Green Business, A New Way Of Being
Is it just me or does it seem like we're seeing a lot of all things being "Green" percolating into our psyches? It's a very convenient way for us to focus our attention. It's likely true that if you ask someone about being "green" it will mean all things to all people. It's the nature of what we do when we're confused, we do our best to make up some meaning that gives our lives a purpose.
Like "Natural" and "Organic", words which once upon a time represented a possibility, and have became so popular that the original "Green" distinction is vanishing from our collective memory. That's not necessarily a bad thing. (Although many in the natural products industry would disagree).
I think it points out how we collectively work our way into more expansive conversations and larger contexts. What Einstein meant when he referred to our inability to solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.
We need a something that gives us access to an expanded framework. Something designed to attract the results we say we want. I submit, that "Green" might not be enough. Where will we find our greatest advantages, most powerful strategies, best practices, effective tools?
They're showing up everywhere we take personal responsibility for having your world, my world a world . . . Being Well". I see lots of examples in Waste News.
It looks like lots of people are more willing to ask a simple and basic question. That question: "Is It Healthy?" Our capacity to be expansive in answering the question relies upon defining "It" for ourselves. We do that through a lots of unpredictable, provocative and inspiring conversations.
For example, there's the U-Haul dealers who have put a new twist on what off the beaten path travelers have delighted in at hotels and cafes around the world, take a book, leave a book. U-Haul has a take a box, leave a box program.
Then there's the brothers Benjamin Brown and Adam Schrader-Brown and buddy David Delcourt who developed Make Me Sustainable.com. It's a fun site that shows us how to calculate our carbon footprint through surveys and useful interactive resources and social networking opportunities for playing the "Is It Healthy? Game".
And just to keep things interesting for the cynics in all of us, those of us who just love good rant, whether anyone's listening or not, Enviromedia has launched the Green Washing Index.
In partnership with the University of Oregon, there's potential for consumers to point out the stink that is often masked by Green ads.
That's why F.A.I.R (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) includes commentary, issues of special concern, archives, a listserv that document the ways we're deliberately misinformed.
Some people see the world as a series of unfulfilled dreams, mis-communications and undelivered promises. They're confused about our collective, cherished myths about who we say we are. They're familiar with the feelings of being confused, resigned, insignificant, unheard, frustrated, powerless, angry and fearful.
It doesn't have to stay that way for any of us. Choosing a bigger context and having better conversations will focus our attention on a world being well, one filled with the possibility of health. Play the "Is It Healthy? Game".
