better."
Having already worked with many non-profits over the years, Kieschnick and Barnes were keenly aware of the funding issues they often encountered and took it upon themselves to create a credit card that would provide them with financial support over the long haul - an idea that eventually became the basis for their current model. Now that their credit card has essentially become one of the de facto standards for other companies’ recent entries into the field - including GE’s Ecomagination credit card - we asked Kieschnick what his thoughts were on the green wave currently washing over the business community.
Crediting a massive shift in public opinion brought about by a confluence of factors - including Hurricane Katrina, Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth and the Congress’ inaction on the issues of climate change and energy - he praised the efforts of companies moving to address their consumers’ eco-concerns as more than simple green-washing. Though he readily acknowledged that many of these companies still carried a legacy of pernicious actions towards the environment - making them particularly vulnerable to accusations of green-washing - they could begin overcoming them by coming clean and subjecting themselves to newer, more rigorous standards. New companies, he advised, should be completely transparent about their green initiatives and actions from the start.
The best way for companies to cultivate an informed, loyal customer base - particularly now that public opinion has shifted dramatically in efforts to conserve energy and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions - was to encourage them to volunteer and become activists, an objective Working Assets has always striven to make a central part of its organization. As Kieschnick put it, donations alone are simply not enough: companies should also be actively encouraging consumers to become more knowledgeable about the pressing issues of the day and to take part in national campaigns and initiatives.
One that he has been a staunch advocate for in recent months is Step it Up - a citizen's campaign to urge Congress to take on climate change that we've mentioned several times on TH (he even dressed up as a polar bear for one of the events). Another initiative in which he has invested a tremendous amount of time and energy is Working Assets’ own 2008 voter registration campaign - an effort that allows its customers to make contributions that will reach minorities, single women and the poor and encourage them to cast a vote. Contributions made online or through phone bills up to $500,000 will be matched dollar for dollar.
And that's not all: Kieschnick also told us that Working Assets is set to announce the release of two new eco-friendly products - a solar powered charger (in partnership with Solio) and what he's calling the first "carbon neutral phone." In essence, when new customers sign up for service with Working Assets Wireless, the company will make a one-time purchase from Carbonfund.org to offset their household carbon emissions for one year - which they estimate equates to about 10 tons.
While Kieschnick remains hopeful about the long-term prospects for the green movement, he holds a more pessimistic view about the effects climate change will exert on our planet over the next 25-30 years – essentially, that things will get worse before they get better (though we will eventually see the light at the end of the tunnel). He believes that venture capitalists and other large firms will continue pouring money into cleaner, renewable technologies and that the inevitable rise in oil prices will continue to make those investments viable and necessary. Energy efficiency, conservation and sustainability will continue driving much of our public policy discourse, and Kieschnick expects those to have an even larger influence in the coming decades.
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very cool. i was with Working Assets 5 years ago for their long distance pre-cell phone and i was never so happy to get a bill. I cant wait to qualify for their credit card and it's good to know they have cellular plans now, too.
Space and Science Research Center
Verity Management Services, Inc.
4700 Millenia Blvd. Ste. 175
Orlando, FL 32839
Tel: 407-835-3635 Fax: 407-210-3901
www.spaceandscience.net
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, D.C. 20502
March 2, 2009
SUBJECT: Final Appeal to Reverse US Government Climate Change Initiatives and
Related Economic Stimulus Policies.
Dear President Obama,
This letter is sent to you today in follow-up to the previous letters sent to you and your cabinet both prior and subsequent to your election as President. It is a final appeal to your administration to end its programs designed to combat the naturally produced phenomena known as global warming and to take immediate action to prepare our country and protect its citizens against the rapidly advancing new climate era of potentially dangerously cold weather. This includes a new request for you to fundamentally alter the recently submitted budget which contains hundreds of billions of dollars of climate change/global warming related programs. Here are the main points that support our request that the administration overhaul its climate change policies:
1. Global warming has ended. This was announced by the Space and Science Research Center (SSRC) in a news conference July 1, 2008 and confirmed by independent monitoring stations globally that showed both short and long term drops of temperatures world wide.
