zmotion

Lily pads multiply exponentially. They begin growing in the spring with very sparse coverage and by late summer they can look like this. One day you could come to the pond and where you saw gaps yesterday, the whole pond is covered today.

The recession has made living a greener life more fashionable. People are cutting back on driving, exercising more, eating healthier and even taking up gardening to save money –- or just to be current. Making that a more enduring lifestyle is easier than changing the marketplace, but only because of individual initiative. The energy of that initiative could just be the catalyst that propels us into a greener society.

We may be on the cusp of a real paradigm shift that will take us back to organic healthy practices, lift us up to be more responsible citizens and launch us into the creativity of more efficient, greener products that advance us to greater heights of achievement and quality of life.

At the moment less than 20% of our Fortune 500 corporations have really made green strides, even though all companies have at least dabbled in green or have fulfilled the required greener compliance adjustments. What we are beginning to discover, however, is that there is a fresh approach to the marketplace. A common awareness of the problems associated with a non-green mindset and the possibilities that greener products and practices provide is becoming the correctional modifier that engenders spontaneous collaboration of management, workforce and consumers to set new standards and, simultaneously, create real growth in the economy. It would not be the first time that remediation measures resulted in a pressure cooker environment that re-invigorates a fresh approach to a quagmire of repetitious activity and gives birth to a sustained renewal.

Trade shows are mushrooming with green ideas that have been turned into green products and innovative solutions. If you haven’t been to one recently, take my suggestion to attend and make a mental note of all the innovative ideas that are being brought into the marketplace. Yes, there’s much work yet to be done, especially in the US. The average American still consumes twice as much fuel each year as the average European. We’re pretty spoiled. We have large houses and several cars and we use them to make lots of trips to buy any little thing and shop for the next thing that catches our eye.

Not that those things are so bad, but if we could convert some of that energy into personal productivity and consciously seek ways to green up, we could absolutely regain what has been lost in our economy. At the same time we would live longer, healthier, happier lives. What we would find is a new passion for living emerging from within. Creative juices would begin to surprise us with new ideas and innovations. Sensitivity for the burdens of others would cause us to make a real difference in our home, our workplace and our community.

Even now, this can be witnessed to some degree in corporate America. More companies are working on sustainability standards for their own company and then assuming the leadership to show their suppliers how to make greener products, biodegradable packaging, greener, less toxic chemicals and other areas that are still being defined.

A good illustration of this is triple-concentrated laundry detergent. It does a better job cleaning, costs less and is chemically less toxic to the environment than the product it replaced. On the shelf it might look like it costs more, but if you do the math you will see the savings.

Green advancements in lighting is another area where leaps are taking place. LED’s (light emitting diodes) are super-efficient bulbs that use 10 to 30 times less energy than incandescent bulbs. They may seem a bit pricey, but they last for 35,000 hours –- at 3 hours a day average, that’s over 25 years. Incandescent bulbs last only about 1,000 hours. Even if you were to spend $20 for one of these 6-watt bulbs (equivalent of a 60-watt incandescent bulb), you are saving money in just a very short time.

That, my friend, is crossing the rubicon of irreversible green momentum. One green idea sparks another and one day, when you least expect it, economic and environmental recovery becomes a reality.

2010 was heralded by the Environmental Protection Agency to be the year for clean air and water standards to reach a near-perfect status. ‘2010 – A Space Odyssey’ ['Odyssey Two' MGM-1984], portrayed a joint US-Russian space mission that miraculously ended the US-Soviet cold war in 2010. In reality, only 7 years after the movie’s release, 1991 marked the actual collapse of the Soviet Union, ending the cold war era. According to George Orwell, 1984 was an extremely troubled time depicted by the novelist [in 1949] as a world submerged in a totalitarian police state.

What do we learn from these historical perspectives? We can conclude that it is difficult at best to predict how history will play out. We can also conclude that people can alter historical outcomes when sufficiently educated and motivated. Earth’s environment has a long way to go to reach a perfect status. People are more environmentally conscious today. Industry has made environmental progress. The world, for the most part, is far from becoming a police state.

What it does reveal is that history, though unpredictable, can be affected by informed, determined individuals. These individuals, fueled by an unquenchable passion, will assume the leadership to enjoy sustainable life in the arenas of energy, business, agriculture, health, the environment and personal development.

Technology advances at a rate that is parallel to its demand. Organic gardening and farming practices will flourish in tandem with a demand for fresher, more nutritious organic produce. Fish farming will expand, coupled with growing concerns about toxicity levels in seafood from oceans. Organic livestock production will increase as more health concerns emerge because of animals raised with growth hormones. Renewable energy sources will blossom in every community as individuals realize the benefits of clean, affordable and sustainable power.

2010 will be the year that passionate people like you and me make the responsible decision to become involved and make a difference in the status of our local communities and the world we live in. Don’t be jaded into thinking that things are just going to happen with or without you and that you can’t make a difference. It doesn’t really matter whether your leadership affects only 2 other people or 2 billion. You will make a difference if you decide to do it.

An investment should be more than just an instrument to gain personal wealth. Of course, if you didn’t believe it would be profitable, it wouldn’t be a wise move. Right? What if you were to think of your investment as an action/belief statement about your core values? What you do with your money actually says more about what you believe than what you say.

