Everything that I read (and experience) about a green economy always comes back to one all-too-obvious fact. That is, that energy conserved is energy not purchased, mined, burned or converted into pollution.

The Rocky Mountain Institute:

http://www.rmi.org/

was co-founded by Amory Lovins and Hunter Lovins; the institute and its work has shown that a robust but green economy can exist through the use of technology that makes smart use of materials, design, reingineering, etc.

A brief on Hunter Lovins is:

http://www.odemagazine.com/blogs/intelligent_optimists/3625/l_hunter_lovins

that includes her website.

And here’s an Economist article about Amory Lovins:

http://www.economist.com/science/tq/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11999219

I’m generally not in the camp that says that our broad ecological issues will be solved by present or future technology. Technology does not bring back a wrecked rainforest. However, as a part of the solution, it makes a lot of sense to do what is perfectly feasible right now, as well as push the frontiers of ecological technology forward, especially since the purse strings of the federal government are open for new investment just now.

The Lovins’ co-authored a book with Paul Hawken titled “Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution” (1999). And Thomas Prugh wrote “Natural Capital and Human Economic Survival.” Other sources within the broad field of “Ecological Economics” (as distinct from the field of “environmental economics”) begin to help understand the real source of value and sustainability in an economy and in human society.

The Apollo Alliance (apolloalliance.org) has been building coalitions of environmental, business, labor and community leaders to promote green jobs. Research shows how investments in alternative energy create far more jobs than fossil fuel industries.

Another organization worth looking into is Transition Totnes - http://totnes.transitionnetwork.org/
which has taken the sustainability question further in terms of community based solutions. There is a lot of inspirational work happening under the general term transition communities or transition movement: transitiontowns.org; transitionus.org

Your last post quoted Ross Gelbspan who looks at enhanced communities as the key to solving this crisis, and the transition movement is a reflection of support for that happening around the world.