Are people at the base of the economic pyramid more "green" than those at the top of the pyramid? There is an ongoing debate about this - and one of the key assertions made by those who answer "yes" to that question is that the BoP are better conservationists. Karen pointed out in her post last week that the people who depend most directly on "ecosystem services" are the ones most likely to utilize them properly and productively in a sustainable manner.

Reading this, memories flashed through my mind of traveling around highways in Mexico where brick sellers would line certain parts of the road - stacks of adobe bricks made from baked mud and straw arranged behind them.

Another BoP innovation around ecosystem services is the proliferation of decentralized biofuel generators, which have been gaining special attention recently thanks to the students who won U Texas' Social Innovation Competition with a rice husk-powered generator. A similar system that uses jatropha instead of rice husks has been circulating throughout rural India for some time.

Biofuel generators are now a hot ticket in the Western sustainable development space, and adobe has long been praised by progressives as a green building material. But what strikes me as the key commonality between these two examples, and what I liked about Karen's post, is that she makes clear this isn't about a green image for much of the BoP - it's about money.

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