It seems the green world just keeps getting more and more competitive. The X Prize Foundation has long believed that you can foster ‘revolution through competition’ - and the possibility of some fame and fortune certainly doesn’t hurt either. It is undeniable that their competitions and rich purses have created some amazing innovations and personal accomplishments.
Now a new website, AmIGreenorNot, created by Elliot Kopstein and Kal Deutsch - two semi-green American guys - has jumped on the eco-competition bandwagon to encourage people to rate, and be rated on, how green they really are. Heralded as a new form of social networking, individuals compete to see who is the biggest and best environmentalist. Their intention is to provide a place for groups, businesses, organizations and individual citizens to share and promote their green lifestyles and get direct feedback from their peers. Through this process of rating greenness, Kopstein and Deutsch believe it will help identify who among us is really green…. and who is not.
We caught up with co-founder Elliot Kopstein and asked where has all the love gone from the environmental movement and will all this competition be good for the hippies.
So, why have you started this feisty new website?
I grew up with a lifelong environmentalist. As far back as the mid-70s, my engineer father was busy taking Sunday drives down to the local paper recycling plant, installing low flow toilets and faucets, and experimenting with various obscure solar panel technologies in our backyard.
Green is purely subjective.
These days my father looks on with both pride and frustration as he watches the world finally begin to wake up to the realities of global warming – pride in the validation of what he’s been evangelizing about all these years, frustration over what he sees as exploitation of the “green” movement by certain elements of our culture that operate more out of self-interest than out of commitment to preserving the environment.
AmIGreenOrNot is essentially a tribute to my father. It’s my own humble attempt to carry on his quest to make the planet a safer, cleaner and more honest/genuine place to live in.
Where did the idea come from?
I was inspired by the goofy wisdom and sheer irreverent simplicity of the “hot or not” website concept that became so popular a few years ago.
I wanted to build an online community that could better define what it really means to be “green” and that would encourage anyone (people, businesses, nonprofits, etc.) to open up, create their own profile (greenographies), state their case, and get rated (or berated) by their own peers.
Our theory (yet to be validated) is that green is best defined not by experts or politicians, but by harnessing our collective intelligence as ordinary citizens. And by fostering a bit of good old-fashioned competition, we hope our site will spawn more active eco-friendly people and communities throughout the country.
Perhaps the environmental movement had been stalled for a few years, in part, because of the very lack of competitive forces.
Do you think competition is a good thing?
With respect to greening the environment, we believe that an injection of some friendly peer pressure can be enormously constructive if done with good spirit and in proper proportion.
If competition can help establish new eco-friendly habits and norms, then we think we’re onto something. If through our website you (and your neighbors) discover that you’re the only home in your community not using CFLs, then what’s your next move?
What happened to the peace and love of the environmental movement?
Perhaps the environmental movement had been stalled for a few years in part because of the very lack of competitive forces. Perhaps the marriage of “green” and “capitalism” (with all its extremes and faults and deficiencies) is really the only way forward.
Do you think people will 'greenwash' their credentials?
Very possibly. We hope to find out. Widespread greenwashing is a big reason we created this site. We want to motivate people to call BS on ambiguous claims or accomplishments, particularly those from established businesses.
We’ve all seen those Chevron ads about how they saved the Spotted Owl, the one where they spent $10,000 doing it and $10 million marketing it. Companies like that need to be called out, or at least forced to be further accountable to us, the public.
Are you a green guy?
Relative to Ed Begley, no. Relative to the idiot hummer-driver that cut me off on the way to work yesterday, probably.
Green is purely subjective, and that’s the main point behind AmIGreenOrNot. Let the community decide. I drive a Prius. I recycle. Where does that get me? Being green does not necessarily come naturally to me, but I’m trying.
How do you rate on your site?
Elliott – 5.04
Kal - 5.59
Did you stretch the green truth when writing your profiles?
Elliott: No, at least not from my perspective. To be more sure, I’d like a second… or third opinion. I have to assume there will be a good deal of profile “inflation” on our site. Self-image and reality are rarely properly aligned.
Kal: As you can see from my score, I told the truth. But, to be totally honest, I’m not yet doing anything spectacular yet with respect to my lifestyle – I turn off the lights, I walk, I installed CFLs, I visit the local farmer’s market, I recycle. But big whoop – that is and should be the starting point for all of us.
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