This address will cover a personal journey through the intersection of the worlds of green chemistry and ionic liquids with insight into the personalities and ideas met along the way. The story starts with roots in undergraduate and graduate research projects on liquid clathrates with Jerry Atwood at The University of Alabama, it grows into research in radiochemistry and separations with Phil Horwitz at Argonne National Laboratory, and it continues to pivot with the reemergence of interest in the IL phenomenon developed in collaboration with Ken Seddon of Queen’s University of Belfast. The constraining or enabling forces of Societal change intersecting with personnel motivation and new insight will provide a backdrop for the lessons learned.