Escape velocity is that speed at which an object escapes earth’s gravity, reaching orbit, or going beyond completely. If there is not enough lift, which means not enough power, the object falls back to earth, shattered.
The Green Ethos seems to have reached, or be almost at, that velocity in the last few weeks. No longer just a rock tossed against the gravity of indifference, Green is lifting off and likely to stay aloft in our actually lived lives for time to come.
Let us praise Al Gore.
Not that he did it alone, of course. Friends of ours have been thinking, talking, experimenting, enterprising this for years. But his slide-show become movie caught the perfect wave of rising knowledge and willingness to act and showed the dangers and the possibilities to many more. Many.
This morning’s NY Times has a multi-page Business Green Section
Especially interesting was a piece about, Green Commercial Kitchens, not only shopping for organic spinach and fish not near extinction but for cleaning supplies, paper ware and lighting sources.
Bioplastic Forks goes into some of the issues of degradability, that even forks made out of corn starch may not be the final answer.
Over in the SF Chronicle business pages we find an article about the growth of Green business revenues, particularly in the energy sector.
Businesses that specialize in renewable energy saw their revenue grow at a torrid pace of nearly 39 percent in 2006 to $55.4 billion worldwide, according to a report released Tuesday.
The report also predicted that the global market for renewable-energy products could climb to $226.5 billion by 2016 as the world turns to biofuels, solar cells and wind turbines to supply more of its power.
Now the habitus begins to change. Yesterday’s far out is much closer in. Those who once thought green was merely a sign of personal virtue may soon be gone with the dinosaurs.