IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT SAVING THE PLANET
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David DeRemer, is the author of the Icsid Feature entitled "Green(d), For Lack of a Better Word, Is Good", originally published in frog Design Mind, October 2007.
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A year ago, I claimed that the laws of economics - more specifically, supply and demand - would make or break mankind’s approach to the environment. Now, I could never be more certain.
One thing economists know is that until the status quo starts to hit the wallet, people will likely maintain their standard behaviors. "Being green" has remained a fringe desire because there simply hasn’t been a substantial enough economic impetus to support it. Now, with rising gas prices, this impetus exists on a large scale, and the environmental movement is gaining momentum. People are beginning to feel the squeeze of oil addiction -and changing their behaviors accordingly. This past Memorial Day likely featured a few less boat outings and a few less trips in the SUV than the typical American holiday. Large or small, these changes are critical to solving the environmental crisis.
That said, this change is only occurring because oil is more expensive right now - so the future depends on our ability to build a lasting, foundational market demand for "green".
One reaction to the current energy crisis will be to argue that we should open more drilling territory, improve the efficiency of our refineries, or finally reap the dividends of the war in Iraq. These solutions would reduce the cost of oil, but they’d only be temporary (and ultimately damaging) stopgaps. We cannot afford to be caught in this trap.
The other reaction is to look for the profit opportunity in products and services that enable conservation and supply alternatives to the current, oil-based system. The rising cost of oil has suddenly enabled "green" products to be more competitive on price, traditionally the industry’s Achilles’ heel. Now, while the economics supports green products, companies should capitalize on this market demand, cementing "eco-friendly" materials and production as a critical component of the desired feature set.
But as I said a year ago, it is up to all of us, consumers as well as companies. It is the responsibility of all people who have money to spend on things other than food to spend those dollars wisely. We have to put our cash into products and services that are part of the solution, not the problem. Only by making these choices can we raise the economic demand high enough to lower the cost of "being green," making environmentalism ubiquitous and justifiable for all peoples.
So please, buy CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lamps), buy green power, buy hybrids - or, even better, walk.
In the end, I believe this transcends pure economics and cuts to the core of our next evolutionary step. We are at risk as a species, and we must adapt. In the history of the planet, there have been at least five instances where most of the species have gone suddenly extinct. I sincerely hope that we can stop the next one. The Earth has been around for billions of years and will continue without us. What we must realize is that the environmental crisis is not about saving the planet; it’s about saving the Humans.
I hope the price of gas keeps rising. I hope we choose wisely.
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