The Greening of America

It continues to surprise me how far the green movement has come in even just the past three years. At the same time I'm surprised at how little traction has been gained on the everyday side of green. When you look in any popular magazine or newspaper there is always some new story of a company going "carbon neutral" or completing a high profile LEED project.

Where are the stories about warehouses doing mass transitions away from metal halide lighting? Where are the stories of waterless urinal/low-flush toilets flying off the shelves? Where are the stories highlighting the benefits of simple LED light bulbs for exterior use? Why is there no attention on the small stuff?

Doing the right thing isn't always sexy or easy. I get that but in this case it should be. At the very least companies should feel ashamed to be using energy inefficient bulbs. Why hasn't GE or Sylvania brought out the campaign for energy efficient lighting? Where are the press releases highlighting the cost of not switching?

I follow the environmental industries not closely but regularly. It seems that recently all the focus has been on the macro-industries: energy, fuel, cars. What I want to see are the studies highlighting the little things. I guarantee a national campaign to change light bulbs will do more in the next 2 years than any amount of fuel efficiency will do over the next 5.