“Isn’t That ‘Green Thing’ Over?”
That is a quote from a fairly high-level manager responsible for over $65 million in revenue and perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars in assets at a company that was once valued at nearly $1 billion.
Of course I would guess anyone reading this blog scoffs at this quote. It gives me pause to think about what is “green”. I would say, based on conversations with some well educated and very experienced managers, that the “green thing” largely means “the environment” and still smacks of Birkenstocks and patchouli oil.
A week or so ago I attended the Washington State Department of Commerce (the pending new name of CTED) Washington Energy Summit. The Gov spoke, as did the new head of the Department of Commerce – former Microsoft exec Rogers Weed – who organized the sold out show.
Who did I meet there? The usual suspects, of course. But I also met several union reps. How “green” is that?
It’s green jeans, is what it is. There is the obvious “green” job: developing solar panels. And then the not so obvious green job: installing them. And stringing electrical wire and raising transmission towers.
There are hundreds of millions of dollars headed for the State of Washington directly, and billions available federally on a competitive level. The conference was the beginning of a plan to funnel as much of that money into our state economy as possible.
Some of the money is specifically directed at, for example, low-income housing weatherization: someone has to go to the homes, audit the energy use, and offer services for making the homes “tighter” (more energy efficient). And by the way, that’s a tool belt job that requires steel-toed boots, not open-toed sandals.
So if you know one of these managment dopes who thinks green is “over” or “too expensive,” send them to the CTED site and show them all the money coming from the government designed to make our buildings, transportation, and economy more efficient. That puts our economy in the black, and might make them enviously green, when they are left holding a bag full of something brown.
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