Just how close are we to a Green Economy?

Well luckily we now have a president who actually considers the environment a priority and is interested in creating a more green economy, so in this sense I think we are getting closer. Obama has put forward various plans with regards to developing wind and solar power, creating more efficiency in homes and government buildings, and more fuel efficient cars and public transport. Although these changes would ultimately be beneficial to the economy, they do require a huge amount of financial input. With all of the damage control that needs to be done, I suspect that even with the President’s best intentions, that this restructuring may not happen as quickly as we might wish. I do see a major cultural change in awareness of the Green movement but I can't decide whether or not the trend of it all is helping or making matters worse. There are so many contradictions behind the green facade. I've read that MacDonalds in Europe is changing its famous golden arches to green to symbolize the efforts they have made to go green but is this just going to make people think, ok I can now eat at Macdonalds and being doing my bit to make a change? And then there are all of these organic supermarket chains that market themselves as being so green but all of the fuel and energy that is wasted to bring the organic food that is not local or seasonal into our supermarkets seems so inconsistent with the image they create. As Michael Pollan points out, there is nothing environmentally friendly or health conscious about Whole Food’s practice of flying asparagus from Argentina in January. I just hope that the trend of it all actually does lead to some real change eventually.

Because Kim Kardashian says so...