Semantics Is Everything

The Minutes of the Madisonville, Texas City Council Meeting on January 15th included the following:

"Also in the meeting, after discussion with City Attorney John Bankhead, the council unanimously agreed to allow residents in the Lake Viser area to shoot buzzards that were destroying private property."

I'm afraid the Madisonville City Council might not know what they are "allowing". Most U.S. birds are protected by the International Migratory Bird Treaty, and permits to handle or destroy any birds protected by the treaty are not dispensed lightly. Such permits require not only good cause, but also specificity. No permits will be issued to dispatch wayward "buzzards" as this term is nebulous at best.

A permit to shoot "buzzards" lacks reference to a species. In this country, the term "buzzard" can equally pertain to members of the CATHARTIDAE family (vultures and condors), as well as any hawk in the Buteo genus of the family ACCIPITRIDAE (red-tailed hawk, red-shouldered hawk, broad-winged hawk among several others).

I would hope that any and all public entities involved (including the Madisonville city officials) would insist on clarification of the amorphous term "buzzard."

I fear that the good citizens of Lake Viser might determine what constitutes a "buzzard" the same way many people define good art: "I can't define it, but I'll know it when I see it."

A scary proposition at best!

The coward shoots with shut eyes. -- Oklahoma Indian saying

Music For Having Fun

The other day my wife and I were listening to an interview of the members of a new rock band on the radio. The interview was interspersed with a few cuts from their new album. The members of the band proved quite charming and thoughtful, but their music was quite loud, somewhat dissonant, and a little grating on our sensibilities.

Afterwards, my wife was prompted to say, "I really like those guys, but I can't support them. I really don't think I could listen to their music."

I replied that that was because she is getting too old for rock and roll. "Rock and roll is music for the hormones, and we are past the age when hormones rule. Rock and roll is music for the hormones, classical is music for the intellect, and jazz is music for the soul."

She asked, "What is country music for?"

"I don't know. Country music is kind of off my radar. What do you think?"

She thought a few seconds then replied, "Country music is for having fun."

Poor is the church without music. - Irish proverb

Green Market Positioning Yields Huge Payoff

There is a new 12-week online series from Harvard Business Review "exploring what's working in green business strategy today." It is an excellent venue for learning, discussing, and raising the public consciousness about the greening of America.

The initial issue, however, leads off with an article entitled, Don't Bother With the "Green" Consumer. This title makes for good theater, and it effectively provoked discussion, but was, overall, disappointing. Positioned as a counter-intuitive look at the challenges faced by marketers who have recognized the green movement, but are not sure how to take advantage, this piece cynically chose a thought-provoking, but misguided slant which "plays it safe" rather than blazing a trail.

Because the article concludes that it is better (more effective, more profitable) to not be too concerned about the green consumer, it misses an important opportunity to truly educate. The author, Steve Bishop, comes to the conclusion: Instead of focusing on a green niche, focus on green behaviors that everyone can aspire to.

That's a good notion up to a point, but this is where Mr. Bishop misses the mark. Green consumers have traditionally been a "niche" market. This is rapidly changing. Greenness is permeating the public consciousness. It is quickly transforming from a niche to a mainstream market. Mr. Bishop's advice is behind the curve.

Marketers would be much better served by advice on how to make use of the necessary and inevitable permeation of green consciousness in the public psyche. Mr. Bishop's conclusion suffers from a lack of understanding of the magnitude of the "green" market, and from short-term thinking. Short-term thinking in the business community is a primary reason why the environment is in trouble. We need to realize that we are on the cusp of determining the fate of the entire planet, and do not have the luxury to play it safe with our business strategies to accommodate our marketing campaigns.

On a brighter note, it seems that there are a lot of readers whose depth of thought on the role of greenness in marketing far surpasses that of the misguided article. It is worth visiting this discussion for this reason. There, one can find intelligent analysis of the role of "green" in marketing, and some clever insights about marketing and greeness in general. Some of the respondents convincingly demonstrate that green marketing can yield huge payoffs.

Angels bend down their wings to a seeker of knowledge. - from 'Moon Over Morocco'

Motivated By My Mantra?

Are you convinced that it's time to take action on environmental issues but uncertain about how you, as an individual can make a difference? Here are some suggestions of some simple things you can do to make an environmental difference in addition to making your viewpoint known to your government representatives:

Replace your incandescent light bulbs with the new, high-efficiency fluorescent ones. And when those new bulbs burn out, dispose of them properly - not in the trash!

• Avoid using paper towels, paper plates and disposable cups whenever possible. Sure it will mean that you have to wash a few more dishes and cloth napkins. But for heaven's sake! How much of a hardship is that really? Have we really been seduced permanently into such laziness?


