Who's responsible for making our economy green? We all are.

Greg Wendt

Joel Makower wrote an entry while back which is a reality check for us "greenies."

When all the world is going "green" he shows evidence and view that is not always the case:

He writes "First, the bottom line. 'Given consumer attitudes today, green is best characterized as a niche opportunity in the consumer marketplace,' says Walker Smith, president of Yankelovich. 'It is a strong niche opportunity, but it is not a mainstream interest that is passionately held or strongly felt by the majority of consumers.'

Or, perhaps more to the point: 'The majority of consumers really don't care all that much about the environment. Green simply doesn't has not captured the public imagination.' Ouch."

Read his entire article here.

What is it going to take?

Who really is leading the markets, anyway?

Corporations say "the consumers." Yet if all the corporations adopted environmentally responsible practices and began offering truly green products and services - the consumers would also follow.

If the major corporations really educated the public about the challenges in their industries and appealed to the customers, and fellow corporations to change the markets, I think we would be surprised as to the ease of the transition to a sustainable economy.

I attended the Social Venture Network conference last weekend and we heard from a NIKE executive.

She shared with us some amazing things that Nike is doing - good job. As to the speed and effectiveness of their efforts she said that Nike is subject to the markets and the financial constraints in the quarter to quarter profit system we have created on Wall Street.

Now, I got her point. Yet I stood up and asked a question - "Is Nike really a victim of the markets, and the stock market?"

Who are the players in the market? Aren't the consumers and the corporations?

Is Nike REALLY a victim of the markets? Isn't Nike one of the leaders in the apparel industry?

More fundamentally, who is market comprised of - corporations. Then corporations who make up the market have the power to create the constraints and therefore begin to remove the constraints of the markets....

Anyway - if many consumers are still blase, and the corporations speak as if they are controlled by the markets which they create,  and the criminal government is weakening regulations by the day... what is going to turn this around?

Obviously many of the characters are either ignorant, asleep or downright malevolent. Yet the combined efforts of human beings acting with responsibility and care are able to bring about a change in the economy.

Many people throughout the system are waking up to the reality of what is going on in the planet. Individual acts throughout every institution are making a difference... 

"If the positive innovations connect exponentially before the massive breakdowns reinforce oneanother, the system can repattern itself to a higher order of consciousness and freedom without the predicted economic, environmental, or social collapse." - Barbara Marx Hubbard