Outside the Box: William H. Hinkle for President

[One of the problems with our system of choosing our chief executive officer is that by the time the election rolls around the pool of choices has evaporated down to a puddle of state governors and U.S.Senators, mostly frogs, who orchestrate "drafts" to camouflage their ambitions for power. "Outside the Box" is an on-going meditation on the qualifications of leaders in the form of "nominations" of specific individuals -- business and academic leaders, artists and intellectuals, non-conformists of various sorts, celebrities and "ordinary" people -- for President of the United States.]

After William H. Hinkle sold his wholesale electronic bond trading company, he spent his newfound leisure time reading voraciously about global warming (on his website, he recounts My Conversion to Green). But if, like a lot of us, he is worried about flooded cities, monster storms, and methane burps, he is different in one way: he can afford to do something about it.

Last winter, according to the New York Times, Hinkle put together a list of 500 well-heeled friends and colleagues and set out to make them carbon conscious.

"He wrote a series of six e-mail messages, each a brief presentation of what he believes is the grim reality of global climate change, and how the rich and powerful make things worse with their limousines, jet flights and big homes. He challenged each recipient to read all the messages and send them to others. He then promised to buy a $100 pass from one of three carbon-offset programs in the name of the first 1,000 people who complied."

"I could have just sent $100,000 directly to the groups, but that would not create leverage," Hinkle told the Times. "My goal is really to get people to look at these three options."

The Hinkle Charitable Foundation website <http://www.thehcf.org/> lists three carbon-offset organizations to which he sends the $100 proxy contributions: Carbonfund.Org <http://www.carbonfund.org/>, which supports renewable energy, efficiency and reforestation projects; the Solar Electric Light Fund <http://www.self.org/>, which brings solar power and modern communications to rural villages in the developing world -- for enhancements in health, education, and economic well-being through projects shaped by local people, particularly women -- and encourages economic and ecological sustainability; and the Lomakatsi Restoration Project <http://www.lomakatsi.org/>, which organizes community based ecological restoration projects through education, vocational training, specialized workforce development and the utilization of restoration by-products.

In the two months since Hinkle sent the first e-mails, he has received several hundred replies from people who were not on his original list. So far, he has paid about $60,000. "When you've been lucky like me, that's nothing," he said.

Hinkle has thrown down a second carbon-reducing challenge. Like everyone who drives a Toyota Prius hybrid, he thinks everyone should, so he is offering $500 rebates to 20 American families with annual incomes of less than $80,000 who buy a new Prius before July 31.

He may sound like a Ralph Nader-ish idealist, but the former executive is still the hard-nosed pragmatist he was during a two-decade long career on Wall Street. "I don't expect all this to make a big difference," he said. "But I'd like to be wrong."

Putting aside for another discussion the pros and cons of allowing rich individuals -- and rich companies and countries -- to buy the right to pollute, Hinkle's attempt to contribute to mitigating the effects of global warming is in marked contrast to the current administration's denial that the problem exists. Therefore Outside the Box nominates William H. Hinkle -- successful business executive, budding environmental activist -- to be President of the United States.

Past nominees:
John Edwards
John Cusack