Peter Barnes

Peter Barnes (born April 16, 1940, in New York City ) is an American entrepreneur, environmentalist, and journalist.

Early life and education Barnes grew up in New York City. He earned a B.A. in history from Harvard University and an M.A. in government from Georgetown.

Entrepreneur In 1976, Barnes co-founded a worker-owned solar energy company in San Francisco, California. In 1983, he co-founded Working Assets Money Fund.

Board membership Barnes served on numerous boards of directors, including: National Cooperative Bank California Solar Industry Association, Businesses for Social Responsibility Rainbow Workers Cooperative Redefining Progress Greenpeace International Center for Economic and Policy Research

Environmentalism Barnes is an ardent environmentalist and an outspoken advocate of the need to reduce carbon emissions. He originated the terms "Capitalism 3.0" and "Sky Trust". These terms describe his proposal for a "cap and dividend" program modeled on the Alaska Permanent Fund, which Barnes maintains will reduce greenhouse emissions and create a citizens dividend for all Americans.

Barnes contends that his proposals are more workable and sustainable than that of the cap-and-trade policies of the Kyoto Protocol.

The Sky Trust was originally proposed as a report from the Washington, D.C.–based Common Assets Project of which Barnes is the founder. The idea behind the proposal was originally inspired by the Alaska Permanent Fund; a fund that pays dividends to residents of Alaska, derived from what is essentially natural resource rent.

The "trust" Barnes hopes to create is more than an idea, but an actual legal entity. The trust's mission is multi-pronged: "to preserve the current mix of the gases in the sky, thereby stabilizing the climate; to receive market prices for the use of the sky as a dump; and to distribute income among the beneficiaries equally." If the Sky Trust weren't global, corporations could theoretically move to another country that wouldn't tax the "use of the sky as a dump". in advance of the 2008 elections in order to raise its profile. Barnes conducted numerous interviews explaining and popularizing the idea.

Publications