Permaculture Marin

          The mission of GreenMachines is to provide a place for people to discuss and network around the question of what business corporations could and should do to reverse global warming. GreenMachines is not just for stockholders or activists or experts. It is for anybody who wants to follow the issues or to participate in the dialogue. The goal is to use public dialogue to shine a light on any corporate decision-making that relates to global warming, to make it into a public process, in order to focus corporate power on the fight against climate change.

          GreenMachines provides moderated online forums and newsfeeds, both of which are available both by web browser and in the form of Usenet-style newsgroups; updates by email and RSS; an array of social bookmarking and social networking technologies; instant messaging; two kinds of email systems; and other resources and technologies to help people educate themselves, communicate, and connect.

          Climate change and global warming can not be slowed or reversed until we compel our business corporations to become part of the solution. According to information derived from the United States Energy Information Agency‘s annual report, only 21% of all United States CO2 emissions is from residential sources. The rest is from industry (29%), commerce (17%) and transportation (33%). Business corporations can and must be re-purposed as engines not only of economic wealth but also of global health.

          There are four main ways that people can influence business corporations to mitigate and reverse global warming. The GreenMachines Forums concern three of these.

          The first way is to enact legislation through the political process. GreenMachines is not currently designed to be a political forum. The other ways of influencing corporate behavior listed below influence corporations directly, thereby avoiding some of the pitfalls of the political and legislative process. They also supplement, influence, and inform the political and legislative processes.

          The second way to influence corporations is through public opinion. Corporations and their officers do not exist in a social vacuum. They need social approval to function, both personally and professionally. They are highly influenced by and responsive to public opinion. They routinely spend huge amounts annually on press releases, Corporate Social Responsibility Reports, Sustainability Reports, and other communications that are not required by law, which are intended to tout their good works such as their environmental track record, not just their profitability. These communications are targeted not only to shareholders but also to other stakeholders, such as employees and the communities where the companies operate, and to the public at large.

          Unfortunately, companies' actual performance doesn't always match the image that they present in their green corporate disclosures.

          The central purpose of the GreenMachines Forums is to provide a place where people can express their opinions about a company's green performace.  The News Forum “Green Disclosure Analysis” has links to and/or excerpts from articles commenting on climate-related corporate disclosures and articles discussing disclosure standards and practices.  Like “Green Disclosure Analysis” provides members the ability to comment on those releases and reports. Finally, in the forum “Deconstruction Zone,” GreenMachines members can start their own threads about corporate green disclosures not connected to the reports or news articles in the other forums.

          The third way to influence corporations is through shareholder action and activism. Shareholders, as the legal owners of corporations, have the ability to directly affect corporate decisionmaking through proxy voting at annual or special shareholder meetings, and through other attempts to obtain greater corporate disclosure about environmental impacts. In 2007, environmental proxy initiatives were the single largest category of socially-oriented proxy initiatives, accounting for 32% of all such initiatives.

          By communicating and organizing themselves, shareholder activists have succeeded in influencing corporate action in the areas of international politics, labor practices, trade, and disclosure of campaign contributions, as well as environmental practices. The anti-apartheid corporate divestiture and proxy movement that started in 1971 and took off in the 1980s resulted in United States federal legislation (the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, which imposed trade barriers and required divestiture) and led, ultimately, to the repeal of apartheid in 1991.  During the same period, other corporate activists used the proxy system to lobby corporations to adopt the Sullivan Principles, which address inequality in the labor workplace.

          GreenMachines.net includes two forums for discussing green shareholder activism. “Green Shareholder News” includes links to topical news articles about green shareholder activism. Members can post their views on those articles. The “Green Shareholder Forum” provides a space where members can start topics not opened in “Green Shareholder News.”

          The fourth way to influence corporations is through litigation - bringing it and defending it. When all else fails, you have to litigate. GreenMachines.net includes two forums devoted to green corporate litigation. The News Forum entitled “The Docket” contains topics summarizing and linking to news articles and original court and regulatory documents relating to climate litigation brought against or by corporate interests. Members can post their views on any topic. “The Whistle” provides a space for members to start their own topics about actual or potential climate litigation or regulatory proceedings.

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          The Forums are moderated, spam-resistant, and searchable. Anyone can read the Forums using a web browser or newsreader, or monitor any Forum using an RSS reader. Registered members can also monitor any thread within any Forum by email. Registration is simple, fast, and free.

          Members can network by posting to the Forums, by using GreenMachines' Private Messaging System, and through GreenMachines' email system. GreenMachines also provides members the ability to message each other by AIM, Yahoo Messenger, ICQ, MSN Messenger, or Skype. Members can also provide other members with links to their profiles on LinkedIn, FaceBook, or any other social network. Members are also able to create and participate in opinion polls.

          The site also includes moderated RSS feed aggregates collecting current corporate sustainability news articles and corporate CSR Reports and other green PR culled from hundreds of news sites and blogs.

          We hope that you will join and participate in this crucial dialogue.

Joshua Neil Rubin
Administrator, GreenMachines.net
admin@GreenMachines.net
718-874-9829