The Raw Story.com prominently displayed the headline, “US businesses outsource 22,000 green jobs to India”. I like Raw Story but their shtick is to put up headlines that will earn outrage clicks. In other words, people will read it, exclaim, “What!” and click on it to read what ever outrage-eliciting story they’ve dug up. Fine. I read it myself. But to that particular headline, I say, if you’re surprised that “green” business can be corrupt then you have no imagination.

an annual industry study conducted by Brown-Wilson Group, found that green technology jobs are being created faster in India than in the US since Obama took office.”

First of all, few businesses are truly green. Most make a pandering, half-assed attempt to play lip-service to being green. Companies who destroy forests with the amount of paper they waste, provide a recycled paper as an option so they can say they’re doing their part. The companies that push for opening the Alaska Wildlife Preserve run green-looking warm & fuzzy television commercials. I once worked for a company that had a responsible-sounding “sustainability program” but didn’t even recycle office paper – the stuff in the cardboard recycle bins got dumped into trash cans at the end of the day. The truth is, most companies are only about as green as they need to be to put up a facade. And, as with the usual profit-at-any-cost spirit of the business community, many new and newly growing green businesses are backed by individuals who only see a green “trend” ripe for the picking – opportunists without an altruistic bone in their body. I’m not saying you can’t find a green business with an appropriate set of progressive business values to accompany it, but you’re going to have to be careful and look hard.

Firms seeking stabilized energy and labor costs while trying to convince consumers of their eco-friendly practices are more often turning to Indian green-collar workers than American ones”