Open your eyes, as we are living a history we thought only existed in the stories of the Great Depression of the older generation. We are now the generation with a story, and it's an unsustainable one. It is a story of boundless and irrepressible greed that didn't regard the well being of all Americans. It is also a story of lack of personal responsibility with regard to how we conduct ourselves, how much debt we have accumulated, and what value, if any, we are creating in society.
I sound old fashioned, but doing things right, for the good of society, and making sound decisions are not old fashioned notions; on the contrary, they are back in vogue. I didn't read that anywhere. I just know that after we come out of this economic and financial debacle, we will start seeing the return of principled thinking.
Principled thinking is what the new green economy is about. Green thinking was taking a hold in America, and my prediction is that it will grow faster as a direct result of the collective dissappointment we are experiencing in government and the financial institutions that were once the pillars of our country. It's about sustainability, dummy.
Our economy couldn't keep growing at the pace that it was growing. Our houses couldn't keep appreciating endlesslyat the rate they were; our debt -personal and national- couldn't keep accumulating without consequence. We were living unsustainably, and it has come back to bite us.
We continue to live unsustainably, given that all the arguments above can be used on the environment, on our communities, on our unsustainable houses. Principled thinking is what we need to use to do the right thing for our houses, our workplaces, our schools, our communities.
Principled thinking is green thinking without greed. Lets make sure ( without issuing credit default swaps) that our children inherit a sustainable world....even though it doesn't look good right now. ">Judge for yourself.
