03 April 2009

Unforseen Green Wolverine Overseen

I really dislike raining on other's parades. I do. But I just had to reply to some nutjob's postulate, "Recession is Ripe with Opportunities for Lean & Green Thinkers." The concept of forcing the look to the green side makes me seethe. As follows,

"Sorry, but I dispute your postulate. My slant is based on experiences from a variety of international businesses operating under firm governmental control and/or socially-mandated "advantages." This includes operations in East Germany, Japan, the Koreas, Indonesia, India, Singapore, Canada, and many other 'beneficently-socialist' locales.

"Any mandate-- geared by public perception, government or other external force-- will fail. Human nature guarantees it. The only viable and sustainable concept will be (and forever ONLY will be) because something makes financial sense (cents) to the principal-- the business owner or the consumer. Social mandates of any sort are doomed to fail.

"The Lean Enterprise or the Green Enterprise, by definition, must become what we can do cheaper, faster, and better... with 'greenness' a side benefit. It operates under the same principle as assigning the laziest to do a task-- knowing they'll find the easiest way to accomplish something. We all fit that description when it comes to taking out extra bundles of hard-won cash from our wallet to buy that snazzy new lightbulb or zippy electric car... the majority will seek an easier, cheaper, faster, simpler way to get the same thing. Social responsibility is a secondary impulse, and the harder the economy, the 'lesser' the social responsibility matters.

"So stop beating the drum for more green eggheads-- because 97.991242321% of the population will never accept their more expensive, more complicated, more frustrating inventions... irrespective of jackbooted government-sanctioned thugs (with or without machine guns). More money in our pocket gives us the OPTION of going green, but poverty (especially when caused or abetted by a corrupt state that steals our money whilst forcing 'green') guarantees we'll always seek the cheaper (and often more destructive) option.

"Cheers, Lee"

Lest you missed it, I repeat,

Cheers,
Lee