On the ground at Green Festival, Seattle

Whether it's bedding, baby products, chocolate bars, or pet food, everything has gone green. At least that was my impression while attending this past weekend's Green Festival in Seattle, Washington. 

Exploring the exhibition hall, I was surprised by what I saw. Organic food, of course. Solar panel installers, obvious. But dog food made in New Zealand that's safe for humans to eat? Or a green roadside assistance alternative to AAA?

It wasn't only the services or products being displayed at the nearly 500 booths that were green. The people were, too. From the uber-athletes who pedaled exercise bikes for hours on end to power one booth's computers, to the teenagers who sat next to me at lunch and exclaimed, "These vegan sausages are dope, bro," it was clear that green ideals have reached the masses. 

More startling, however, was the fanfare surrounding the festival's speakers. If green has finally reached the masses, then that cultural shift has also created a new kind of celebrity, the "eco-guru." 

From Bainbridge Graduate Institute's Gifford Pinchot III to mushroom-expert Paul Stamets, the speakers talked about their work and inspired audiences to solve some of our society's most difficult problems. 

Saturday's keynote by RMI co-founder Amory Lovins was no exception. Thousands of people crowded around the stage for the standing-room-only event in a scene that befitted a rock concert more than a gathering of eco-minded individuals. 

Lovins' premise was that climate change, oil dependence, and nuclear proliferation seem like such daunting problems that energy policy is presented as a stupid multiple-choice test: 

"Would you prefer to die of (a) climate change, (b) oil wars, or (c) nuclear holocaust?" 

Lovins' pithy answer was: "(d) none of the above." 

That's because he sees scores of companies making money by addressing the climate, oil, and nuclear problems. 

According to Lovins, smart corporations, from Dow to Dupont to IBM, are taking the climate issue seriously, reducing their emissions at a profit by streamlining their operations and eliminating waste. 

The auto industry also holds promise for reducing our dependence on oil, he says.

Toyota recently unveiled its 1/X concept car at the Tokyo Auto Show, which is the same size as a Prius, but predicted to achieve double the gas mileage. And both Nissan and Ford announced that they would "lightweight" their cars over the next several years, making them radically more fuel-efficient. When these new models hit the streets, they could save millions of barrels of oil each year. 

As for nuclear, Lovins doesn't see a financial future. He noted that nuclear reactors are so uneconomic that the only way they continue to be built is through huge subsidies from central planners. To drive home the point, Lovins says that, in recent years, more generating capacity has been added worldwide by small, distributed sources (such as solar and combined heat-and-power generators) than nuclear. 

So why haven't more companies and entrepreneurs availed themselves of what Lovins sees as so obvious? 

For that answer, he quoted to Marshal McLuhan: "Only small secrets need protection. Big discoveries are protected by public incredulity." 

Read more about the Seattle Green Festival and watch videos here. 

Cory Lowe is the Media/Outreach Manager at Rocky Mountain Institute.