Green Options » economic downturn

Mean Joe Green #54: Prince Charles Says Climate Change Worse Than Financial Crisis

Joe Mohr — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:13:57 +0000

Read his comments here.

Will Green Stay Hot As (Economic) Weather Gets Cold?

Scott Cooney — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 11:16:59 +0000

Green Crystal Ball It’s safe to say most people would be hard pressed to remember such a grim economic time as we’re experiencing. Businesses of all kinds are suffering, and many businesses are cutting back spending on sustainability efforts.

So, the question of the day is, what does the green tinted crystal ball say? The answer is, of course, it depends.

Some businesses will continue to thrive. Consumer confidence has plummeted, and even those that don’t need to cut back are reigning in spending on discretionary items.

As with anything, there are two sides of that coin. For consignment stores, it’s a bonanza, as consumers look at second-hand goods as a way to continue to fulfill their needs while cutting spending substantially. Those ecopreneurs who decided they wanted to make money by recycling used clothing, sporting goods, printer cartridges, or any number of other goods, the weather is warm and sunny, and the gods of industry are smiling upon them.

There is also tremendous opportunity created by economic downturns. There are a variety of reasons for this:

1.A tremendous labor pool supply. With unemployment reaching towards 9%, there are a great deal of educated, talented, and sometimes desperate workers out there looking for work, with a growing number of them looking for work that has a greater purpose.
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Microenterprise Leaders Working to Help Small Businesses Affected by US Financial Crisis

Reenita Malhotra — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 08:20:41 +0000

As credit tightens up and business conditions worsen in what has now been officially declared as a recession, small businesses that rely on funding are the first to suffer.

Responding to the sharp economic downturn facing the nation, a group of seven leading nonprofits that offer lending and support services to small businesses are taking swift actions to help entrepreneurs challenged by higher costs, declining sales, and tightening credit.

Leaders of the seven organizations came together last month in Albuquerque, NM, to share their approaches, including: customizing their counseling and coaching services to help businesses adapt to the economic downturn, implementing new technology and reconfiguring staff to increase loan production, and developing new loan products and financial counseling services for credit-challenged customers.

Economic Slump Spawns Rise in Animal Poaching

Aurelia d'Andrea — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 01:20:12 +0000

If you’re one of the millions of California voters who helped pass Proposition 2 on November 4, chances are pretty good that your Thanksgiving meal will include some sort of free-range, hormone-free dead bird—or, if you fall into the veg camp, maybe a more benign Tofurky or Field Roast. But for illegal poachers like Peter Ciraula of Gilroy, California, odds are good that the celebratory meal will include breast of snow goose, leg of endangered sandhill crane, or perhaps a pot-pie of protected swan.

“[Ciraula] said he was going to eat some of them,” said Department of Fish and Game warden Patrick Foy, ”But when we asked him why he had so many, he never really never offered up a very valid explanation.”

Experts Warn Against Stuffing Your Stockings With Lead

Amanda Peterka — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 03:57:35 +0000

Instead of getting coal in their stockings, this year’s naughty (and even nice!) children may get lead. At least, that’s what may happen as parents look for cheaper toys this holiday season because of the nation’s economic woes.

Reports the Chicago Sun Times, the economic downturn can cause parents to turn to secondhand toys and discount Web sites to fill that space under the Christmas tree. And experts on Wednesday warned that those toys could be ones that got into the country before inspectors started seizing tainted toys in 2005.