Going Green – yawn. As I sit at the computer trying to put this article together, I realize that we may be reaching the point of over saturation when it comes to “green”. Every paper/magazine/new TV show seems to have something about “going green”. We are constantly reminded that energy savings is at a critical stage and no place is that more true then when we go to fill our car gas tank. So, what should a person do? Why should we care? Is this really all the fault of the big oil companies and their need to make more money?

Hopefully, this is not going to be me preaching to you. Hopefully, this can be a little fun. Hopefully, we all might learn something. For the next five minutes, or however long it takes you to read this article, we will try to figure out how to take the brain surgery out of going green and show you how becoming engaged in this shift in lifestyle choices can be one of the most powerful things that you can do.

First let’s address the most important question out there in the green movement. Why Should I Care? Most of you are either parents or have children that hold a place near and dear to your hearts. I have a 15 year old son who believes that we grown ups have screwed up the world almost beyond repair – and he is probably right. What pulled me into this wild and crazy world we call “green” was the need to be able to look him in the eyes and know that I am in fact trying to fix what is broken. It isn’t too late. The technology and commercial availability of products, as well as the volume of knowledge out there on “going green” is huge. So, this is my way of giving you yet one more tool in your tool chest that can make it easier to go green…Just one thing.

How many of you have stood in the hardware store and debated whether to spend the extra money to purchase compact fluorescent light bulbs, or filled your car tank and wondered if it was time to buy a hybrid, or pondered the concept of organic milk and produce over mainstream? For many of us, this green “movement” is a lot like the adventures about ten years ago when all of the nutrition articles were coming out. One day we were all supposed to eat a certain fruit and the next day someone had found that if eaten in excess, it would cause cancer. One day bacon was good, the next bacon was going to kill you. One day organic was hype, the next it was a “good thing” and over time – for some of us years – we realized that it was up to us to figure out what was “truth”.

- Jyl’s Green Planet

What are your thoughts on Going Green?  Has news on the environment caused you to change any of your living habits?

Several years ago, I realized that I had slowly but surely stopped watching the news.  The last 18 months or so I have not watched a complete 30 minute broadcast on any channel.  It is not something that I consciously stopped doing.  It just became too much doom and gloom for me.  For the most part, it is too “entertainment” driven, whether to scare you, depress you, or overwhelm you.  I have started getting my news through reading more – on the internet, in books, and various other printed or web based mediums.  It is also one of the reasons I have enjoyed being part of Platform’s family.  Empowering through knowledge, data, facts, and opinions, but done so with the end result as being “uplifting” – is my kind of news.

Today I am spending a bit of time reading the latest Newsweek – not a magazine that I pick up often, but the cover caught my eye.    “Want to Save the Planet? Make a Greener Burger”.  Being someone who prides herself on staying on the leading edge of this Green/Sustainability movement, I couldn’t resist picking it up.  Now, I know buying something that caused a few trees to lose their lives isn’t very “green” of me, but I honestly believe that there is something very enjoyable (very human) about sitting in a comfortable chair, a cup of tea at my side, and enjoying some time flipping pages of a magazine or book and only stopping to read what strikes your fancy.  So, that is what I am doing.  The interesting thing is although there are some good articles – and rankings of companies, the magazine does not appear to be printed on recycled paper or using soy ink.  Of course, I can recycle the magazine, after I share it with my colleagues and students, but it seems to be a statement on this whole “green” movement.  A sort of  - close, but no cigar syndrome.  The “green” articles are good food for thought and it does warm the cockles of my heart to see “news” magazines incorporating the “business” of green/sustainability into their reporting.  I guess doing so without truly walking the walk is better than not talking the talk at all.  

Sustainability.  Sustainability is pushing  businesses and governments to rethink everything from what light bulb to purchase, to how to attract talent to their organization(s).  Today, I want to look at where we are in this transition from Industrial Age, through Information Age, and now entering what I call the Resource Age.  

Historically, we have been a country that believed that you had to choose between “doing good” and “making money”.  Most CEO’s and Government leaders in this country and others could never see how to do both.  

It was acceptable to do “whatever it takes” in order to show strong financial rewards and balance budgets.  Value was defined as “money made”.  The belief to “do good” was to be a non-profit and the acceptable course of action from the private and public sector was to happily finance or underwrite those institutions.  We got very good being on remote control, both at a citizen/consumer level and business/government.  

In 2008, the game changed.  We watched as “business as usual” started to break apart and sink like the proverbial Titanic.  The first – and in some cases the current – reaction was to make decisions based on fear.  

Historically, when markets slowed and profits diminished, the first answer was “cut employees” and sadly, that still seems to be the most frequent path taken.  

In this information age where data is instant and we operate on 24 hour intervals instead of looking to long term solutions, companies and governments found themselves in the “sky is falling/chicken little” mode, with no “operating manual” to be found.  A market place that had allowed mediocrity to be the norm, watched in horror as their market grew smaller and smaller and expectations of “doing good” gained strength.   What do we do now was a question heard around the world. 

Fast forward to summer of 2010.  Job data from 1950’s-2008 shows that the average length of time it took someone who loses their job to find another one was 10 weeks.  Starting in 2008, that number started increasing.  In 2010, the average is in excess of 30 weeks with no “top mark” reached as yet.  Scary times, but also times of amazing opportunities.  The adage “what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger” seems to be a reflection of experiences seen in today’s market place.  

Is “sustainability” the silver bullet to make this country and the planet healthy again?  If all of us replace our light bulbs with high energy efficiency ones, will that make the world a better place?  Maybe a little bit, but the truth from my perspective is not enough. 

What sustainability does do is help with the “less bad” movement and push us back into conscious thinking and living.                

Sustainability = People, Planet, Profit – a great step towards “doing good while making money”.  

-Jyl DeHaven
http://www.greenurbandevelopment.net/