GreenSage E-zine 04/2008

Green Innovation Plays in the Key of the Future
by Elaine Ireland

As we addressed topics and articles for this issue, I found myself stepping back to observe myself and what it is I do to make sense of the world. I'm doing it again just so automatically: I find commonalities, organize, and connect the dots. Its my process for compartmentalizing and structuring the pieces while keeping sight of the whole — the whole being greater than the sum of its parts and non-existant without them. And the parts not so gratifying without the whole.

When I stop to think about it, finding the commonalities and connecting the dots is how GreenSage came about — one of the first green websites (launched in 1999) and the very first, original to connect the dots online among green products, green experts and authentic information.

At that time this green movement was in the awareness-building phase. Pinpointing and demystifying some of the issues and pointing out their relationships to greener products and experts has been an amazing journey — an approach intended to spark creative thinking for even better and greener solutions and products. The dots are indeed connected whether we are conscious of it or not — not unlike the butterfly effect or the hundredth monkey.

Its a huge job to try and shift our entire thinking framework from one of excess to one of harmony, as in 'living in harmony with the laws of nature' — but so compelling and intriguing. How are we going to do this? As a nation? As a planet?

And now we're here — the next phase. The part I am attracted to most, and what I love so much about this "Green Movement" — the incredible, creative innovation now going on in this solutions-oriented phase that we've entered. The awareness-building gestation period is over. The birth has happened. Now, a plethora of new innovative approaches and products are being created to help us see the possibilities of our destiny.

True, that for the most part I've always been the penultimate optimist — an idealist that usually sees the potential. Forget the nay-sayers and the ain't it awful folks. Don't pay any attention. Just start thinking creatively. Innovation has always come to the rescue of our problems, of our needs, if we just let it. Green innovation is now coming from all over the world. People everywhere unabashedly taking on a piece of these issues. Americans especially are quite brilliant at it. Which is good because we're such a major contributing factor to the current problems. But it was a French writer, of the Renaissance period actually, Michel de Montaigne, who is supposed to have said, "A strong imagination begetteth opportunity."

I can't wait to see which green products get created next, and which issue they solve and what makes them green. I'm impatient to see which companies succeed and sustain their momentum. There are challenges, of course, in undertaking to resolve such huge world problems. There are hurdles to be jumped — making a new product where the entire manufacturing process also needs to shift to green; and selling that product while cultivating this new market category.

Consumers and many businesses alike adapt relatively slowly when it comes to plunking down their hard earned cash. They're a bit hesitant around that old nagging notion that green just automatically costs more. While there are still limited choices (comparatively few green manufacturers), lower volumes and limited supplies, basically, most products are a shade of green — evolving, becoming better and greener. But the important thing is that so many are trying, are innovating.

We're not too worried about 'green-washing.' This market is already fairly sophisticated about what makes a product green. We just have to keep on our toes and make the conscious choices.

Building this green movement as a solution to the problems facing us requires a commitment that's authentic, something more than just style. Its now about the power of positive thinking. Of creative breakthroughs. Some of them we've featured in this issue, like turning CO2 into useful products and shifting to green chemistry.

The awareness has been built. Some innovative, creative folks have put their dreams of a better world into gear so that we might all start living in harmony with the air we're meant to breathe and the water we're meant to drink, and the earth we're meant to live with.

Personally, I'm quite hopeful about the future. As Albert Einstein said, "Your imagination is your preview of life's coming attractions."