The Storyteller

Last night I had the opportunity to attend the EcoTuesday monthly meeting in San Francisco. EcoTuesday is celebrating its third anniversary and has expanded to several cites across the United States in that time. I find it to be an interesting venue to meet like-minded people in the sustainability world, be they responsible for eco-efficient products from big corporations, like Xerox, starting new sustainable business companies like FarmsReach, or students and professionals in career transition who are interested in the green economy.

At the event last night, after opening remarks from Niki Pava, one of the EcoTuesday ambassadors, Joel Makower, Chairman and Co-founder of Greener World Media, publishers of The State of Green Business 2010, spoke for a few minutes sharing his insights into the world of green business. A self-described “storyteller”, after being asked a tongue-in-cheek question about running for governor, he responded that the opportunity right now is for leaders in both the political sphere and the business world is to describe not just “what it looks like when things go wrong” regarding climate change, resources degradation and the like, but more importantly to describe “what it looks like when things go right!” to galvanize our communities to address the critical issues of our time. I agree with Joel this is the challenge we face, how to convey a story that will inspire people to a higher purpose.

So dear reader, what would it look like when “things go right”?