The Road to Hell is Paved With Green Intentions

Llyod Alter details Toronto architect David Dennis' struggle to get an environmentally friendly building approved for residential development. While green may be the wave of the future, it apparently still needs to conform with our current accepted norms and standards. If this environmental bubble is truly going to build, these standards will have to be relaxed or Joe Consumer will be afraid to strap solar panels to his roof because of the building department, and money will not flow to the degree that is required.

Green Marketing

In conducting its Project Green study, BuzzBack, New York, found that only about one in three people were "familiar" or "very familiar" with the term sustainable and its meaning. - Brandweek

With 2/3 of consumers not aware of what sustainable represents, it is now up to marketing firms to create a definition for the average consumer. Whether, and how, the "green" vocabulary takes on a consumer definition will largely determine if consumers buy into the environmental movement and begin viewing being green as chic, potentially leading to a bubble.

Planet Green

The tv channel is now a few weeks old, and represents one of the largest pushes into marketing the "green" movement.

If a tree falls in the forest, and there is no one there to talk about deforestation, does it represent a missed marketing opportunity? Yes, answers the week-old cable network Planet Green, a Discovery Channel spinoff now available in 50 million homes. The New York Times quotes Planet Green's general manager calling its fare "eco-tainment," and there you have it. Concern for the environment is, among other things, an upper-middle-class privilege and a status marker. Planet Green turns the entire Earth into a lifestyle accessory, often to uniquely awful effect. -Slate

While the shows maybe educational, the advertisers clearly aim at peddling green wares. It will be interesting to see how the shows progress, and how the sentiment towards the channel develops. If you're one of the 50 million, take a look and give some thought to why there is suddenly a need for a dedicated tv channel.

A building bubble?

A few weeks ago I read The Next Bubble: Priming the markets for tomorrow’s big crash: on Harper's. The premise is simple: in the past decades, the tech bubble created artificial wealth, and when it went bust it was succeeded by the housing bubble, which is currently deflating around us, again leading to the loss of artificial wealth. This wealth, it is argued, is what drives the economy, and another bubble will have to form to fill the void. The industry in which this bubble will be created must:

support hundreds or thousands of separate firms financed by not billions but trillions of dollars in new securities that Wall Street will create and sell. Like housing in the late 1990s, this sector of the economy must already be formed and growing even as the previous bubble deflates. For those investing in that sector, legislation guaranteeing favorable tax treatment, along with other protections and advantages for investors, should already be in place or under review. Finally, the industry must be popular, its name on the lips of government policymakers and journalists. It should be familiar to those who watch television news or read newspapers.

The premise then follows that the only one or two industries are poised in this fashion, with the prime candidate being the environmental "green" movement. As such, if this is to be believed, this bubble is already building and it will be the goal of this blog to document the inflation of this bubble, and serve as a place for discussion if all things green are truly good or just serving for economic profiteering.

A few other notes: in 2nd grade I was called the class environmentalist. It is something I have attempted to carry with me. I mention this because I do not intend this as a nay saying venue. I am firmly a believer that there are great benefits to had from the green movement, however if it is to turn into a bubble, artificial wealth will be created as a consequence and not everything that comes into fashion will be ideal.

Additionally, while I have a background in economics / finance and may draw on that from time to time, my views are not those of my employer and I intend to keep this a private project.

So with that said, I hope you will enjoy my musings and hopefully join the discussion.