Taking Care of Business

Published: April 14, 2008

It's Earth Day week, as you probably know. So what?

For those of us who work year 'round in the environmental arena, April 22nd is just another day. I've spent many of the past dozen or so Earth Days with nothing special planned. (This year, I'll be at Fortune magazine's Brainstorm: GREEN conference, where I'll be speaking on a panel about green consumers.)

The run-up to Earth Day in recent years sure has been a whirlwind. Over the past 10 days, I've been to a half-dozen cities -- from southern Florida to northern Minnesota to central Iowa -- talking about the greening of mainstream business. I've fielded calls from more two dozen reporters and sorted through hundreds of incoming press releases. Everyone, it seems, has a story to tell in April.

Some of those stories are substantive, increasingly so, though they represent what has become a daily drumbeat of developments in this field, the most significant of which we bring you each business day on GreenBiz.com. Of course, there also are countless P.R. pitches that seem lightweight at best, sometimes seeming to grasp for a green angle.

And then there are the research polls, which blossom with the warming of spring. Traditionally, they have brought good news about the growing green marketplace -- too good to be believed, in many cases. This year, however, I've noted a handful of more realistic survey results, revealing, for instance, that consumers are confused about shopping green, and aren't willing to pay more or otherwise sacrifice to do so. That's refreshingly honest, however sobering.

I don't mean to be an Earth Day Scrooge. The annual attention to things environmental is helpful, albeit insufficient. Earth Day can be energizing. At minimum, it should be a day to step back and take stock of the wondrous planet and all it offers.

But soon it will be April 23rd, and we can all get back to the work at hand.