2. The Sun has entered a state I predicted two years ago and have termed a “solar hibernation.” Such hibernations always result in dramatically reduced solar output and activity and along with them destructive cold eras on Earth. The next hibernation, the next climate change, has begun.
3. Substantial science exists that shows that mankind’s emissions of carbon dioxide have at most a miniscule effect on the Earth’s climate. Therefore, attempts to control it in order to influence climate will have a similar result – little to none.
4. Should the next solar hibernation and cold era be of the same magnitude as the last one, it will likely result in massive damage to the planet’s agriculture just as it did before. Some scientists say it will be colder than what the SSRC forecasts.
5. Our nation has little time to prepare for the next climate era of pronounced and long lasting cold weather. The changeover has already started and is expected to advance rapidly in the next few years. Long lead time preparations required are even now behind schedule since on a national level they may take ten or more years to implement. We don’t have ten years to spare.
6. The worst of the cold will start to manifest itself soon with unexpected weather shocks to our agriculture and economy followed by sustained cold weather between 2020 and 2040 with a projected bottom in the year 2031. Cold weather records are already being set world wide. This era may have cold periods amplified by major volcanic eruptions which deliver light reflecting or light shielding gases and particles into the upper atmosphere, just as happened during the last hibernation.
7. Because there is no longer a need for them, and because the underlying science has been corrupted by misleading data and politics, the issuance of carbon trading permits and other climate based financial instruments as proposed in the just released administration budget (February 26, 2009) may be regarded as dealing in worthless securities or otherwise carrying an unacceptable level of risk. U.S. and international regulators, including state governments, financial institutions, investment rating organizations, traders, and utilities, many already under great stress, may not want the added exposure of highly speculative investments.
8. There is a growing chorus of scientists and experts around the world who have risen up to condemn the deeply flawed climate assessments and conclusions of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UN IPCC). We have clearly been led astray by the UN. They are the primary entity that has caused this current global climate change deception that we have all been laboring under. They should no longer be sought out for accurate or unbiased advice. It is time the US had its own climate change authority with broad powers to objectively and openly investigate and recommend actions on the subject.
9. The administration’s current pursuit of controlling something that does not exist, namely global warming (regardless of perceived cause) will greatly add to the future distress and loss of life of Americans and most people globally who at this point are totally unaware and unprepared for the dangerous new climate era we have entered.
10. These and other actions by your administration have injured our ability to conduct business and our attempts to spread the word about this coming climate change in order that our people are able to cope with its ill-effects.
Along with other scientists around the globe, we have been trying to alert our respective governments to the difficult times ahead that this new climate will bring. As a result, we have been subjected to much irrational criticism from global warming zealots and others in an ad hominem fashion, as expected. The SSRC, though still at its early stage of formation, has been the leading science organization in the country in requesting government and media action to alert our people to the full truth about the next climate change. The SSRC is now the most often quoted resource on the web on this new cold era. A former Chairman of the House of Representatives Science Committee has said my theory of climate change and prediction of the coming cold period “…should be seriously considered….” Internationally, there is a growing list of scientists who are now saying the world needs to get ready.
However, this important message, in the midst of rapidly dropping temperatures on Earth and the incredible changes taking place in the Sun, has received no response from your administration. The obvious veil of using the term ‘climate change’ instead of ‘global warming’ by some officials does nothing to avert the reality of what is coming. The historic changes now taking place in the Sun are among the most significant occurrences in the history of science, affecting every person on Earth. Yet, this has been intentionally covered up, keeping our people uninformed of what is coming. As conveyed by your 2010 budget release, it now appears that your administration has adopted a worst case strategy for caring for our citizens. The climate directed financial instruments and permits in this budget plan may be not only be worthless and unnecessary but will actually work against preparing us for the future climate period.
