The GOOD 100: Alex Steffen and Worldchanging

The Bright Green Hope

Alex Steffen, the CEO and executive editor of the website Worldchanging, is pushing the boundaries of environmental activism to better places. We salute him because:1. He coined the term "bright green," referring to the modern school of environmentalism he helped found. Bright greens reject environmentalism as simply a lifestyle choice in favor of a more aggressive approach to sustainability, one that looks to technology and design as the bellwethers of change.2. He was bold enough to call out the false promise of consumer-based environmental activism-like buying compact fluorescent lightbulbs for your home-as the meager stopgap that it is.3. He has the ear of everyone from TED's Chris Anderson to Wired's Chris Anderson.4. The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December, which he has called "the most important international summit of our lifetime," isn't likely to produce the results we need to get our planet's health on track. But Steffen has a plan, and he's telling people about it at four presentations in the city during the conference, in his forthcoming book (Bright Green: A Worldchanging Guide to Building a Future That Works), and through a speaking tour in the United States next year.5. He was doing this before it was cool, doesn't care that it is cool now, and will be doing it even when it stops being cool.