By A P Newton on 30 Jan, 2009 - 03:53 UTC

Yesterday there was a CNN/Fortune headline on money.cnn.com:

"Cisco goes - what else? - green"

The article began:

"Silicon Valley powerhouse Cisco became the latest tech company to jump on the green bandwagon this week, with the announcement Tuesday of its new EnergyWise technology."

So CNN/Fortune is over this whole "green" thing and moving on to the next trend. I say well done. Way to be ahead of the curve. It'll be just like the '70's: back then we had our Earth Days and learned about recycling and watched Public Service Announcements about energy conservation and bought compact cars and marveled at the White House's solar panels. And then we elected Ronald Reagan and went back to our old ways of conspicuous consumption. By the time Bill Clinton was in office, McMansions, Canyoneros, and overflowing landfills were de rigeur.

Personally I think CNN is wrong. I don't think sustainability is a mere trend, or a bandwagon, or a bubble. Fortunately I’m not alone: neither does (for example) Peter Senge, author of The Necessary Revolution: How Individuals and Organisations are Working Together to Create a Sustainable World. Senge says we’re in a bubble, but it’s not one of green tech or sustainability; it’s a bubble of unsustainability.

Before the Industrial Revolution, sustainable building and business practices weren't just the norm, they were the only possible way. Disposable, profit-at-all-costs practices would put one out of business tout de suite, sure as a dead goose lays no golden eggs. Likewise housing had to be adapted to its environment and energy-efficient or it would be unlivable. Sustainable practice wasn't an option; it was the only game in town. Stewardship and prudence were tradition. One ignored tradition at one’s peril.

Frank Dillon reviewed Peter Senge's book for the Irish Times this past Monday:

"Senge believes the Industrial Age is…a bubble and…is about to run its course. For some two billion years, life flourished on earth based on one source of energy: solar radiation. By contrast, 90 per cent of the energy in the Industrial Age bubble comes from burning fossil fuels. In nature, there is no waste as every byproduct of one natural system is a nutrient for another.

The contradictions between how nature and modern society work cannot continue indefinitely, he argues, and the bubble may burst faster than those of us living inside it realise.”

There’s a movement afoot in the sustainable building community, led by people such as Steve Mouzon of The Original Green, to whose website this piece is linked. Mouzon argues that “Sustainability is More Than Gizmo Green:”

“Originally, before the Thermostat Age, the places we built had no choice but to be green, otherwise people would freeze to death in the winter, die of heat strokes by summer, or other really bad things would happen to them. Today, as we are working to re-learn how to live sustainably, much of the focus is on the gadgetry of green: Gizmo Green. This notion that we can simply invent more efficient mechanisms, and throw in some bamboo to boot, is only a small part of real sustainability.”

It seems like the building community might be grasping this concept more quickly than the business community at large (and the journalists who cover it). A company like Cisco won’t claim to be returning to its roots by going green, unless it takes the really long rear-view, and sees itself as an heir of a centuries-old commercial tradition. For while Cisco is in the business of making “gizmos,” there’s nothing gizmoesque about adopting sustainable business practices.

Finally, a news conglomerate like CNN or Fortune would do well to take the long view as well, rather than merely chasing the next trend.

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