If you know that the capital you invest is going to result in harm to innocent people, but you do it anyway because it is reported to give a good return — well, you know what that is. It’s just wrong! Something doesn’t have to be illegal to be wrong. Why not make a quality decision to invest in ventures that accomplish what you believe in?

I believe that I can only commit the resources at my disposal – time, energy, money – into products or businesses that are sustainable, life-giving and socially responsible. I wholeheartedly recommend that you do the same. I have put a great deal of thought, research and soul searching into ideas that will benefit the world we live in and future generations. I believe that we must turn the corner – effect paradigm shifts and make the hard decisions that our grandchildren will enjoy and, hopefully, we will be able to enjoy.

Want a great example? Meet a company that has become a world leader in solar energy manufacturing and installation — First Solar, headquartered in Tempe, Arizona. They are a publicly traded company and I quote from their own company release, “Protecting the environment and conserving natural resources are at the forefront of First Solar’s mission and core values.” Over 2 gigawatts of solar electric power has been produced by them and they just had a record-breaking year.

Because of their commitment to manufacture and install low-cost, high output, high longevity products, they are not only a major producer of renewable energy products, but they are pushing toward the goal of lowering the cost of solar panels to under $1/watt. Additionally, they have established an aggressive program to recover and recycle damaged or replaced product from previous installations so that sustainability is inevitable.

Green building practices, green agriculture, green energy, green industry, fresh water projects are all sustainable endeavors for the economy of future generations. Markets will reflect the decisions that investors make. We haven’t even begun to see what can happen in 10, 20, 50 years if we make up our minds to do it and to devote whatever resources we can into it.

Green is here to stay. It’s not just a hot fad. It is key to the future of all life on earth. The real question that should be asked and is being asked more and more is “How do we plan and how do we invest so that we grow an economy that is truly sustainable?”

Because demand is outstripping production, the petroleum industry will dry up and give way to the growth of green energy. This is inevitable, regardless of my opinion or yours. Peak Oil studies done 50 years ago are playing out in current events today. I believe renewable energy resources such as wind, solar and geothermal are clearly the most promising alternatives, but bio-fuels and biomass technologies may also play important roles in future markets.

As recent as 60 years ago, enormous tracts of land were deteriorating from fertile timber growth to barren land because of deforestation practices. There was no plan for reforestation. There was no forethought of soil conservation practices. Soil erosion further complicated the reversal of this natural dilemma and made it difficult to reforest on degraded soil. Fortunately, the timber industry began to plan and develop strategies that were not only green, but financially sustainable. The result – green investments systematically transformed the timber industry into one of the most stable markets on earth.

Nature has phenomenal recuperative abilities, but the unrelenting extraction of natural resources has demonstrated that some resources can never be replaced.  Once consumed and turned into carbon gases and particulate matter, there is no recycling of petroleum-based fuels. Implementing every possible plan to encourage the use of renewable fuels is a step towards rebuilding global economics. Just as a methodical reforestation plan to replace cut timber with new trees and better growing and harvesting methods, energy plans can do the same thing. There are some situations where there is no possible means of a reversal, but there are paradigm shifts that can avert disaster and create growth.

Every plan has its subtle differences, but the common thread is the intentional strategic investment of time, energy and capital that captures the vision of perpetual growth and viable sustainability. There will always be consumable products, but the industries that produce consumables must exercise wisdom and understanding. They must employ green business practices and socially responsible thinking to assure the continuity of the natural resources that feed their industry.

It is my belief that these types of business strategies make green money a good investment. These good investment practices create sustainable financial markets. The industrial revolution may have turned us all into consumers, but we can become conscientious consumers. Why not, then, go ahead and make the effort to become producers, providers and investors in a green economy?

The earth abounds with food, water, energy, social and economic resources.  The only shortage is in genuine concern for the well-being of the less fortunate and for future generations.

Why all the buzz about sustainability? Currently, many natural resources are being consumed at unsustainable rates.  Once consumed, some of these resources, such as hydrocarbon fuels and certain other elements, will be forever unavailable unless we import them from other planets. And, by the way, interplanetary transportation costs make that highly improbable for the foreseeable future, not to mention the exploration costs.

There must be a worldwide paradigm shift in the way we raise and distribute food, manufacture and deliver products, generate and supply energy, fuel and conduct travel and transport. It has become not just advisable, but necessary to change the way we do business and sustain life.

There are viable sustainable technologies available today that are capable of producing renewable fuels and energy products. There are many more just waiting to be invented. In agriculture we should be returning to healthier organic practices. We must learn how to provide an adequate water supply for all nations.

We can learn to conserve natural resources, make it economically feasible and beneficial to do so and determine to build a legacy of improved quality of life for generations yet to come until a truly sustainable plan is fully developed.

The alternative to sustainable life is the inevitable depletion of certain natural resources, the destruction of our environment and a dark legacy of sick, starving and shrinking populations around the globe.

This is my first post.  My zmotion vision is to provide a forum where communities can develop micro economies that will help them compete in local markets, overcome natural challenges and thrive in their region.  I look forward to seeing health, technology, energy, agriculture and business transformations that will achieve sustainable life for more and more people.  I am a follower of Jesus and His Spirit is my constant Guide and Protector on my journey.  Will you go with me?