A reader sent me a note, basically saying "there's nothing new under the sun." He was distressed that we're so busy talking about being green that we forget it's good business. Here's what he had to say:

For thousands of years, if an item was reused or recycled it was considered common sense or economic reality. For almost 50 years, since WW2, reused or recycled was not even considered by many because you could buy new and pitch the old. Now reusing or recycling or reducing the use of just about anything is called being "green." The economics of recycling has always been there. Even if you have to pay more to have something recycled than it costs to trash an item, it is still an economic advantage. Today recycling can be quite profitable. If lowering your cost of manufacturing just happens to result in using less of anything involved, it now is considered "green;" 25 years ago it was just a good economic decision. Think about this: does "greening" your business result in an economic advantage or is it that being economical results in being "green?" Is it good marketing to get on the bandwagon and tell all of your industry peers that you have changed your manufacturing method? All these news releases should be aimed at users of our manufacturing expertise, not at each other. In less than 20 years, this "green" stuff has gone from trade secret manufacturing to the farmer flipping his suspenders and saying: "Hey, look at me!" Pat

What do YOU think? Are we just "strutting our stuff" in our own barnyard? Are we forgetting to tell our customers and prospects that we have been doing some of these things for a long time; that they're good business? Your comments, thoughts, additions, etc., are welcome!