There is an old truism about how the Americans always do things bigger, as if that means that they do things better; which is why, I suppose, that Mr. Brown has gone scurrying off to Washington this week to be the first ‘leader’ to meet the new US President.

If ever there was a time to realise that the Americans don’t always do things better, it is now and I was reminded of this again recently when I happened to receive an invitation to attend a ‘Greener by Design’ Conference in San Francisco for some time in May.

Ordinarily these e-mails are consigned to the ethereal equivalent of the recycling bin (that’ll be the junk mail folder, then!), but the headline wording caught my eye – “Can you afford to go green?  You can’t afford not to!”

Back in October 2008, we organised a debate, hosted by the IoD in the City of London, entitled, “Credit Crunch or Carbon Crunch – can business afford to be green” (you can read the summary here: http://www.iod.com/intershoproot/eCS/Store/en/pdfs/city_newsletter_january_2009.pdf ).

We wanted the event to be accessible to all, so we got a bit of sponsorship so that attendees only paid a peppercorn to cover nibbles and drinks, etc. and the speakers’ costs were covered - but they weren’t able to retire on the fee!

A robust debate ensued, the discussion carried on after the event and more businesspeople left with a greater understanding of the interconnectedness between carbon and cost.

So let’s compare that with what the Americans are doing. Well, to start with they want me to part with +/- $2,000 just to show my face; so, that should exclude a fair number of people who would genuinely benefit from hearing some reasoned debate.

Let’s face it, if I go to my CFO and explain that I want to blow $2,000 on a (admittedly protracted) debate, I’ll get a fairly frosty response if he’s worth anything at all.

So let’s have a look at the list of speakers… well, the fact that they are described in the blurb as green gurus already sets the alarm bells ringing – and all come either from the high-polluting corporate sector or self-aggrandising ‘green’ consultancy houses; and then there are the exhibitors – a list of the ‘brown’ wanting to be seen to be ‘green’.

On this side of the pond, we realised a while back that it is no longer enough to be seen to be green and we are graced with a consumer base that more easily recognises ‘greenwash’ when it sees it. Over here, we understand that you need to be green to be seen – that actions speak louder than words.

What’s going on over the other side of the pond is the same as has ever been going on; if people won’t buy ‘stuff’, sell ‘em smoke and mirrors – let’s talk them into submission and give them loads of ‘green’ goodies to take away to make them feel better.

Let Gordon Brown be hoodwinked into this type of behaviour, by all means; after all, he’s a politician – he doesn’t know any better.

But we are intelligent business people who should understand that what comes from the USA is invariably bigger but seldom better. We would not now be riding a recession or looking seriously at how we can conserve carbon to save the future of business if it was. They’re not wholly to blame, but they are hardly the best example to follow.

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