Be a Noah

While out in the yard enjoying the arrival of spring and tending to the work of getting things growing again outside, I listened to a chapter of Hot, Flat, and Crowded by Thomas Friedman that was incredibly fitting for the week ahead. As proof of how the universe works, the ideas presented by Friedman reinforced a conversation a friend and I had this morning over oatmeal and eggs: that the sustainability movement in residential energy as well as commercial has the opportunity to fundamentally reshape how we do things. However, the answer to a new sustainability model is not to wait for some megacompany to come along with the incredible single invention that will solve our problems. 

According to Friendman in the book, "Noah had one ark to save the earth's biodiversity in his day, and we need a million of them to save the biodiversity in ours....Some say the key to solving our energy problem is just one really smart Thomas Edison - one inventor who can come up with that magic breakthrough to generate abundant, clean, reliable, cheap power. Maybe."

I tend to think that's a very BIG maybe, and for that reason why sit around and wait. A friend and I spoke this morning about the immense opportunity green jobs and green entrepreneurship brings to our region, and just how few companies out there are engaging in the work now. We talked about how few people in our state today have the training and certification to engage in the work of greening energy, and if they are out there, we aren't all connected as we should be. 

If energypreneurs can muster the will and courage to take a leap into the business world, not only could we push the envelope when it comes to sustainable business practices in our region, but we could potentially create hundreds of good paying jobs and successful companies in the process.