Terry Tamminen

From his youth in Australia to career experiences in Europe, Africa and the United States, Tamminen has expertise in business, farming, education, non-profit, the environment, the arts, and government. Tamminen is a U.S. Coast Guard-licensed ship captain, has run a real estate company, a recreational services business, a tropical fish breeding business, a sheep ranch, and assisted Nigeria with the creation of their first solid waste recycling program.

An accomplished author, Tamminen’s latest book, Lives Per Gallon: The True Cost of Our Oil Addiction, is a timely examination of our dependence on oil and a strategy to evolve to more sustainable energy sources.

Tamminen helped to found and lead the Santa Monica Baykeeper, the Environment Now Foundation, and the Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic at the University of California Los Angeles. In 2007, he was named the Cullman Senior Fellow and Director of the Climate Policy Program of the New America Foundation, and an Operating Advisor to Pegasus Capital Advisors.

Tamminen was appointed as the Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency and the Chief Policy Advisor to the Governor. He continues to advise the Governor on energy and environmental policy. He currently travels throughout the world, lecturing and providing private consulting services to clients, including several Governors and Canadian Premiers on climate and energy policy.

The carbon calendar.

By Terry Tamminen / On December 3rd, 2009

Tens of thousands of modern-day crusaders, charlatans, Nobel laureates, CEOs, quick-buck artists, earnest politicians, and assorted movie extras of every conceivable socio-political-ethnic-economic background will descend on Copenhagen for the next three weeks to participate in an orgy of carbon-bashing and flag-waving.

Terry Tamminen: "Cop" to It Now: An Empty-Handed US Will Be a Party-Pooper

By Terry Tamminen / On April 15th, 2009

The 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) sounds like a contradiction in terms--conferences are business-like and dull while parties are, well, fun! But COP 15 is actually the formal name of the annual gathering of nations that participate in the UN's effort to curb climate change and the "party" is about half a year from now in Denmark. Will the US arrive with little more than a tourist map of Copenhagen and some well-worn stories about China being the world's leading emitter of greenhouse gases (GHGs)?

WSJ Says BOO!

By Terry Tamminen / On November 3rd, 2008

With this past Halloween, we witnessed the Wall Street Journal jump out from behind a hedge fund and try to scare the business community right out of its Brooks Brothers boxers. Like most haunted houses and scary apparitions at this time of year however, WSJ's was as fake as a Sarah Palin mask on your next-door neighbor's pit bull.

Bail-out or Build-out, Part 2

By Terry Tamminen / On October 27th, 2008

As the Presidential race nears the finish line— with the candidates and voters both gasping for air amidst the ubiquitous onslaught of commercials on everything from lawn signs to Saturday Night Live—there are no shortages of "new and improved" proposals for dealing with the current financial mess. Well, if politicians can constantly add to their repertoires, so can we.

Postcard from Beijing

By Terry Tamminen / On October 22nd, 2008

What do Starbucks and smog have in common? Opportunity. As I walk around Beijing, the signs of the 2008 Olympics fading into memory, I am struck by the fact that every corner has a Starbucks, not to mention other ubiquitous American iconography — Sizzler, Nike, 7-11, Hummers, and CNN to name a few. I'm also struck by the fact that the smog problem remains untamed, despite efforts pre and post Olympics to reduce pollution from traffic and smokestacks. So why do these two forces — American companies and smog — have anything to do with opportunity?

How Would You Spend It?

By Terry Tamminen / On October 14th, 2008

Congress passed the bailout plan with a price tag of nearly a trillion dollars, but the ink was hardly dry on this new Monopoly money when quite a few experts began to predict it wouldn't be enough. Some estimates hope the "investments" that taxpayers will make in bad debts could ultimately turn a profit, but how likely is that?