Green Blog

As all stories have two sides, with the truth lying somewhere near the middle, so too is the green movement beset by fanatical proponents who would ration each man, woman, and child’s toilet paper allotment on the one side, to rabid naysayers who would go out of their way to point out any shortcoming in the green agenda on the other.   I ran across an article about New Zealand property tycoon Sir Robert Jones, and his belief that the sustainable or green building movement is simply put, “a fashionable inanity” and a “fad that will be forgotten in as little as four years.”   My crystal ball is at the cleaners, so I can’t say for sure what the future holds, but I wonder if this will be the defining “missed the boat” moment for Jones.   I’m reminded of several now infamous comments from the early days of computing (courtesy of http://ifaq.wap.org/computers/famousquotes.html):   “Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.” – Popular Mechanics, 1949   “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” – Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943   “I have travelled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processings is a fad that won’t last out the year.” – The editor in charge of business books for Prentice-Hall, 1957   “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” – Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of DEC     I wonder if “fashionable inanity” will be added to the list of comments under the heading “Green Movement.”

According to Microsoft, over 10 million people had streamed live video of the Live Earth concerts that took place on Saturday 7-7-07. According to the Redmond software maker, their portal, MSN can now boast of having the most simultaneous viewers of any concert online.   The concert Web site, http://www.LiveEarth.msn.com, will continue to offer archives and on-demand footage of all the performances, along with artist interviews, backstage footage, searching capabilities for specific songs, artists and more, for the next several weeks.   According to Joanne Bradford, corporate vice president and chief media officer of MSN:   “History is being made today. Millions of people around the world have joined together to fight the climate crisis. The over 10 million streams MSN has delivered so far today represent a milestone in live Internet broadcasting.