"Green" Fatigue

I was recently shopping in my local megachain bookstore (yes, I had checked my local small bookstore for the title I wanted, they didn't have it) and saw this display.

It seemed a little bit...unsustainable?

There had to be 60 or 70 books on how to green everything -- from your dog to your dummies.

It is wonderful that we're all out there seeking out information about how to live on the earth more gently.

(I'm mad about the NY Public Library, which lets me place an online order for any title in circulation, and emails me after they deliver it to my local branch. They also offer amazing services for business owners. If you're only going to read a book once, does someone need to manufacture it for you? Do you need to own it? Or can you share it with your neighbors?)

When I first started blogging almost 3 years ago (!? can that be right?) I was just starting to think and learn about sustainability.

My personal experiments (eliminating plastic bags, LED lights, putting energy sucking devices on powerstrips that get turned off when not in use) have either entered the mainstream, or are on their way.

And there is a lot out there, along with growing awareness of "greenwashing". (Search the NY Times alone and you'll find 770 articles, today, that reference greenwashing.)

I've become increasingly interested in more subtle elements of sustainability. Not just saving energy or recycling -- but putting human energy to its best and highest use in the workplace.

This week, one of my favorite iPod downloads, Speaking of Faith, addressed some of the bigger issues of corporate social responsibility in an interview with Jonathan Greenblatt. (He even talks about transparency and Product(RED), which I went on and on about a couple of years ago.) I'll probably listen to this show twice.

SOF host Krista Tippett's journal notes that the scope of her program has been expanding to cover spirituality and faith in a broader -- and subtler -- sense. Greenblatt is a "social entrepreneur" (whatever that really means), and this week's show is about business.

When you start to dig into big subjects like "spirituality" and "sustainability", you start to see something even more interesting underneath it all -- whether you're a public radio show host with staff and budget, or a just person with a day job who is just trying to figure things out.

(And as such, I'm going to continue to write about "green" topics from time to time, but also spend time on sustainable practices as they relate to managing people...and when I find intersections, I'll be all over it.)