We are so proud to be part of the green section at Alltop.com. You can check us out by clicking the image below. Alltop.com links to all the best sites on the internet and offers their rss feeds for a really convenient way to stay up to date.
The Georgia Straight, a free weekly newspaper, puts out a supplement every season and Spring 2008 is devoted to “The Green Life”. This issue includes articles about sustainable homes, greenery, and an interview with environmentalist David Suzuki. If you click on the magazine’s front cover below it will lead you to the electronic version of the issue.
If you are thinking about a green business MBA you might want to check out the school I have linked below. Although I do not endorse the school or its program, I do endorse an MBA focusing on sustainability.
I just wanted to thank the guys at Alternative Energy News who published my interview with Gary Thompson, CEO of Sierra Geothermal Power Corp. It was a great experience talking with the head of a company specializing in creating alternative energy. If you want to read the interview in its entirety, please click here. A special thanks goes out to Alex Ramon, webmaster at Alternative Energy News, for getting the ball rolling.
Even in the best of times looking for a job can be a tough task, but if you’re looking for a job in the environmental marketplace it may seem near impossible. Check out these sites and get a meaningful job - it can be done. I hope that these resources become invaluable. Good luck!
One thing that I love doing is promoting green businesses. I will be starting a series of posts that give examples of green businesses. I want you to discover these wonderful companies on your own. I want you to visit their websites and read what they do. I want you to see the passion that these people have for the business they love so much. You can make money by being environmentally responsible, and these companies are doing just that.
Here are two businesses, from entirely different industries, each taking a large amount of social responsibility. One is an organic dairy farm, the other gives used office furniture a second life. I’ve said it many times before, and I will continue to beat the drum - businesses can thrive by being environmentally responsible.
One day I may contact the CEOs of these companies, but for now my goal is to give those of you who are looking for examples of green businesses a resource or two. Go to their websites and find out the reasons why they have decided to take an environmentally responsible approach to business. It may inspire you to one day start your own green business.
The explosion of blogging has given members of the sustainability community some new and exciting perspectives. Here to educate and entertain us, the following list contains names of excellent bloggers who write about green business.
1. Elisabeth Rosenthal - A staff writer for the Business of Green, a blog under the International Herald Tribune umbrella, Libby often creates a debate with her articles and gives some interesting food for thought.
2) James Kanter - The second staff writer for the Business of Green, James offers passionate and informed opinions. His articles are definitely a worth while read.
3) James Murray - James is a champion at blog writing. He consistently writes about current events in the green business community and confidently offers his opinions, even when they may not be the most popular.
4) Joel Makower - Joel is as experienced as they come with regards to sustainability. He writes and lectures on green business and is a must read if one wants to keep up to date on issues that we are so passionate about.
5) Jeff McIntire-Strasburg - Jeff is a tireless proponent of sustainability. I have the fortune of being part of some social media sites that include Jeff. He is a voracious reader of green business news and offers so many intelligent and knowledgable opinions that his sites are more than worthy of a feed subscription.
These are just 5 green business bloggers that I am happy to promote. Although all have unique styles of writing, they all have one thing in common - keeping the planet clean. Offering opinions and information about green business not only educates, but it also inspires us to reach for the top. I am proud of these bloggers and the mission that they are on. Take some time out of your day and see what they have to offer.
I am an environmentalist.
The reason for writing this article is to counter many of the unrealistic views that I have been reading concerning renewable energy. My goal is simply to offer a different perspective on a subject that we are all so passionate about. Oil is, and will continue to be, the dominant player in the energy industry, perhaps for decades. Renewable energy will one day become the main form of energy, just not in our lifetime.
The world’s dependency on oil is as strong as ever, and it will continue to be this way for decades. A bold statement? Yes. A statement that has a high degree of probability? Absolutely. Most people who consider themselves environmentalists do not realize just how significant the oil sands, located in northern Alberta, Canada, truly are. The reserve life index, a measure that tracks just how long oil will be around, has been extended - significantly. People in the business community realize this and those who specialize in natural resources know best. Don Coxe, an analyst with Bank of Montreal Capital Markets, has been trumpeting the oil sands for years, and continues to do so. He predicted the sky-rocketing price of oil sands stocks before most investors even knew what an oil sand was. He is well respected. I’ve listened to his audio broadcasts for years, and more often than not he is correct. He believes, as do I, that the oil sands story is still relatively young.
Most environmentalists don’t seem to understand that the higher the price of oil gets the more incentive oil companies have to extract it from the ground. When the price of a barrel of oil hit $60 the oil sands stocks soared, and they will continue to stay high as these companies realize profits that once seemed unimaginable. Suncor, a multi-billion dollar oil sands company, is spending hundreds of millions of dollars extracting oil from the sands. These are highly educated people who know that there will be serious demand for their resource for many, many years. They wouldn’t think about investing so heavily in oil if they didn’t believe they would profit handsomely, and long-term at that. The oil sands story is just getting underway, as sad as most of us will admit, but it is fact. The market is strong for oil, and it will remain strong for decades. The Canadian government, once a strong supporter of the Kyoto Protocol, now have loosened their position on this precedent setting agreement. Why? It would have negatively effected the oil industry. It’s as simple as that.
Even China has put its foot into the oil sands. To me, the most intriguing part of China’s investment, and their overall involvement in the oil sands, is that they see the longterm value of it, and the potential to meet the demands that 2 billion people have. The massive influx of rural Chinese into cities has created a need for energy that the world has never seen before. The time has come where the country housing the largest population on earth is demanding energy. The University of Alberta reported this past June that China National Petroleum Corp. has been granted a certificate to develop oil sands fields in Alberta. It was also reported that the company (CNPC) expected to have a daily output of 220,000 barrels per day. This is obviously a long-term investment, and can only be a bad thing for the environment on so many levels, but my point is that renewable energy is not as far along as most of us would believe.
It is sad but it is the truth, and although we do have to admit to this, we do not have to accept this. Renewable energy is the future, and it will be the only way we create energy one day, but lets see things how they presently are. Renewable energy is just starting to be developed on a large scale and it will be decades before it the only form of energy. And yes, you have to start somewhere. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t try to advance the cause, all I’m saying is that we need to be a little more realistic when it comes to our views on energy. Recently there has been quite a bit of press about how China is investing in renewable energy, and to that I give a thumbs up, but let’s not forget about the oil sands.
Laws must be enacted so that energy companies become accountable. Maybe if forced to do so Suncor will produce 20% of its energy from wind, or maybe not. My intention is not to diminish the importance of renewable energy. The earth is sick and we need to do everything we can to heal it. We must continue to advance technologically, and we have been moving forward with so many new and exciting alternative forms of energy. The world is on the right track, and we will succeed, but it may take a little longer than most people think.
I am an environmentalist.
When I often speak with people about green business they seem to forget about the different parts that make up the word. Everyone wants to talk about the bottom line, which is fine because we are talking about business here, but if we forget the reasons why we are interested in green business then we haven’t advanced at all.
Defining green business can be challenging, but according to Reference.com there are three key elements:
1. Human Rights
By being more environmentally conscious we are attracted to this wonderful thing called sustainability. And if we can actually make a living by working with the principles of human rights, renewable resources and social responsibility, we evolve as human beings. Let’s not forget why we write, read, and are interested in the subject. Let’s move forward.
In addition, I have added the following video to help summarize.
