A few weeks ago, I described climate change as the political third rail of the last presidential debate. This observation got me to thinking: what other sustainability third rails are out there? What other topics are taboo?

A brief mental scan produced four such no-no's. And so: prepare the brickbats. I'm about to speak the unspeakable.

Thou Shalt Not Speak Ill of the Icons. Every movement has its pecking order, and at the very apex of the pecking order are the heros. The sustainability movement is no different. The folks up there are the greenerati, our very own celebrities.

Sometimes they've got great ideas, sometimes they've got great speaking skills, and sometimes they're just great at self-promotion. Whatever their strengths, they attract lots of attention, both positive and negative. They are the object of gossip and adulation, which is, I suppose, the fate of all celebrities. Their personal failings get bruited about with much delight. We can do only so much looking upward contentedly, it seems: we need our heros to have clay feet.

One thing, however, tends not to get discussed: their professional failures. This is because we badly need them to succeed. Their projects are what give us hope and inspiration, and these are the things that keep us going. When a greenerati's endeavor turns out to be badly flawed, it's not just their problem, or the project's problem. It's a failure that deflates us all.

And so we continue to give public lip service to their brilliance while occasionally whispering to a carefully selected few how "Project X," don't tell anyone!, bombed.

Sometimes it's not just single projects that are called into question. There are also entire sub-movements. Some people, for instance, believe that the entire corporate social responsibility movement is a dud. This is not the sort of thing people are comfortable discussing publicly, though.

The sustainability house is built on hope, and frankly it's kind of rickety. The greenerati's work helps keep the house standing. And so we don't speak ill of their undertakings, even when they're shot through with holes. We put aside our integrity for the sake of The Cause. We lie for the good of the movement. We worship false idols because, if we don't, the center will not hold.

We let the truth play second fiddle so the sustainability house won't burn.

(Note to the reader: I'll be discussing the other three taboo subjects in future posts.)