This is what Thomas L. Friedman had to say about the green revolution recently at a lecture at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore.

The green revolution will have arrived only when it is imperative for all involved to “change or die”, said Mr Friedman. “You know it’s a real revolution when the word ‘green’ disappears. There will be no ‘green’ buildings; just buildings that you can’t build unless you use the highest levels of energy efficiency and sustainability. Till then it’s just a party.

Here is the full article. Thanks for the link Joyce!

We don’t make many of the changes we know we need to make for our own good (our own survival!) because we are not yet at a “change or die” cliff edge. This is as true for our own selves (like quitting smoking) or for our businesses.

Perhaps it is possible to create a fake “change or die” condition to trigger the necessary change? What if doctors could ethically give temporarily scary fake diagnoses to patients to trigger them to change an aspect of their lives for the better? What if your business was facing some imminent danger – what would you change?

Individual change is always easier than group change. Humanity as a collective seems to have a great capacity for denial and favouring short term lightweight gains for longer term rewards. I personally don’t see an end to the green party any time soon.