What About Green?

What's with all this "green" talk? I can remember the oil crisis of the late 70's. Long lines at the pump. People searching for cars that provided better fuel economy. Ford and Chevy offered the Pinto and Vega. No wonder Toyota and Honda ran away with market share. Even though the price of gas never fell to pre-crisis levels, we all got used to the additional cost and a few years later the SUV was born. Our desire for improved performance overcame our desire to reduce the cost of transportation. Clearly, our focus at that time was on saving money rather than saving the earth. Enter "global warming".

Whether you believe in global warming or not is immaterial here. The truth is, the discussion about the possibility that human behavior is changing the complexion of our planet has spurred a shift in the way we, Americans and Europeans at least, are thinking about how we conduct our daily lives. A strong sense of responsibility is developing. This time we are focused on the emmisions from our cars, recyclability of the products we use, survivability of the trash we generate, and even serious concern about our health and the food we consume. The threat of an unknown reality has caused our culture to evolve. Don't take me wrong, I'm not necessarily a believer in global warming but, one thing is certain; as a people we are now on an actionable path to behave more environmentally responsibly.

Assuming we know the cause, global warming. The effect is a metamorphosis in the meaning and use of the word "green". You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a product or company that is developing their narrative around the green movement. The primary difference between this movement and previous fads is that green is the responsible way to act rather than just the cool thing to do. Therefore, there are hoardes of people who are educating themselves about their particular green interests and scrutinizing the businesses that tout green products. Any business that talks green better be prepared to walk green.

Previous fads didn't have the legs to stand up to the higher costs of goods. Although not a fad, organic foods, for example, are probably healthier than other foods but, the additional cost and lack of obvious or immediate benefit reduces the retail desire. On the other hand, the green movement is broad, touching nearly every type of product we use. From building techniques and supplies to the processes manufacturers use to create and package the products we consume. The benefits are obvious, reduced heating and cooling costs, reduced trash in our landfills, reduced pollution, and maybe the most important benefit, reduced guilt.

Guilt may be the most powerful driver behind any cultural shift. If baptist preachers and catholic nuns are any indication, guilt certainly advanced christianity. Rather than calling it guilt, let's call it the innate need for people to act responsibly.

So the bottom line is, enough rhetoric about environmental responsibility has been tossed around over the past few years to create a shift in market demand. I'm sure you remember the disgust over the styrofoam fast food containers and drink holders. That was pre-global warming but the goal was the same. And the result was an industry shift to drink holders and food containers made from recycled and recyclable materials. Today, cars are mostly recycled steel, plastic producers use reground or reprocessed resin, communitys give tax credits to builders who use green products in their buildings. Green has caught on because it is both environmentally responsible and becoming financially attractive.

As the movement grows, simple changes to the way we live will drastically reduce the negative environmental impact. As time passes we will continually learn and adopt cleaner better processes to produce and package the products we use. Slowly environmental consciousness will become cultural norms.

Eventually, solar power generation will become cheap enough that most houses will generate power during the day and the power companies will significantly reduce the fossil fuels they use to feed the grid. Couple that with reduced residential energy requirements because of improved efficiency of appliances and lights and the result will be smaller electrical generation plants and significantly reduced energy bills for the average consumer. This is just my prediction.

Till later.