In Most Circles, the Concepts of Clean Energy and Sustainability Are Only Somewhat Interesting

A friend in England and I were just talking about how easy it is to miss subtle cues in dealing with others, and thus irritate the people around us.

I noted where I frequently screw up with people in general, which is this:  I wrongly believe folks generally want to discuss the many different dimensions of sustainability.  To me, this is the only thing that matters, but most people don’t see it that way, and lose interest in it quickly. 

I (mistakenly) think I can make it more interesting by including references to important scientific discoveries, political philosophy, how we can halt the funding of terrorism, quotes from great authors, astronomy, how to deal successfully with the plight of the third world, the rise of China and what it means to the U.S., etc.  But I notice that when we go out to dinner with people, this holds people’s attention for about 90 seconds, as it’s hard to get other people talking about their viewpoints on these subjects, and obviously, people are more comfortable talking than they are listening.  So within a couple of minutes, the discussion has changed.  Perhaps now it’s the activities of our kids, how dry it’s been in the state (California), black sheep in our families, run-ins we’ve had with traffic cops, professional sports, past or future vacations, how stoned we used to get at rock concerts in the 1970s, great lines from movies, travel mishaps, etc.

I’ll be listening to all this and thinking: I have bad news, folks. When the Greenland Ice Sheet melts and the seas rise 20 feet, no one’s going to care too much about the Green Bay Packers, the sports car you had in college, how you holed a shot out of a sand bunker, or how cute Linda Ronstadt used to be.

But I have to remind myself:  Craig, there’s a reason that 2GreenEnergy has 12 thousand visitors per month and not 12 million—and this is it precisely.  You can’t force your interests on other people, and this stuff isn’t on most people’s minds.  On top of all that, it’s hard to blame guys for being fixated with the image of Linda Ronstadt.