Spotlight: Brinkman Earth Systems

I live in the Vancouver Quadra federal electoral district, and our MP is Liberal politician Joyce Murray. Joyce is currently running for the Liberal Leadership Race and I’m 100% behind her campaign and would love a woman from the West Coast to lead the Liberal Party to a much more sustainable future.

But political agendas aside, Joyce Murray also has a very legitimate background for envisioning a “Sustainable Society”. She and her husband, Dirk Brinkman, founded a tree planting company in the 1970s. Brinkman & Associates, which has now grown to the Brinkman Earth Systems Group of Companies (including Brinkman & Associates, BARCA, and Brinkman Forest Restoration), has planted over 1 billion trees in over 6 countries.

I found an excellent article profiling Dirk Brinkman on The Walrus, where he argues for carbon markets so that environmental protection can also be a profitable business venture.

“It’s too late to avoid catastrophic climate consequences by reducing energy emissions, but it isn’t too late to avoid catastrophic climate consequences altogether. We’ve just got to mount an equal initiative to increase removals.”

It’s an debatable topic that is probably best left to the experts, but there are advocates such as Annie Leonard who are adamant that cap and trade and other types of carbon markets are detrimental to progress on combating climate change. See her “The Story of Cap and Trade” video below:

What’s your stance on carbon markets? Is it wrong that people like Dirk Brinkman are looking out for their self-interests in the name of environmental advocacy? I think I agree with the last quote of Brinkman’s in the article, “You can’t apologize for the fact that what you’re advocating is congruent with your self-interest if it is truly in the public good.” Right?

Source.