Green Shift

It's impossible to discuss a green future without in some way accounting for the voracious energy appetite of China, the burgeoning superpower. Friedman left us a juicy quote to chew on: "Green China is going to be a bigger risk than Red China." What does this mean? Green design will soon be filtered through the scalability of China's low cost model and not because anyone thinks it's the right thing to do. According to Friedman, the market will determine that it is the only thing to do.

As we look for a full transition to the "service economy" of the future, Friedman asserted that the environmentally savvy design and consulting jobs would be the biggest growth area of this century. Market forces are beginning to take green thinking seriously instead of shoving it into its "liberal" and "do good" niche.