I strongly urge that you now do as I and other former believers in man’s ability to influence climate have done. Review your position in light of the changes that are now taking place in the Sun and in the Earth’s climate and begin the process of getting our nation well prepared to enter this new climate era. I know such a quantum shift in thinking will be challenging for anyone. It was for me in April 2007 when I joined the list of those scientists who have discovered the 206 year solar cycle. There are things in our lives that office titles and legislation cannot influence. The Sun is one of them. We must now adjust and adapt to the new natural world environment the Sun is imposing on us.
Mr. President, I respectfully make this final request that your administration take the immediate actions to address the issues noted above and prepare our country for the worst cold in over 200 years. The hibernation of the Sun has already started. It is unstoppable. The first cold climate era of the 21st century, one that may eventually cause the worst subsistence crisis in recorded human history, is here.
Sincerely,
John L. Casey
President, Verity Management Services, Inc.
Director, Space and Science Research Center (edited from original)
Comments on Greenhouse gas effect 6-1-09
Dear Readers: I will try to answer all the comments as many of them are worth sharing what I do know and give references where someone else does a better job of explaining why the greenhouse gas effect does not exist.
A general comment on the supposed test “proving that the greenhouse gas effect exists.”
This is a very poorly set up experiment. Every one of my questions or comments was meant to point out an error or fault with the experiment. The experiment should either prove or disprove the hypotheses behind the experiment.
The experiment of proving that the “greenhouse gas effect exist” must show that there is “back radiation “caused by properties of CO2 and other gas molecules. It has been shown by Niels Bohr in 1922 that when a gas molecule absorbs electromagnetic energy as photons from IR it causes the electrons to go to a higher energy shell in the molecule- it does not cause the gas to heat up. The individual molecule can only absorb a specific amount of energy before it is reradiated as “light energy” with the same wavelength as was absorbed. The “light energy” will be radiated in any direction ( a three dimensional model) there is no force that cause it to go back in the direction that it came from.
Using the picture used by advocates of the Greenhouse gas effect is pure fantasy. There is no fixed layer of CO2 or “greenhouse gases in the troposphere –The CO2 is distribute through out the troposphere thus if the molecule (very few-380ppm) absorbs the specific wave lengths that it will accept (only 2 or 3 wave lengths in the IR range) they can be from any direction thus during the day sunlight will be the primary source –very little from outward radiation from the heated Earth. At night after sundown the IR radiation from Earth could be absorbed by the CO2 however as stated above only 2 or 3 wavelengths of the IR spectrum will be absorbed. Any particular molecule may or may not absorb the IR depending on its individual energy level, because most of the molecules are already at an excited level from the sun, most of the IR from Earth will escape into space.( about 1 millionth of out bound IR will be absorbed then reradiated in any direction). This is proved every day because the temperature from one day to the next is totally different. Daily temperatures are obviously controlled by moving air masses. Ask any weatherman-meteorologist-The best they can do is predict the next 5 days with some reliability –why do you believe a Climatologist who is trying to use his frosty crystal ball to predict 10-20-30- 50- 100 years into the future can give a more informed “prediction on “climate”. They tell us that they have this great computer model that makes all kind of assumptions but because there are limitations in the capacity of the computers they have to ignore the effects of water and sun light variation.
As with all computers “garbage in is garbage out” Having checked with many Meteorologists ( and a few climatologist including the retired head of the Climatologist Society) that work with the data daily they know that the greenhouse gas effect is bull and that Man-made global warming is the product of corrupt politicians. If the politicians and wacky environmentalists would close their mouths the Earth temperature would drop at least 5 degrees.
