Carrots, Not Sticks: Why Commercial Energy Drives Real Change

I’ve never believed that government regulation and taxation are the best mechanisms to shape behavior; especially when it comes to the environment, innovation, or culture. You can force people into compliance, but you can’t regulate passion, creativity, or progress. Real change happens when consumers and companies align voluntarily around better ideas.

Take electric vehicles. No one mandated the Prius or Tesla. Consumers jumped in because they wanted to. Tesla didn’t sell compliance. It sold innovation, identity, and inspiration. The technology, the design, and the purpose behind the product created demand. That’s commercial energy at work. That’s the market responding to a better way.

Now contrast that with one of the biggest failures in U.S. environmental policy: the corn ethanol mandate.

In 2005, the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) required ethanol, mostly made from corn, to be blended into gasoline. On paper, it sounded great: reduce emissions, support rural economies, and cut foreign oil dependence. But in practice, it backfired. The mandate distorted markets, spiked food prices, incentivized water and chemical intensive farming, and destroyed wetlands and grasslands that had actually been sequestering carbon.

Even worse, it didn't deliver the promised climate benefit. Once you factor in land-use changes, transportation, and production emissions, many studies suggest corn ethanol is no cleaner than gasoline and in some cases, worse.

That’s what happens when policy gets ahead of market reality.
When the government rewards activity instead of outcomes.
When we force it, instead of earning it.

At Willapa Wild (www.willapawild.com), we didn’t need a regulation to tell us to restore eelgrass. We did it because we saw the opportunity to grow better oysters and a healthier bay.
At Joy From Within (stresscenter.com), we didn’t wait for a mental health mandate—we built what we wished had existed when we needed it.
And with the Shoalwater Bay Yacht Club (sbyc.club), no one asked us to create a youth STEM sailing program. We just saw the need and got to work.

That’s how change actually happens.
Not from mandates, but from momentum.
Not because it’s enforced. But because it matters.

Let’s Measure What Matters

It’s time for government to focus on results, not activity.
Don’t reward the department that fills out the most forms. Reward the one that gets real things done.

Don’t just regulate outcomes you can’t achieve yourself. Incentivize the private sector to solve it faster, cleaner, and better. Want clean water, healthy communities, or a thriving economy? Great. Then support the people building those things with intention, not obstruction.

In business, we measure ROI. In government, they measure effort.
That’s backwards.

Let’s flip the model.
Less red tape. More partnerships.
Less punishment. More performance.
Less “how much did we regulate?”
More “did it actually work?”

The future belongs to those who are willing to lead, not wait.
Let’s build it with carrots, not sticks.