A Somber Mood at Warmer Davos

[Joanne98]

A Somber Mood at Warmer Davos
Against a visible sign of global warming—the snowless Alps—the world's economic and business leaders discuss new plans for new problems
by Christoper Power
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jan2007/gb20070123_559712.htm?chan=globalbiz_europe_today's+top+story

It snowed Monday night in Davos, Switzerland. Nice, fat flakes drifting lazily down in the cozy glow of the street lights and shop windows of this Alpine village. Davos, of course, is renowned as the epicenter of the World Economic Forum, which kicks off its annual session on Jan. 24. But what's so remarkable about snow in Switzerland?

The Swiss aren't taking snow for granted these days. "Global warming has come to Davos," says Mark Adams, a top executive of the Forum. Zurich is a patchwork of depressing browns and greys, testament to the warm winter that has injected a note of discomfort into this comfortable nation. Even a ride on the mountain train to Davos Platz reveals only isolated patches of the white stuff on the mountain meadows, as the train chugs its way up steep track to the 1,540-meter height of Davos itself.

Snow as an Endangered Species is not one of the dozens of sessions listed in the program of the Forum, the ultimate annual Baedeker of the global elite's concerns and anxieties. But, notes Adams, there are 17 sessions this year on climate change in all its various permutations—the highest number of sessions ever devoted to the topic in the history of the Forum. In a Gallup survey commissioned by the Forum, top business leaders listed global warming as their No. 2 issue in order of importance. That's a huge increase in interest about global warming. (The No. 1 issue was the sustainability of current profit levels. These folks are business people, after all.)

High Alpine Anxiety
A diligent student could practically earn a graduate degree in Global Warming Studies just by coming to Davos this year. Some of the session topics: Energy Strategy as a Competitive Advantage. Designing Sustainable Cities. The Legal Landscape Around Climate Change. The Green Rush (that's about the business viability of green investments). Addressing Global Fault Lines (ecological risk is a big part of this). The Security Implications of Climate Change. Climate Change: A Call to Action. And this plaintive-sounding one: Sustainable Energy Consumption: Does Anyone Care?

Well, the organizers of Davos certainly do. Global warming fits into the general zeitgeist of the Forum this year, which could best be described as Anxiety for the Intelligent and Highly Placed. There is definitely a feeling that the old order—strong nation states, powerful multinationals, technology as the reserve of the few—is slipping away into an unclear future. This theme has been sounded before, but there seems to be an acuteness to the feelings underpinning them this year. How else to explain sessions with intriguing but daunting titles such as Depression, The Rise and Fall of Empires, or Early Warning and Crisis Preparedness?

Up to Companies
How are companies responding to this? With an eminently practical approach, basically. Many seem to be adapting to the conditions described by the Forum by adopting a policy of enlightened self-interest. That means more ambitious, corporate-sponsored projects to tackle global poverty, illiteracy, water scarcity, climate change, energy conservation, and other reactions to scary conditions.

More at link:

Christopher Power is an assistant managing editor at BusinessWeek, responsible for international coverage.
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jan2007/gb20070123_559712.htm?chan=globalbiz_europe_today's+top+story
===============================================

EDIT: COPYRIGHT. PLEASE POST ONLY 4 OR 5
PARAGRAPHS FROM THE COPYRIGHTED NEWS SOURCE
PER DU RULES.