“Green” is the color of your conscience… May 25, 2009

In general terms, “green” is shorthand for anything that is “good for the environment.” This might be anything from a recycled-content product, to a building that has been designed to have a carbon-neutral footprint, to a manufacturing plant that has re-engineered its processes to use less energy and emit fewer waste products.

It also includes the choices we make on a daily basis: our diets, the products we buy, how we bring them home…

An organization that recognizes its’ responsibility of environmental stewardship, and is actively taking steps toward this end is a group of individuals making greener choices every day. The ultimate goal for a green business is one of sustainability: a business that can carry forward into the future indefinitely, physically (managing finite resources), socially (people and the community are a resource too), and financially (duh).

As an individual, you make your daily choices but may feel limited by the options available to you. Not every town has reliable public transportation or reasonably priced organic produce or pleasant weather for biking to work. Individuals working together as a business have the power to innovate or use the economy of scale to become part of the growing infrastructure of services and goods that support the ultimate goal of sustainability.

Either entity can move from simply doing “less bad” toward actually doing good: from simple steps of recycling or buying organic (“less bad”) to actually assisting the earth in her natural processes (returning compost back to your neighborhood garden instead of landfill, for example).

Sustainability is not only about energy efficiency, recycling, and waste reduction. It involves a whole host of interrelated issues from society and culture to economics to ethics. Because of this, weighing green options can be complicated – how do you value the energy needed to transport an otherwise environmentally benign product compared to the dioxin released over the life cycle of a sturdy plastic object that could be reused indefinitely?

The answers to these difficult questions are not clear-cut. There is no simple list of products and suppliers that are perfectly benign to the earth and her inhabitants. To be a thoughtful inhabitant of the planet requires constant assessment and reassessment of processes and products you use (or your company uses) on a daily basis.

Green evolves with us as we become aware of our interconnectedness with the rest of the world, and how our everyday choices do have an impact at many levels. The good news is, intentions count – following your conscience will serve you, and all of us, well.

Wasn’t Jiminey Cricket the conscience of Pinocchio? We all have a green cricket on our shoulder, helping us make the best choice every day.

why the epigenome is green May 19, 2009

The Epigenome… I never heard of it until recently, I caught the last 15min of Nova while channel surfing. I don’t know what caught my attention, probably it was just Nova – they usually have something for the science nerd inside me. Well, the epigenome is the part of our genes that contains information that is more than ourselves… ok, this is just my rough understanding, mind you. It’s the part of the gene that goes beyond our own life span.

Let me just get on with it – a couple of scientists noticed (those first 45 min were probably pretty useful) there were genetic changes that seemed to result from environmental conditions that affected not the next generation (their children) but their grandchildren! For example, grandparents who survived a famine had grandchildren with longer lifespans – and this was predictable across the population they studied. (Interstingly, those who lived in times of plenty had grandchildren with shorter lifespans.)

So, another couple of scientists sped up the observation process by using rats and imposing upon them an obvious environmental condition – exposure to herbicide (the specific chemical wasn’t mentioned, but they kept showing an ominous helicopter spraying a stand of what looked like citrus trees). The test generation (those directly exposed) was not adversely affected, but by the third generation of rats there were significant numbers of those with diseases like cancers and tumors  (well above 50% and higher, depending on the disease).

At the close, one of the scientists commented about the nature of this find. He noted that while many individuals accept the health risks of their particular lifestyle (for example, smoking), it may be affecting other individuals generations to come – which should drastically change how we think about our personal health and the health of our planet.

It made me think about the numbers suffering with Alzheimer’s, all types of cancers, autism, and other diseases that just didn’t seem to be around 100 years ago. Granted, some of these diseases might be caused by old age (and thus coming to light because we are living longer, not because we’re sicker), but what if… ? My grandparents were children in the early 1900s, working on farms that embraced technological and scientific “breakthroughs” and “progress” in the form of machines and synthetic fertilizers. Perhaps their exposure then is affecting my family now… or yours.

All I know is the more I learn, the more I can see the interconnectedness of all life, and how subtle yet real the reactions to my actions are. I do make a difference in the world.

the green life May 11, 2009

Green – it’s all the rage these days. At first I was thrilled when I noticed mainstream media picking up stories and features about “greening” the environment: how to’s abound for saving energy (if we all changed just one light bulb in our homes…), living cleaner (the infamous vinegar and water recipe for a simple glass cleaner), and eating healthier (farmers markets are so hot these days!).

But…. but what? This is good, no? The message is finally getting through to the masses – hey, even Walgreens has their own “green bag” instead of plastic (well, in San Francisco at least, where plastic bags have been all but banned). I should have been happy when I overheard those high-schoolers in the next aisle over debating which plastic-covered notebook was greener.

I realized I’m afraid that we’ll get complacent. “Saving the Planet” was a common slogan when I was first learning about recycling (I don’t mind reporting that was in the late ’70s). Later, I realized that it wasn’t about saving the planet at all; thanks to George Carlin (I shouldn’t have been watching HBO while babysitting) who said it best: the planet doesn’t need saving, and doesn’t need us either (I think he went on about how maybe the planet wants plastic, and only needed us to make it and throw it away. Now Mother Earth is done with us… well, it was funny when he said it). It should be phrased “Save the People” or more truthfully “Save the American Middle- and Upper-Class Lifestyle” because that is what we actually stand to lose if we don’t mind our habits, and convince the rest of the world too.

So these days, in an effort to make my actions match my intentions, I am working on changing my habits and getting the word out – and hopefully helping like-minded folks along the way. I want to be a better person, and I believe that using just enough is one way to be that person. Defining how much is enough, and enough of what, is a large task unto itself; having the courage and integrity to then follow through by implementing concrete changes in my life – I’m afraid I won’t live up to my own expectations… but in the end not trying is worse than failing.

I know I’m not alone. How do you define a green life? How much is enough for you?