Even the most ardent environmentalist has to be overwhelmed these days by all the talk of going green. Every business is doing some big project. Every community is trumpeting a new effort.

 

It's to the point that, when there'd be a mention of "a touch of the green" on St. Patrick's Day, my first thought was that it was another environmental initiative.

 

Now, it's great that there's all this heightened consciousness about the environment. Much of it is stirred from concerns about global warming. But while it's good that this is getting more attention in certain quarters, I've questioned how much this is just the latest fashion. In the U.S. presidential election, it's been documented how little environmental issues have come up.

 

I thought about this again after listening to a speech by Malcolm Gladwell at the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries convention earlier this month. Gladwell is a writer for the New Yorker and an author of two best selling books on cultural and political trends.

 

One of Gladwell's themes is that, contrary to conventional wisdom, major change can happen very quickly. He points to the fall of communism in Europe as an example of a political and social shift that occurred much faster than anyone predicted. He calls this phenomenon a "tipping point." It's when change gains enough momentum that suddenly the majority buys into it.

 

Are we near that point with environmentalism? As much as we are talking the talk, I'm skeptical. We see patches of change. Some of us buy Priuses and compact fluorescent bulbs and recycle more, and a greater number of businesses are reducing their carbon footprint. But our environmental habits seem to be changing more incrementally than seismically.

 

I was intrigued by one of Gladwell's supporting points, that we are too busy in our daily lives to make sound decisions based on our own knowledge alone. We rely on "mavens," or trusted experts in other areas, to guide us on certain decisions.

 

I think that can apply to our environmental habits. I'm just not sure we have enough trust in our environmental mavens yet.

 

Allan Gerlat is editor of Waste News. Past installments of this column are collected in the Inbox archive.

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