gromain

by adopting a corporate green policy, and not only a "green communication opportunity" ;)

Posted by gromain | February 27, 2008 3:23 PM

Kafkaz

Good for the earth, good for business, but how appealing on an individual level?

It's pretty easy to get the self-identified green crowd on board, but the trick is capturing the imagination of the people who might have a vague sense that they'd like to do something--contribute in some postive way--but don't see themselves as "green," or perhaps don't even know that term, and don't have a conscious sense of how the choices they make as they live their lives on the day-to-day level of band-aids, dirty socks, and classroom parties can really make a difference. We're talking about folks who lust after huge and imposing vehicles for coping with that not so rough suburban terrain, here. To get a green perspective worked into their sense of things, you have to connect on an emotional level, and position the choices as fairly easy to make--easy, but meaningful.

I'm a suburbanite mom. I can see, on a clear spring or summer day, that the sky is never entirely blue, any more. I can see, too, that in the evenings there's always a low-level glow that isn't natural, and makes it hard to see the stars. Day or night in any season, this is not the sky of my childhood. What will the sky look like when my children are gazing up at it years hence? If something as simple as grabbing one product over another on the shelf--selecting a given fabric, or lightbulb, or cleanser, or whatever--can help make that stretch of sky a little less hazy, or the water in the local creek a little clearer, or its banks a bit less cluttered with garbage, then I'll opt for it.

I won't align myself with "green" as a political vision, perhaps, especially since I rather suspect that the green crowd isn't fond of soccer moms like me, but if my kids and their kids can breathlessly chase soccer balls under a crystalline blue sky, and if at the end of the day they can fling their tired bodies in the dewy grass and gaze in wonder at the stars, then maybe you'll have me.

Just don't call me green. To the extent that I'm familiar the term at all, it makes me nervous. I'm probably far greener, already, than the hard-core green folks are likely to give me credit for, though. Even soccer moms have a mystical, mother-earth, transcendent, Whitman-esque side. Guess you'll have to find me there if you want to find me at all. (I *am* Gaia. If you know that, I'm yours.)

Posted by Kafkaz | March 2, 2008 6:07 PM

Kafkaz

And--why did we let "green" become the province of the wealthy? Since when is it "green" to stay in a luxury hotel, shower in enough water to see a field's worth of corn through a scorching July, but hang your towel up to dry, afterwards? Wow, I'll get in line for that.

For most folks, taking care of the envrionment is a smitch more effortful. It means thinking about your purchases, taking the time to sort and separate garbage, saving and reusing things that most folks would toss, and totally rethinking our use it once and throw it away approach to things in this culture. It might mean driving a smaller car, driving less, taking fewer vacations, not watering the lawn, growing one's own vegetables, turning off the air conditioner on all but the very hottest of days, saying no to the kids a lot more often, and so forth. All of these things, if undertaken as a lifestyle, have a real impact on day to day living. Hanging up the fat towel on a hook in the fancy schmancy hotel room (probably while running the special heater in the room, and reaching for the equally plush robe) and then checking out the room service menu and having a nice drink of the bottled water just isn't really all that green, as these things go. Granted, a hotel uses a whole bunch of towels in a day, so this does matter, but it's the sort of effort that leaves hard working folks who come home sweaty and really shouldn't be using their towels twice--no matter how well they manage to scrub themselves in the trickle of hot water their low flow shower heads allow--feeling like the whole thing is just the latest fashion. It's like buying a three thousand dollar mountain bike for now and then weekend rides instead of dusting off the old Schwinn, you know? It somehow fails to capture the essence of what's really wanted, here.

Posted by Kafkaz | March 21, 2008 10:22 AM

Rachel

Companies can't just say: "yes we're a green company" and expect that is all that is needed. If they decide to "go green," it has to be a strategic decision that could be realistically executed and in-line with the company's brand.

Posted by Rachel | April 15, 2008 8:55 PM