“We sleep until twelve, off to work at one, an hour for lunch, and then we’re done.”

I should have known; another clue that’s been right in front of us since 1939.

Bonus: what does the Tin Man have to do with bee hives?

In the 17th century, the German polymath Liebniz first lent expression, both mathematically and otherwise, to the idea that would be called energy a couple of centuries later. His vis viva, or living force of the system, was the quantity that was conserved within the motion of mechanical systems, with a couple of stipulations. But this is not a history lesson.

It is, rather, an introduction into the laws of Thermodynamics. For as long as one might wish to define the present epoch, society has left itself and its fate in the hands of engineers, and as many of my colleagues will and do admit, it has brought us this far. The previous statement has, obviously, both positive and negative facets equally worthy of consideration.

Since the age of Leibniz and Newton, which continues through today, many have followed in their footsteps to flesh out the concepts that have come to define our world. Who was Sadi Carnot or James Prescott Joule and what were their contributions to our understanding of the physical world are not merely questions for the few, but for all of us. Without knowing about them, the contributions of Ilya Prigogine have little meaning. This is to say that without a proper understanding of entropy and irreversibility there will be difficulty grappling with complex systems, the precautionary principle, and ultimately, sustainability itself.

The discussion is over before it begins, in a very fundamental way, and green IS just another fad if there is not a more general awakening connected to a it. Time to nail a ladder up to that ol’ tree of knowledge. More to come.

Or maybe just apostrophe futures, but what about a Green bubble? I mean come on, let’s get out in front of this thing.

Actually, that makes me wonder how far off are we from the Pop Art breaking point where you can invest in things that cannot be owned (waves, wind, clouds) and for which no discernible value can be ascertained yet can a market be devised. Sound familiar? Now that is the way to stave off recession

About two years ago, my son ran for president of his third grade class. While the election was an elementary exercise in civics perhaps, the junior campaigns quickly took on the dynamic of their national models, with signs, slogans and promises. And while his opponents for the presidency took a familiar tack with promises of ending the war in Iraq, bringing world peace and helping the poor, Ellis went right for the gusto, promising a four-day week, longer recess and three-day weekends. Give them what they want, sometimes before they know they want it.

Of course, he won in a landslide.

Between useless and necessary is one we all seem to be beginning to perceive. Or act like we knew existed all along, I’m not sure which is preferable. In one way, I don’t know whether this device

is green. But while it fits the definition of the word in common parlance, it encapsulates the phenomenon with airtight precision much better even than a story made up to do the same thing. To wit: its designer, having realized a personal crisis over all the useless crap he has birthed into the world over the last thirty years, at the cost of great personal wealth to himself, now brilliantly pivots toward the responsibility trend. On this he will also realize vast fortunes. Who says design is dead? Oh… he did.

But… I think this is how it’s going to work, if ‘going to’ and ‘work’ still have functional equivalents in a post-industrial society. One word cannot intersect itself. Inventing ways to save us and selling it back to us is the intersection of the meanings of Green in English. We all know that and the double entendre is at least part of the crude appeal, indeed the sustainability, of the term. He who had a real impact in creating this morass of consumption, now comes riding to the rescue. Like I’ve said, while not altogether hopeful, I do think people can redeem themselves. So I’ll not begrudge him, only fold my criticisms into a larger loathing for the overall concept of design – the kind of savvy that got us into the situation in the first place.