It’s not easy being green…yet October 19, 2009

My calendar has been very “green” this week … that is to say, much of my time and energy has been occupied with correctly positioning the college’s efforts on green initiatives and sustainability. If there is anything that is clear to me about “green”, it is that all of us–colleges, businesses, and individuals–are walking a fine line right now between “this is great for our society” and “show me the money.”

It’s that way at the start of any great shifts in the way the world works. Computers, cars, electricity, radio, airplanes–all seemed foreign and uncertain and vapory to the people watching them emerge. Today, they’re ubiquitous. It will be like that with “green.” Ten years or so from now, we’ll look around at a world dramatically changed by a conciousness that mandates a renewable and sustainable way of living on our planet. Twenty years from now, the changes will be as entrenched as the computer has become in the way we think and work and live.

I’m not a good enough prophet to forecast those changes. I can tell you where the “the money’s at” right now:

• Photovoltaic solar pannels are a solid economic investment with a calculatable payoff curve.
• Same with geothermal heating and cooling.
• Businesses can contact the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (www.istc.illinois.edu) for help with energy and waste audits.
• Finally, waste reduction is really beginning to take hold in both homes and businesses. Did you know pound of aluminum cans is now worth 85 cents?

It’s what you know.