A few weeks ago I was at the Women’s Forum in Canada and got to speak with a fantastic group of panelists. Our topic? Is Green the New Gold?
How refreshing to discover, in our brief 30 minutes before going on stage, that all of us wanted to debate the title of our session. Why are we still questioning the obvious supremacy of Green? Without a planet, there are no people. I am confused by the idea that we ever, post Silent Spring, pursued anything other than how to live in harmony with our home, and of course, each other.
The discussion, however, was definitely on the track that we all should be. We were all agreed. Green is the only Gold we’ve got. As a chief goal of the Women’s Forum is to inform and ‘infect’ the G7 meetings that follow in the same locations, I really hope that this message cuts through the noise. This is the only planet we’ve got.
My fantastic co-panelists included Danielle Azoulay, Head of CSR & Sustainability, L'Oreal USA, Carmina Mancenon, founder of Stitch Tomorrow, Karla Martinez, Editor in Chief, Vogue Mexico and Kendra Pierre-Louis from the New York Times.
We covered a lot of ground, the need for systemic change, how important it is to work through all of the issues from inception right through the supply chain to consumer and end-of-life (or hopefully next life), the role of the media as educator and invigorator. It was a celebration of initiatives that are working, strategies for change, and revolutionary environmental ideas. We don’t need more proof that the right ideas, technologies, and strategies exist… we just need them to spread and scale much more quickly.
