Teach Your Children

Part of the responsibility of being a parent is to teach our children what we have learned from our life experiences. And one of the most pressing and difficult yet very necessary lessons that we, as stewards of this planet, need to pass on is how to treat the environment with more respect.

We hear phrases such as ‘green technology’ and ‘green methods’ and ‘green design’ all of which are indeed ‘designed’ to appeal to our general feeling of making positive progress towards becoming a more ‘environmentally friendly’ society. At first blush it appears that we are indeed reversing our past destructive trends and that we are finally on course towards a ‘green society’. But, is this hope warranted? Are we truly becoming green?

One industry leader defines ‘Green’ as “the design, commercialization, and use of processes & products that are feasible & economical while both reducing the generation of pollution at the source and minimizing the risk to human health & the environment”. This definition has its roots in the business model as evidenced by the words ‘feasible & economical’.

The idea of ‘feasible & economical’ underscores the most pressing issue that must be overcome in achieving a balance between the survival of the economy and the survival of the environment. And that is mankind’s propensity towards financial greed. I believe a balance can be struck. Unfortunately, I also believe there is still too much of an emphasis on becoming financially wealthy. And this drive typically leaves all other types of wealth by the wayside. One of those types of wealth is a thriving, sustainable, and richly diverse natural environment.

We need to take bigger steps towards truly becoming environmentally friendly. As long as financial considerations take precedent over environmental concerns we will never attain our goals of protecting the world we all live in. Oil rigs are still being erected despite the damage done, coal mines are still being dug despite the damage they cause and nuclear energy, solar power, wind power, wave energy, etc are still considered cost prohibitive.

Rallying behind a turn of phrase that serves business interests will only carry us so far. The real force behind any meaningful positive progress towards becoming a more environmentally friendly society falls to the actions and decisions made everyday by every individual. The old adage ‘there is power in numbers’ comes true here because in order for this to work we are all going to need to participate. It truly is the little things that add up to make a big difference.

Humans are cunning and just as resilient as nature herself and we will overcome the big environmental questions of the day. Of this I have no doubt. But until we place the well-being and survival of the environment above the business of making money we have to continue to ask ourselves ‘are we green yet?’


We cannot dwell on what we have not done in the past. Sure, we need to examine our mistakes in order to learn from them, but while we are doing this life is still moving on. We need to set an example.