Yes, I just photographed a newspaper with my cellphone. Stupid, right?

Plenty of attention will be paid to “Will Big Business Save the Earth?,” Jared Diamond’s contrarian Op-Ed piece in the New York Times. That’s because Diamond is no lobbyist or apologist for big business. He’s a professor of geography at the University of California at Los Angeles and the author of Guns, Germs and Steel: The of Human Societies, which won a Pulitzer. The opening of the article:

“There is a widespread view, particularly among environmentalists and liberals, that big businesses are environmentally destructive, greedy, evil and driven by short-term profits. I know — because I used to share that view.

But today I have more nuanced feelings. Over the years I’ve joined the boards of two environmental groups, the World Wildlife Fund and Conservation International, serving alongside many business executives.

As part of my board work, I have been asked to assess the environments in oil fields, and have had frank discussions with oil company employees at all levels. I’ve also worked with executives of mining, retail, logging and financial services companies. I’ve discovered that while some businesses are indeed as destructive as many suspect, others are among the world’s strongest positive forces for environmental sustainability.”

ALSO:

Diamond’s TED Talk about why societies collapse.