[Greenbuilding] Consumer Reports unbiased?

[Steve T]

You have really hit upon the main reason I see that the green and
sustainable movements have not gone mainstream yet.  The "shades of green"
idea should be used to unite people with different ideas, beliefs, and
financial means to a common goal.  Instead, it seems that the "shades of
green" is being used to differentiate, categorize, label and separate those
who do more or those who believe in one certain method from everyone else.
I really don't see that on this list, but on others it is a prevailing theme
"We know better, we do more.  Our way or the highway."

Any advances we are going to make as a country and as a society toward
sustainability will require technology as well as behavioral changes.  There
are quite a few lists, forums and groups that focus on behavioral changes.
There are also quite a few that focus on technology.  This one tends to
focus on technology.  I participate in forums in both groups and get
different information from each, which I take and use in a way that fits my
life and ability.  I do not expect or want a "one size fits all" solution to
this very complex problem.  Even though I agree that massive behavioral
changes must be made by the majority of people in the US, I also know that
as soon as one group of people try to force their beliefs on the rest that
movement is doomed to fail.  I don't have the solution for everyone to this
problem, but I have goals for myself and my family, which may or may not be
the same as anyone else's goals.  If I really wanted, I could build a straw
bale home, with a wind turbine out in the middle of no where and be off
grid.  But we live in the city where that kind of thing is frowned upon.
Our "solution" is quite different than our neighbor's solution, and this
very fact just gives some people hives.

We have not one road, but many millions of different roads ahead of us, and
some just are not even going in the same direction as others.  Interesting
times indeed.

On Sat, May 3, 2008 at 9:51 AM, tom <tom at honeychrome.com> wrote:

> Couldn't agree more.  This list is on the lighter shade end of the
> 'green' continuum, which isn't to say I haven't found much good
> information here, but for the most part the list seems firmly rooted
> in the current dominant overall paradigm and tends toward
> technological and product-based 'tweaks' to extract incremental
> advantages of efficiency within a system that is showing signs of an
> inability to address the problems we're facing.  But as we work
> toward a system of living and being that can properly address these
> problems we do need these techno-fixes and product-based tweaks in
> the transition, so it serves a great purpose.
>

-- 
"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act!"
-- George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair)