It’s Not the Green Market That’s Dead, It’s the Green Message.
October 9th, 2011 by Carolyn Parrs , Mind Over MarketsOrganic chicken little has been running around announcing that the sky has fallen on the green market. Our avian friend cites the bankruptcy of Solyanda Solar as the latest victim. What defeated them was a poor choice of power generation — kind of like Beta versus VHS all over again.
When beta went down it just meant that the form was wrong not the overall technology of video players. We think the same is true here. Green issues have not gone away and neither have green answers.
There is an entire industry waiting to be born and we need the White House and both houses to get behind it. Not only will this produce multiple benefits, it is actually the road to the future.
In a green world, we will give birth to a vibrant, job producing industry with enormous growth potential. Every state, local and federal building should be fitted out for solar. Only U.S. companies need apply. We will use US labor to install them and sell the excess energy back to the grid. The skies will be clearer, and we will no longer be panicky at the pump.
It’s a win-win-win all the way around.
Done correctly, it is the industrial revolution all over again but with safer, healthier methods and much better results. We have the technology…
The problem is the real deterrent to this gold mine is the forces that don’t want to let it happen. Clean coal, frackers, and energy companies have a vested interest in green going brown. But when people finally wake up and realize that the green isn’t about hugging trees, but creating a better, healthier and safer world for all of us, we’ll hop in our hybrids or EV’s and hum past those ancient relics of our old ways. “Remember gas stations?” we’ll say.
For this to happen, green needs to go beyond the planet, right to the personal. So instead of your product or service saving the planet one (fill in the blank) at a time, communicate how green can save their family, their lifestyle, their future. That’s what we call at Mind Over Markets “Greenstreaming” — taking green from the minority to the mainstream. Then we’ll really have something to talk about.
Want to Greenstream your product or service? Just Say Yes in the comment box below.
October 17th, 2011 at 12:06 pm
Hard to believe that the Green movement is almost viewed as a hot button topic. I can’t believe how back burner it has become. There’s no way to make significant process without keeping it in front of the whole population.
October 25th, 2011 at 8:16 am
Carolyn and Irv, great insights as always. However, don’t underestimate the depth of the institutional loyalty to the status quo in our political system. Obama needs all the help he can get. If all of us “Greens” also partnered with folks like Dylan Ratigan, Common Cause, and OWS to pressure Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to get money out of our elections, there would be less institutional resistance to a more sustainable future for our children.