September 3, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
In an effort to play down its usual parade of vapid celebrities and private-jet-owning business moguls, Vanity Fair has shaken up its annual list of the 100 most powerful people in the world by including leaders in the nonprofit world.
With the economy in the dumps and global warming threatening the environment, the magazine said it wanted to give more weight to charitable work by the members of the so-called New Establishment.
“It’s why we’ve added William McDonough, who’s constructing buildings that produce more energy than they consume, and Jeffrey Sachs, who says that global poverty can be eliminated for a mere $200-billion a year,” the magazine says in its introduction to the list.
“Maybe the other 98 members of this year’s New Establishment list will listen to Sachs and McDonough—and ante up the funds they need to begin fixing up our world.”
Of course, philanthropy can go only so far. This year’s top-ranked powerbroker? Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin — not a man known for his humanitarian impulses.
What do you think? Who would you include to Vanity Fair’s list?