Just a short comment about “heating” and “Heat transfer” –Thermodynamics-this is very simplified so the wacky environmental can understand it- gases do not get heated by absorption of radiation they get heated from conduction from other heated bodies- and when it heats up it causes the molecules to move faster (higher energy) this energy will then transfer to other molecules by collisions. Like pole balls colliding. This explains why the experiment that was supposed to prove that the greenhouse gas effect exists is in error. The light passes through the gas without heating it (Per Niels Bohr and others) then it is absorbed by the glass containers and the black cardboard inside the containers that heat up and then the gases are heated by conduction. The reason I was concerned whether one of the containers with the air was open is that convection through an open top would prevent heating as much as the closed top container with CO2 (greenhouse effect) We all know that the greenhouse effect exists. The problem is the explanations of why it happen is not understood- Look up the work of R.W. Wood that explains what happens –not back radiation of IR.
- I have performed similar experiments that were better thought out and the results were totally different.
That is why I have gone into the above dissertation on basic physics, thermodynamics, not so basic radiation physics and a little nuclear physics.
–The experiment using glass containers does not prove that CO2 is a greenhouse gas- it proves that the greenhouse gas effect does not exist- again it proves that they set the experiment up wrong and proved the opposite –the greenhouse gas effect does not exist.
You are very good to question the reference to “Gerlich and Tscheuschner “ this is a first class reference because I have done the tests that they explained and gotten the results they said I would . Yes it is written by Ph D physicists for knowledgeable scientists. It may have some error but reading the comment there have not been any that shows any errors just rhetoric by environmental wackos who do not want to realize the works of Fourier, Tyndall and Arrhenius is Hypothesis that contain theoretical calculations and no actual test data. There has been much scientific research and great scientific discovery like the work of Einstein, Niels Bohr and many others that shows that these early Hypotheses have not been supported by facts.
Another reference that I have given before is “Greenhouse Gas Hypothesis Violates Fundamentals of Physics” by Dipl-Ing Heinz Thieme This work has about 10 or 12 link that support the truth that the greenhouse gas effect is a hoax. It is a lot easier for the average person to read and understand. It also is consistent to the work of Gerlich etc.
Another reference is “Ponder the Maunder” that is an excellent reading for the beginner. It has been written by a young lady scientist that started out to learn the fact without any previous bias. Her conclusion is that “MAN-MADE global warming” does not exist.
In additions I have communicated with physicists that are experts in IR photography and they have supplied data on the absorption of IR by CO2 and other gases. This supports the fact that the greenhouse gas effect is a hoax.
I am not contending that what I have written is absolutely correct, much has been simplified for understanding. Many of the references and there links give more complete explanations.
It is not possible to condense 7000 years of scientific research and learning into a few pages. There have been many mistakes made during that time like the Earth is Flat (Known by the ancient Egyptians that it is spherical) or that the Earth is the center of the Universe but to go back 150 years to a Hypotheses that has not been proven by data is asinine.
There have been references to the 95% CO2 atmosphere of Venus and the fact that it is at a mush higher pressure than on Earth and the temperature of it is mush higher. Some idiots claim this is proof that the greenhouse gas effect exists-they are wrong. Venus is much closer to the Sun therefore it receives much more radiation than Earth and this will make it hotter.
Because of the higher pressure and higher concentration of CO2 there are many, many, many more molecules of CO2 in the atmosphere-if the greenhouse gas effect existed all the IR radiation from the hot Planet (2 or 3 wavelengths) would be captured and back radiated to the planet. NASA has data that this is not happening. . Also there are clouds of Sulfuric Acid gas over the layer of CO2 that has the same effect as the water cloud on Earth.
These are not greenhouse gases-Water has proven effects on temperature because of known properties. There are Thousands of volumes about water and it effect. Water andCO2 are essential for live on this planet.
There are a few million pages of scientific information or more and yet people prefer to believe the fantasy and fiction of a few corrupt politicians, Henny Pennies and climatologist that use frosty and dirty crystal balls to predict 50 or 100 years into the future based on illogical and unproven fantasy.