Why not? He's got all that money to burn...
Posted on 09/24/2006 4:10:08 PM PDT by melt
LONDON (AFP) - British businessman Richard Branson made a multi-billion-dollar pledge to fight global warming under pressure from US media mogul Ted Turner and former vice-president Al Gore, he has said in a newspaper interview.
He told the Independent on Sunday that global warming was approaching "a tipping point" and Turner and Gore had convinced him it was time to act.
"We just have to hope that it has not come already," he said.
"We have to try to do something about it. One way is to try to come up with a clean alternative fuel or fuels."
Branson said that following the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in the United States last year he thought that fuel prices had soared because of a shortage of oil-refining capacity.
"I started to build an oil refinery, but then Ted Turner rang me up and asked: 'Why not build a refinery for clean rather than dirty fuel?'
"He invited me to fly to Washington to meet experts," Branson told the paper.
Branson said Gore told him to "do something big to kick-start the process."
The founder of the Virgin Group of companies last week announced his commitment to spend three billion dollars (2.3 billion euros) on reversing global warming.
Virgin Group is to invest all future profits from airline and train businesses in reweable energy initiatives.
The entrepreneur has denied this is one of the public relations stunts for which he is famed, saying: "If it's good for marketing, that's fine, but it's not my principal reason for doing it."
Why not? He's got all that money to burn...
Branson is a left winged moonbat, and the last thing he'd be doing is caving to Gore and Turner. He told Cavuto his inspiration for the generous donation was Gore's movie.
It'll be a snowy day in July before I buy anything from a company named "Virgin".
But didn't I hear Branson would keep the money "in the family" of Branson businesses?
A fool and his money are soon parted.
Try to imagine the GOOD 3 billion would do were it devoted to building and staffing fine private schools where all children who wish to learn could flourish, free from ugly influences of ghetto life, parental disinterest, and interferences of left wing government regulations.
A fool and his money were lucky to get together in the first place.
It is an immoral act to let a sucker keep his money.
A point, no doubt, of great interest to the shareholders. - Who would be his employers.
That picture is the epitome of evil. Clinton's look says Peon, you have money, but I have power, and you know it.
Remember Ted Turner's pledge to the UN? That went south really fast. Ha. I think this one will too.
If he cared about global warming, he would slow down the flatulence from Gore and Clinton.
Gore must be laughing at the Clinton meltdown on Fox.
Put it in the context of it actually doing some good in a urban areas like New Orleans or New York City or even Washington, DC. There was a school in Washington, DC that Anderson Cooper toured. The bathroom was "roped off" as a danger area. The cameraman, Cooper and the superintendent went in the bathroom, the lights didn't work, and the ceiling was coming down in chunks, and the only light in that bathroom was a big hole in the ceiling.
It would be hard to overestimate the ignorance embodied in this remark, which seems to be an extension of the "CO2 is pollution" rhetoric: If CO2 is pollution and pollution is dirt, then all we have to do is make clean fuel.
Obviously, these are a bunch of guys that are used to getting their way, but if you can't fool Mother Nature, much less can you bully Father Thermodynamics.
A fool and his money are soon separated.
I think they left out the part where Branson will actually MAKE MONEY on this INVESTEMENT (which is NOT a charitable contribution!). Even Ted Turner admitted it...
Ted Turner on Letterman saying that it was an investment NOT charity, and he will make money.
I mean private schools where children can room and board tuition free. Separate and apart from parental disinterest, neglect and negative neighborhood influences.
Ah, yes. I agree.
What a waste this 3 billion is on global whatever.
Good point. There is definite Clinton "muscle" behind his butt...
Just think how many poker games you could play with that kind of money. :)
The Virgin Group is a privately held holding company. No shareholders to provide accountability. If Branson makes good on his pledge, I'll bet most of that money goes into his own alternate-fuel refinery and other "CGI" intitiaves that will end up making a profit. In other words, he is pledging money to himself and his own "for profit" business ventures.
Five years from now, we should pressure him to allow an external audit to see if he really did donate all of the profits from Virgin and how he spent that donation.
By the way, the look on Clinton's face is priceless. You can just tell what he thinks of Richard
Think of how many casinos I could OWN, Mr. Smarty Pants.
Too much 'gin' in the head of Vir'gin' Air?
Exactly, and the number of casinos I'd get comps at. LOL
a sum he estimated at $3 billion over the next 10 years — would be invested in developing energy sources
The money, Sir Richard said, would be invested in a host of alternative energy enterprises, including existing businesses within his Virgin Group, which consists of about 200 different companies connected in some way to Sir Richard’s sprawling corporate empire.
But it was not clear how much money will ultimately go to the effort, because the businesses involved cannot necessarily count on generating as much in profits as Sir Richard has set as his goal.
Sir Richard said his companies were already engaged in developing an aviation fuel not derived from oil, along with better processes for making bio-fuels from grasses and other crops. Conventional bio-fuels now require a great deal of fossil fuel to manufacture.
Sir Richard said the prime goal was not making money, but financing research on ways to provide energy in a world of growing populations and economies without overheating the planet.
“Some will be profitable, some will not be profitable,” he said at a news conference. “But the only way global warming is going to be beaten is to invest in new fuels that can actually replace fossil fuels.”
Sir Richard usually owns a big chunk of most of these new companies. The complicated and often private books of the companies, some of which are registered offshore, are difficult for most outsiders to penetrate.
His list of promotional stunts is long. He has dressed as a bride, a stewardess, a can of soda and a pirate. He has posed nearly nude in Times Square (to promote Virgin Mobile’s lack of hidden fees), and flown to press conferences via jet pack or dangling from wires off helicopters. Plans to sail around the world in a balloon were scrapped after several tries.
Get comps just for showing up at one of your casinos!
Penthouse living 24/7 for you.
Absolutely! Limo ride from McCarren Int'l LOL.
are these ventures even showing a profit NOW? The other airlines aren't. And it's pretty obvious rail doesn't fare too well either
Branson will be brok in no time if he sinks all of his money into this idea..
Someone needs to send him Michael Crichtons book State of Fear.
Hell, think big. Lear jet from Scobey.
I am throwing out a challenge to all Freepers. Name ONE other person in the world MORE bloated with self important ignorance and arrogance than either Turner or Gore. With leaders like these and causes like theirs, no wonder we haven't yet won the war against terrorists. They take this fake Global Baloney more seriously. Anyone who has taken 1 semester of geology knows that ice ages have formed and melted in earlier times without the aid of modern industrial use of fossil fuels.
vaudine
Right! Non-stop to LAS. :)
I agree. I'd give this "Global Warming" caused-by-living-human-beings scam the cold shoulder.
Who was it, King Canute, who thought he could stop the tide from coming in?
BSF-1 LOL
The Legacy of the Clinton's.
There you go!
BBL -- headache.
OK!
Mail.
The "tipping point" theory is the biggest scam I've ever seen. Think about it: In the old days, they'd just say the world was going to end in 10 years. But they got tired of being mocked for being wrong. So now, it's a "tipping point": In 10 years, we're doomed, but it won't be measurable, it'll just be too late to go back.
And, of course, in 10 years, when we should just say "oh, well, there's nothing we can do" there will be another 10 year plan.
It's a great scam.
Three billion dollars would have been better used building a fence on the border.
If these people really believed that CO2 is killing the planet, they would hop on the nuclear bandwagon.
Oh so it's just a farce that he and others are donating that much money.
It really is obscene.
"May the farce be with them..."
Me thinks Branson demanded something very generous in return (maybe more sweetheart routes in the future for his Virgin Atlantic airline)?
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