Planet in Peril? The Right Way is Green

It has been said that there are only two things people want out of life – they want to be happy and they want to be successful.  While this is a generalization, and with all due respect to Abraham Maslow,  we can agree this just about covers it.  Your definition of happiness and success are individually yours, as they should be.  If we all saw this the same way, there might not be enough of what we want to go around for all of us! Seriously, here’s my simple definition:  I want money in my pocket, a smile on my face, and time to enjoy life with friends and family.  I find keeping it simple keeps it all in balance.

This leads me to explaining what happiness and success have to do with the planet  – with our environment?  Two things.  First, its difficult to be happy, and as a result – successful, if you are in a bad environment.  See my earlier post:   Environment Shapes Successful Behavior.  Second:  Success in one area tends to breed success in another.  Winners just seem to keep winning because they learn to apply lessons from one success to a challenge in a new area.  This is one reason why I was so pleased to hear Senator and now President-Elect Obama acknowledge our “planet in peril” as a pressing issue to address in his acceptance speech Tuesday night.   Why?  Because saving our planet is vital, not just for the sake of the planet, but for the lessons we’ll take from the effort.  You don’t have to be a tree-hugger to want to save the environment.  Just do it for the selfish reason that it contributes to your success and happiness, and because what we learn by working together on this global issue will help us in other areas.  That’s the big payoff.  What we learn may even help our struggling economy!

If you go back and read my post from this summer on Environment Shapes Successful Behavior, you’ll get a glimpse of how Bill Strickland used his understanding of how the environment shapes behavior to help inner-city kids.   He used this understanding to make these kids a success.  He solved a problem with a basic piece of information, and he solved an important problem  – the problem was education.  Now he’s taking his model nationwide. Bill Strickland discovered that bright, quality light is key to learning.  So he built a school with that principle as a vital consideration.  Maybe he knew about the Hawthorne Effect, which essentially says that people respond not just to the light, but to the idea that someone cares about the light.

If you consider what makes you feel alive – invigorated, energetic, and motivated, you may wonder about the significance of other qualities of nature, and what their contribution may have for all of us.  I’m talking about fresh air (which breathes and circulates), clean water (which flows),  and most importantly, people (who do all kinds of crazy things)! That’s right, people are part of nature.  We are integral to this planet, just as the basic elements of nature are.  It seems to reason then that learning about making our planet a healthier place will have a payoff for people.  And that means something for us business owners.  Where can we pick up from where Bill Strickland left off? 

Well, what challenges do you have in your business that involve people?  Do I really have to answer that one?  I bet most of them.  One example that many larger organizations are faced with, and one that I’m giving some thought to lately, is diversity.  The reason for this is next month I’ll be speaking to several hundred parents and students on this very topic.  So why is Jeff, a green industry expert speaking on diversity?   Simple, diversity is obviously about people – and you can understand a lot about people when you understand the environment.  Also, it just so happens that my 20 years of work with the environment were with a diverse workforce.  We all learned to serve our customers and get what we wanted out of that work; and believe me, their were very different things we all wanted.  Besides, if you are serious about learning more about diversity, you certainly ought to be welcoming different perspectives.  So, I’m excited that they have the foresight to be doing exactly.  I’m looking forward to learning from our dialogue, and I’m sure I’ll let you know how it works out. Planet in peril?  Only if we ignore it – and the people in it.

 

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