• Stop buying bottled water. This, when collectively embraced, can have a tremendous impact, not only by reducing the number of non-degradable plastics going to our landfills, but also by greatly reducing the petroleum being expended to transport those bottles from factory to retail store.


• Spend a little more money at the grocery store to buy organic produce. It helps the environment on so many levels!


• Start talking up your cherished beliefs to your family, friends, and acquaintances. Yes, you run the risk of alienating a few, but are they really the people that matter in your life? Perhaps you can start a family project that will have the side benefit of revitalizing your family life!


• Start educating yourself on all of the environmental issues. Read everything you see which addresses them.


• Educate yourself on the opposing views. You can't seriously debate anything without being prepared for the opposing arguments you will likely face.


• I'm sure you can think of other ways to get started if you truly realize that It's time!

Here is a good place to start your research. Here is another.

Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself -- Chief Seattle, 1854

Compromise and Win

There are some people who are so single-minded about saving the earth for the creatures who live here, that they forget that we humans live here, too. They would, it seems, throw the baby out with the bath water. Returning to a primitive lifestyle, eschewing technological advances, economic progress, and our modern way of life, is not only impractical, but it is also absolutely impossible.

Such naivete is a luxury that many in the environmental community refuse to give up. Their hearts and their ideals are in the right place, but their understanding of political reality is seriously flawed. Why be an advocate for a solution which hasn't a ghost of a chance of being realized? Why not expend your energies in a more productive venture?

Then there is the other side which values commerce above common sense. Ignoring the environmental impact of human commercial endeavors is the worst form of short-term thinking, and we’ve recently been shown previews of the evils of short-term thinking.

Short-term thinking puts this quarter’s profits above everything including long-term viability (Enron). It puts a company’s stock price and personal enrichment above its business plan (Worldcom, Healthsouth, Tyco, et al.) It puts profit from natural resources (oil drilling in the Arctic, the burning of forests in the Amazon) above the long-term viability of the ecosystem. Short-term thinking promotes the institutionalization and rationalization of greed -- it promotes individual aggrandizement at the expense of humanity. Short-term thinking jeopardizes the future health and the very viability of our planet, and short-term thinking is winning disciples who are eager to prosper at any cost.

On the one hand we have a coalition of environmental concern which realizes that a future without a robust ecosystem and flourishing wildlife would be a depressing prospect. They realize that when America the Beautiful ceases to be an uplifting hymn, and instead becomes an vapid, ironic dirge, the United States of America will no longer have the history to inspire, the resources to empower, or the political will to lead. When the resources are used up and the land is scarred beyond recognition the music of liberty will stop.

On the business and energy side, we have interests which realize that our productivity and the economic engine of our progress require fuel. Our military strength and our ability to defend our freedom depend on energy. Our world class economy and the employability of our citizens depend on power sources. To surrender our energy sources would turn us into a third-world country bound in extreme poverty and fearful for our autonomy and our very existence.

Both sides have their heels dug in for fear that to give an inch would lead to ultimate surrender of those things held dear. Both sides seem to want a better world and a motivated existence, but have great difficulty in compromising their positions in order to harvest solutions.

But solutions always lie in accepting reality and working with truth. We must accept the reality of our environment, our economy, and our technologies, and design solutions around the premise of ensuring our long-term survival as individuals, as families, as a society, and as a planet.

Environmentalists must realize that our economy and our very freedom depend on being able to keep the economic engine running and the wheels of progress turning. If we do away with technology and a fuel-consuming economy we will lose our way of life and risk losing our autonomy and our freedom.

Commercial interests must realize that raping and polluting our planet is a short-sighted philosophy destined to short term viablilty at best. If, in fifty or a hundred years, we have used up all of the oil and timber on the planet and destroyed the ecology and the natural beauty in the process, will we feel better off? Would life be worth living in such a world?

If either side gets what they want, no one will get what they want. Either of the extremes will result in the impoverishment of our society and the surrender of our nation to those that would destroy us and our way of life.

Green energy sources must be pursued, discovered, and developed. Clear-cutting, strip-mining, and fossil fuels have to be replaced with eco-friendly alternatives. But unrealistic environmental demands must also be replaced with feasible alternatives. Somewhere in the middle is a robust economy fueled by environmentally friendly energy and moderated natural resource usage. In this Utopian middle ground, metals, minerals, and fibers would be aggressively recycled and remediation of present-day pollution would become a self-sustaining industry.

We cannot deny economic and cultural progress and return to a pre-industrial age. Nor can we continue on the present path to environmental anihilation. In order to succeed as a nation and ensure a bright future, positions need to be altered, philosophies transformed, and hard lines softened.

The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives. -- Sioux proverb