Let me be first to declare that we need to distance ourselves from the term green. To me it sends a mixed signal. I applaud the original environmentalists and pioneers who have been crying the wilderness from the early 1970s. Today, however, we are witnessing the bastardization of this movement. Green is being hijacked for greed. Politicians and lobbyists are having a field day jumping on the green bandwagon. People, especially the less fortunate are being bombarded with green opinions without any attempt being made to educate them about green.

On a recent visit to a Duane Reade store in an inner city neighborhood, I was pleased to see a sign that heralds Duane Reade’s eco-products. In my brief discussion with the manager I was disappointed to learn that the bulbs, the cleaning agents and eco-foods were not being bought. I am of the opinion that this is an example of not being green. The blatant disregard for education in the inner cities would defeat the worlds’ push to a sustainable environment. The world would not revive the eco-system if only a few are actively adjusting lifestyles and consumption habits. It is reported that the atmosphere over any part of the earth would be half way around the world in 48hrs. Going green means creating and fostering a new culture, it means addressing social issues like poverty, illegal employment practices, unfair use of resources, human rights, and blatant corporate environmental abuse. Think of the corporations who are initiating great sustainability programs, works great- but employee X returns to his neighborhood skipping through plastic bottles and paper and lives in a subsidized apartment building where management shows absolutely no concern for energy conservation.

Every innovation requires education. In the case of green living it is all inclusive or doomed to fail. It is unfortunate that even as move to bring this world closer together through sustainable living, we still witness classism. The word has to reach the people who would benefit the most from Green. That is the poor people. They are the ones who buy the toxic pesticides, the tons of cheap colored unhealthy drinks in plastic bottles, they are the ones working in the coal mines. Therefore green needs to reach out to every societal group. We cannot allow ourselves to display green as something devised for the data centers of Wall Street. I applaud Google, Cisco, IBM, Walmart, GreenNYC, Sun Microsystems, Microsoft and the many companies investing in a sustainable future. They however, cater to a particular group with a specific educational attainment level.

Society needs to demonstrate a fairness and educational diversity in the green struggle. We will never be successful if the responsibility is pushed towards one particular group, while the most voracious abusers appear to be immune. Exploitation of the rain forests are perpetrated by the global corporations in many cases. Garbage disposal programs are frowned upon by the ignorant and uninformed in all cases. Being green, and all the little things that can be encouraged by the homeowner is great, but how far will taking shorter showers go if the society at large shows unexplainable tolerance to the main abusers. If anyone could pay God and continue to sin with immunity, we will be in a deep mess.

Being green therefore means more than turning off your computer or recycling. It means addressing the way we live and an acceptance that we are a part of a globe of nations. It means understanding that the PC we dump in a landfill or ship to China is eventually going to hurt us. Going green means more than parking the car and riding to the corner store. It means assuring the population that we will not allow that enterprise to find its way into the remotest jungles of a Caribbean island and destroy the ecosystem.