"Green"

Our current economic struggles have brought to light a great many issues that were ignored over past decade or so: bad fiscal policy, deceptive bank sheets, shady credit, reckless spending; the list is long and complicated. However, one the bright spots that can be found is that we’re increasingly looking past surface for substance, and luckily this is happening in green design as well. For several years there’s been a quiet but growing sentiment that there’s been too much of a focus on flash, buzz, and quick market viability in the current sustainability movement. We see the results of that in companies that “greenwash” by continuing business as usual but promote their “greenness” by simply printing their catalogs on post-consumer paper, or doing once annual 60 Minutes telecast by candlelight to “promote awareness”. Got to start somewhere and these are fantastic small steps, to be sure, yet the more meetings and seminars you go to, the more you start to wonder; what happens when eco-friendly products aren’t hip enough to be featured in I.D. magazine and green collar jobs no longer top MSN’s “10 Hottest Employment Sectors List”. Will there be enough of a foundation, a group philosophy, and political infrastructure that can be carried through and built upon by the next generation, after Vitamin Water stops putting “Green is the New Black” on their labels?

There are a lot of signs that the foundation that was laid by the environmental movement in the 70’s(truth be told we’ve been discussing these issues since Thoreau & Morris were lamenting the advent of the steam engine destroying the landscape) is being built upon now, and there’s naturally great excitement about the new administration’s commitment to sustainability and creating green innovation. Having Green For All’s Van Jones serve as Special Adviser for Green Jobs, Enterprise, and Innovation and planting an organic garden at the White House are strides that prove that we’re moving in the right direction. However, one only needs to consider the deepening of our environmental crisis and little things like the White House garden having to be dug up because of sludge to realize that we can’t let up, we need to be more vigilant about pushing harder conversations about consumption, resources, sustainability’s relationship with economic systems, and a vision of how sustainable options would actually work as our primary sources of production.

There’s genuine concern in every sector that the green movement may not be ready for that scale. Michael Pollan, journalist who brought us The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food, in a recent NY Times article said that the organic food movement “…is not ready for prime time. It’s not like we have an infrastructure with legislation ready to go.” It’s a legitimate worry considering that the organic market – while growing – is merely a supplement to food production making up less than 5% of the overall market. That sort of sentiment could be carried to about every consumer and production market. Loom State is fantastic, but just got to mass market as a line at Target. Method’s and Mrs. Meyer’s are just as great, but they’re only a small part of their market as well. As From the Source is well aware, the furniture market has made many strides over the last decade, with ABC, Tucker Robbins, and others leading the way with organizations like the FSC and Sustainable Furnishings Council, but with all the successes under our belt, those who are concerned about the environment have to make sure that the movement is itself sustainable; that environmentally- conscious choices and sustainability are par for the course, not the hot new trend. If we don’t continue to push, we may just repeat the setbacks that organic agriculture suffered after the Alar scare in the early 90’s. The stakes are much too high to just be content with being popular and the latest fad. We have to make certain that the movement’s roots are deep enough to survive the winds of change. We have to make sure we can have answers to the question of what green will be when it’s no longer the new black.