clair031

I am happy to be back with another interview from the series – Global PR professionals. This time, I had the joy & honour to interview Kara Alaimo. Kara Alaimo, Ph.D. is a global public relations consultant, trainer, and professor. A former communicator in the Obama administration and the United Nations, she now consults on global communication campaigns, designs customized employee training programs for companies on how to adapt messages and strategies for different global markets, and teaches public relations at Hofstra University. She is author of  Pitch, Tweet, or Engage on the Street: How to Practice Global Public Relations and Strategic Communication  and a member of the board of the  World Communication Forum  in Davos. For more information, visit  www.karaalaimo.com  and follow her on Twitter  @karaalaimo . I first met Kara in the Swiss Alps, during the World Communication Forum, a couple of years ago, when she first mentioned about the boo...

Summary: Global average temperatures have been at record levels month by month up to the time of writing (August 2016), and for most years since 2000.   When attention focuses on the U.S. , the number of days in a year above 100ºF (37.8ºC) is forecast to grow dramatically, for example by 2060 and 2100. Contrary to the operating strategies of large fossil fuel companies, we present here examples of two companies and an industry that embrace the changes demanded by the growing global warming crisis.   A large electricity generating utility, NRG Energy, is developing renewable energy sources as part of its electricity portfolio.   The American trucking industry embraces the regulations just issued requiring trucks to be more fuel efficient and to emit lower amounts of greenhouse gases.   Apple, following examples set by Walmart and Google, is contracting with renewable energy providers for long-term supplies of electricity to fulfill its growing needs. When confronti...

Summary: Exxon’s scientists conducted extensive research in the 1970’s and 1980’s showing that use of fossil fuels produces greenhouse gases that warm the planet.   These results were accepted by the company’s management.   By the 1990’s, however, the fossil fuel industry changed its message.   It began a campaign to plant doubts in the minds of the public about the reality of manmade global warming and its effects. Although many large American companies have prospered because they embodied an optimistic culture, a “can-do” spirit, by the end of the 20 th century the fossil fuel companies adopted a “won’t change” attitude.   They resisted the scientific reality of manmade global warming, seeking to continue their business model of producing fossil fuels to supply the world’s energy. Yet objective climate science shows that continued atmospheric accumulation of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide will lead to large increases in the global average temperature. ...