The website GreenBiz and its editors embarked on a journey to solve a mystery. Using data on a slew of indicators comprising the GreenBiz Index, part of the inaugural “State of Green Business 2008″ report was released last week. See www.greenbiz.com to download the report. The conclusion: Environmental performance overall in the U.S. is gradually advancing, but often not at the pace needed to offset economic growth or avoid the worst effects of climate change.

Hmmph. I read this and let it sink in. I thought about it upside down and right side up. I pushed it to the side and crossways, too. Two days later, the news has sufficiently sunk in. Typical-typical Americans. My reaction to this is of aggravation, let down and nonchalance. After all, I’m an American. I am a part of it, the conscious being that spotlights something only as long as consciousness prevails. And in this case, I fear it will be short. Will American businesses continually strive for progress in “green” matters?

What I try to impress in the course of my business is that greening is a process. Green habits is like the concept of energy in that it is everywhere, but there are different options to how you produce that energy, or different choices on which way you expend that energy. For a business making the commitment to be green is only the start. Now you actually have to do the work to enable that message to be true. It is not a one step- done- kind of process.

Labels are hard to define, to get them into focus and to learn it. Green or environmental performance is like that. What is it? What does it mean? In most instances, business has a choice whether to regulate its CO2 emissions or not, whether to look for alternatives to traditional energy technology, whether to reduce its “environmental footprint”. The choice is being considered and weighed. That is what Greenbiz’s report has highlighted.

All I know is that green is a process, a habit. The choice is deliberate. However, we haven’t come up with all the answers yet. We are still defining the labels. Why temper the output of tailpipe emissions when there is the option of smoke stacks to clean? Should you build a better, smarter, more efficient building, or just purchase REC’s?

I just want this habit to begin to weave in to our consciousness; to seek answers, to define what we are doing, and to find market opportunities because of changing conditions. What I don’t want is to see the disappearance of efforts because American’s have lost consciousness.

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