Why is the green movement downsizing? Green stores are closing, green magazines are folding. What’s happening? At a time when we need more sustainable businesses than ever, they might be sustainable in the sense that their owners and customers are concerned about the fate of the planet, but they are not sustainable in the financial sense… now why is that?

I started asking myself that question a few weeks ago. First thing that came to mind was what Abbie Hoffman said: “America is in a perpetual state of revolution, because the mainstream keeps absorbing its counterculture.” That’s been the criticism of Earth Day, everybody is green now, even ExxonMobil.  Avatar sends out a beautiful environmental message, sponsored by McDonald’s. Doesn’t anyone feel the hypocrisy here, or is it just me?

I’ve noticed that once a green brand gets bought up by a large corporation, their sales might go up, but their message gets toned down. The companies themselves stop their militancy, stop supporting causes, stop bringing up the rear. And while there’s more green products on the shelves than ever, still only a bleep on the GNP radar screen, why does it feel like we’re right back where we started?

That’s because even though most people will tell you they’re environmentalists, and some very well may be, conscious, recycling, tree hugging souls… they really haven’t done their homework on the politics, studied how deeply rooted the problem really is. So if you don’t understand the past, you’re doomed to repeat it. All we’ve done is hand over our best play to the opposite team.

It’s very naive to think that we’re all in this together, and that rich or poor we breathe the same air. I used to think so. It helped bring about the green economy, eco-luxury, pricey electric cars and far away land organic spas. But look around you, has anything really changed? I don’t mean to depress you, but when are we going to stop handing over the shop?

Green stores come and go because the moment Wal-Mart, Kohl’s or Target start selling organic clothes… or their version of what organic means, hundreds of pioneering green start-ups go belly up. It’s the law of averages. When did volume equate survival? So people on limited income can afford the green lifestyle.

Environmentalists have revolutionized all industries. From the lab to the factory floor; to the distribution chain to the stores; and into people’s homes. From the organic booze at the bar to the safe cosmetics in your kit, green chemistry is changing everything we dream about, make, sell and use. But are we stuck with corporate culture? Is that what we want in our lives. To wear GE proudly on our sleeve, refer to ourselves as “we” when we talk about our work? Knowing that while we might be installing solar panels, the company we work for also makes nuclear reactors for submarines?

That’s the compromise people were not willing to make in the 60’s which people are willing to make now. Both worlds, the green world we’re trying to build, and the old post-industrial world we’re trying to escape from, co-existing side by side, creating an eerie sense of stagnation and helplessness, eroding our spirit, defusing our anger, ultimately slowing down the pace of change to a Bilderberg crawl.

Electric cars at the expense of clean electricity, as deals are made to power the charging infrastructure with new nuclear power. Actors and actresses who one day lend their face to environmental causes, while the next are seen on billboards in Asia hording the worse anti-green crap there is. And they live with themselves, within the lie… actors, acting… telling us what we want to hear, thinking we wouldn’t notice.

I’ve been accused of being too pure. And yet I’m not perfect. I live in an old farm house, so old in fact, we don’t have the resources to fix it up so it can be energy efficient. Our solution is to keep the heat so low, we wear three sweaters, and long for Spring. That’s because green work, real green work, doesn’t pay unless you sell out to the machine, then you become one of them, with that white glow, that fake smile, that superficial graciousness… smothered in kindness and lies.

In the 60’s we wanted to change the system… and we did, to a point. The new generation has embraced a global understanding of our responsibilities… thousands of books and websites educating us about how to go green. An alternative economy has grown out of this, where solar, wind, ethanol, LEDs, sustainable clothing, organic coffee and green cosmetics, have transformed corporate culture to be more in tune with nature.

But we still have a billion vehicles spewing toxic brew, old nuclear plants leaking into ground water, coal mining blowing up mountains, burger chains clear cutting rainforest… why? Why as a collective mind can’t we change our destructive behavior? Why is war, exile, desolation, starvation more important to our species than restoration and stewardship? Why is playing video games 3 hours a day, more important than joining a conservation corps to revive neighborhoods? We live in a culture of avoidism, where it’s easier to walk away, than confront your demons. How can that help you grow as a human being?

All the pressures end up falling on the shoulders of a few… all too often badly paid, hard working drones, fueled by a sense of desperation. We need a big win. We need something larger than life to give us hope again. A sign the planet isn’t going to let us down. A place to hang our hearts.