By Neil & Andrea Garvey
Businesses are going green! At all levels—from manufacturing to distribution to retail—they are jumping on the pro-environment bandwagon. Seemingly overnight, corporations large and small alike are exhibiting what appears to be a grand moral and ethical shift in their business practices.
But why, all of a sudden, are they hopping aboard en masse? Is it out of a sense of social responsibility? Are they finally doing what’s right? Or are they profit-driven, a case of business simply responding to market conditions and cashing in on the latest “fad?” Our answer to this question is an emphatic:
IT DOESN’T MATTER!
Ordinarily, we do care about the intentions behind an action. However, in this circumstance, either way, it’s a very good thing—a win-win situation. It’s simple. If, by chance, big business has re-discovered its heart, then bravo! If, on the other hand, business is merely following market dictates, with dollar signs dancing in its eyes, that’s terrific as well.
How can this be, you ask? Because it means that consumer demand is driving industry policy. It has always been this way. We the people wield the power for positive change with our wallets.
Before sorting through the causes and seeking remedies for our environmental ills, we need first to look within. The prescription calls for a high dose of self-accountability.
Defensively, many folks are quick to point out that corporate greed is the “great evil” behind the majority of our social and cultural woes. However, isn’t it really our own greed and insatiable wanting for more, bigger, newer and better, that fuel big business?
Yes, unrelenting marketing is exceedingly persuasive in creating our beliefs for what we “must have.” But regardless, the ultimate responsibility rests upon our shoulders to decide between what is necessary and what is just plain excessive and wasteful. The environmental problems we face today are challenging us to wake up.
“Cleaning up the earth must be viewed as part of the evolution of human consciousness,” proclaims the famous yogi, Amrit Desai. “Our relationship to the Earth invariably is the reflection of our relationship with ourselves.”
Although Earth Day is in April, remaining environmentally conscious and responsible every day is imperative. Our planet is in peril. We are at a critical stage of our evolution. It is clearly time to raise our consciousness. We are not separate from the natural world, but rather a strand of its interconnected energies. Consider this from the proverbial chicken and egg perspective: “Which came first?”
It doesn’t make a bit of difference—there are millions of “chickens” on board now. These green, bandwagon-jumping converts, be they buyer or seller, will sustain a continuing parade of environmentally sensitive and caring human beings. So, it makes no difference why these nouveau environmentalists are crossing the road. It matters only that they are.