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Between Blue and Yellow
A Never-ending Journey
by Katie Sosnowchik
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Our entrée
into the sustainable development field occurred, like many other
businesses, as an awakening of sorts; a gradual realization of the
enormous breadth and depth that these ideals and their consequences
truly mean for the world. We didn’t sit up one day and say,
“This is it!” Rather, we metamorphosed into environmental
advocacy as a result of the visionaries whom we talked to, listened
to, learned from and, above all, were inspired by—the people
who were responsible for stirring our spirit, a notion our senior
columnist Carl Frankel explores in his column entitled “Beneath
the Surface.”
Much of our initial interest in sustainability was the result of
our investigations into the greening of the built environment through
the work of a sister publication, IS magazine. This 12-year-old
trade publication for architects and designers was the first, and
remains the only, magazine in that field that has taken on the mantle
of green design and building champion. It was through this magazine
that we were introduced to our first inklings of what sustainability
really meant. It was through people like Bill McDonough, Michael
Braungart, Bill Browning, Paul Hawken, Ken Rhyne, Sandy Mendler,
Hunter Lovins and Sim Van der Ryn that we were encouraged to transform
our own organization and its mission in the field of publishing.
From there, as well as during the beginning years of producing the
EnvironDesign® conference, that our exposure to the treatises
of people like Janine Benyus, Anita Roddick, Daniel Quinn, William
Ford and John Elkington reinforced these initial convictions. Finally,
it was the tireless work of everyday pioneers (happily too numerous
to name here) and their ability to overcome the more mundane obstacles
and challenges on the frontlines of environmental stewardship that
cemented our belief in the concept of “doing well by doing
good.”
In the end, what we have learned most from the pioneers we have
encountered is that this journey is never-ending. There are always
new paths to explore, new ways of thinking to study, new practices
and processes to examine. Our “education” thus far has
been diverse and rewarding. But we acknowledge that it is not finished.
“We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and
not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself,”
said author Lloyd Alexander. “If we ever sit back and say,
‘We’ve arrived,’ then I think we will have failed,”
said Mac Bridger, CEO of C & A Floorcoverings, during the interview
for this issue’s cover story. Both are right.
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