News-Record.com

Of course, not everyone believes the economy will just keep chugging along, albeit cleaner and greener. Some economists, such as Herman Daly, espouse a steady-state economy that doesn't grow, but simply maintains its capital stocks and assets over time. Other writers, such as John Michael Greer in Oregon, predict that people will adapt to low-carbon, decentralized lifestyles as a response to the eventual collapse of the industrial world (caused by declining oil supplies, climate change and other crises).

Greer writes in "The Long Descent":

"No heresy raises hackles in the contemporary world quite so effectively as the suggestion that the soaring towers and equally lofty pretensions of the industrial world could become the crumbling ruins and dim memories of some future age. At the core of the modern world's identity is the conviction that our civilization is exempt from the slow trajectories of rise and fall that defined all of human history before the industrial revolution. It's an article of contemporary faith, as deeply and sincerely held as any religious creed, that we have been singled out for some larger destiny... but certainly not the slow ebb of a tide of expansion that has been flowing since our ancestors figured out how to tap into the Earth's reserves and fossil fuels. This conviction colors nearly all modern attempts to make sense of the future."

Greer recommends people plant an organic garden, help build their local communities and take charge of their own health care, among other things, as preparation for empire's fall.

Those participating in the new green economy are motivated by these various perspectives, including those present at Saturday's conference. For example, peak oil and anti-globalization activist Keith Shaljian co-founded Bountiful Backyards, an edible landscaping collective in Durham.

The group's Web site states: "It is no longer appropriate to rely on governments, multinational corporations, or technology to change our collective future. Our efforts and actions need to be localized, committed, and ever-expanding both within ourselves and the communities we live in."

Joseph James of Columbia, S.C., is working with N.C. State University to commercialize a technology that converts biomass to fuel that energy plants can use to produce electricity. He hopes to open a plant in eastern North Carolina to revive rural, poor communities there. His church also plans to create a local farmers market and biodiesel service.

"It's been too long that African-Americans have been disconnected from their rural counterparts," he said.

T.S. Designs, which is sponsoring a Green Gala on Oct. 4, is a shirt-making business that has adopted sustainable practices and believes in "triple bottom line" of focusing on people, the planet and profits.

Greenway Transit in Durham is a transportation company that only uses bicycle rickshaws, diesel cars and vans, hybrid and duel fuel vehicles will be used for the fleet.

The Web site says: "Ethical living and sustainability are the basis for our beliefs and we will only do business in the same way. The idea behind our services is conserving our natural world for ourselves and for future generations."

I know of several existing and planned "green businesses" in Guilford County, including RAIN PRO, of High Point, which installs rainwater catchment systems, a lawn-mowing service using only bikes and push mowers, and a business that recycles waste industrial products into artwork. What am I leaving out?