Finding common ground

"Finding common ground in green" is the title of a Grist post written by Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, and Don Knauss, chair and CEO of the Clorox Company, talking about the partnership between the Sierra Club and Clorox.

"Finding common ground in green. My first reaction is to applaud. But most people who left comments seemed to be skeptical about both parties' intention. Perhaps they know better. But is it possible they just have a natural resistance to such reunion? Similarly people seemed to be against Jason Furman’s appointment as Obama's economic advisor (HT: Krugman). Another example is WWF and Coca Cola's water conservation effort.

Yes I too have the terms such as "sold-out" and "green-wash" in my dictionary. But I also know we cannot go anywhere without communicating to each other. In fact I think to find common ground is the key to success, and an open discussion among different parties is critical in facilitating the process. That is why I believe a DMCE is a more organic way of doing valuation, because that is how a sound decision is supposed to be made in the real world when conflicting values exist: we each bring our stories to the table, we chat, we see the other side's points, we change, and we meet somewhere in the middle.

P.S. I'll start a new series of blog posts with the same title.