At the end of September, I was in San Francisco to attend West Coast Green, the largest green residential building conference and exhibition in the United States. The conference boasted authoritative speakers on topics ranging from green architecture and building to kitchen remodeling and interior decorating. It also included a stirring and fiery speech by Robert Kennedy, Jr., lambasting the Bush administration and its corporate task masters for the roll-back of environmental laws and the indefensibly weak-kneed media that has lapsed in its civic duty to inform the public about matters that greatly affect our democracy, society, and environment. Yet, while vehement in his condemnation of corporate meddling in governmental affairs, Kennedy offered the refreshing viewpoint that businesses, operating within fully functioning free markets, can and will play key roles in creating long-lasting solutions to the environmental challenges we face. A good number of those solutions were on display throughout the three day event.