By MC Milker •
May 3, 2008
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It seems like your local grocer has reason to go green. Not only are we living in an era where words like “global warming” and “climate change’ have entered the common lexicon, we have, it seems reached the tipping point where green living is driving consumer purchase.
A walk down the aisles of Kroger or Safeway or any chain grocery store confirms this as natural and organic section signs pop up in spots previously reserved for salty snack foods and frozen sugar laden sweets. Packaging is shrinking. Light bulbs are energy saving. And the words “eco” and “green” leap out at consumers at every turn.
Obviously the retail grocery industry has gotten the message. An article in Progressive Grocer gives some insight into what’s next on the agenda.
By MC Milker •
April 16, 2008
A recent article in Business Green discusses several ways of classifying the green consumer and the issues related to reaching them. Though demographics, the tried and true way of sorting out consumers into groups by income, age, education, etc. works well in some categories, it’s not as helpful in segmenting green consumers.
Enter Psychographics, often used by niche marketers, it can be an effective tool for eco entrepreneurs.
- Demographics looks at characteristics of people that include age, income, education, occupation, household size, home ownership and home value, among other factors.
- Psychographics delves deeper into people’s lifestyles and behaviors, including their interests and values.
While segments of green consumers vary according to the source you use (check out this hilarious post that outlines some of them) I’ll use the Natural Marketing Institute’s labels for LOHAS ( lifestyles of health and sustainability) consumers.
- LOHAS — very progressive on environment and society, looking for ways to do more; not too concerned about price (16%).
- Naturalites — primarily concerned about personal health and wellness, and use many natural products; would like to do more to protect the environment (25%).
- Conventionals — practical, like to see the results of what they do; interested in green products that make sense (e.g., save money) in the long run (23%).
- Drifters — not too concerned about environment, figuring we’ve got time to fix environmental problems; don’t necessarily buy a lot of green products, though may like to “be seen” in Whole Foods to enhance their image (23%).
- Unconcerned — have other priorities, not really sure what green products are available, and probably wouldn’t be interested anyway; they buy products strictly on price, value, quality, and convenience (23%).
By MC Milker •
April 5, 2008
By Lisa Kivirist •
February 21, 2008
A Tufts senior e-mailed me the other day, attaching her resume and asking for career advice. While that play of events seems typical, her ambitions probably didn’t fit the cookie-cutter mold of most of her class peers. She wanted to run her own eco-retreat center one day, felt passion for the green movement and embraced her ecopreneurial passions.
In short, she blew away the goals and mindset I had back in my twenty-something days, when the only “green” in my world came out of an ATM machine. And frankly, as I’ve been off the mainstream career path for nearly two decades now, I don’t typically have seniors knocking on my e-mail door for advice. So I felt compelled to launch a dash of the unconventional her way — a dose of out-of-the-box career advice for someone heading down ecopreneurial career paths at a young age. Here’s what I sent to her:
By John Ivanko •
February 15, 2008
All businesses have “variable expenses” related to energy, right?
Not always. There’s nothing in the IRS tax code preventing businesses from investing in renewable energy systems (and energy conservation/efficiency) that allow these businesses to operate more efficiently, sustainably, and green. In fact, often there are tax credits and other incentives to encourage these kinds of investments. Some businesses, like ours, generate a surplus of energy, essentially wiping out energy costs not to mention cutting carbon emissions (more on this another day). Taking such an approach to business, boosts our bottom line profitability.
Around the Summer Solstice every year (this June 20 - 22 in 2008), the Midwest Renewable Energy Association, or MREA, hosts the world’s largest and longest-running “Renewable Energy and Sustainable Living Fair” in Custer, Wisconsin, a fifteen minute drive from Stevens Point in the central part of the state. It’s one of the places where we learned the basics to transform our business, Inn Serendipity, into an independent power producer by harvesting the wind and solar energy with a 10 kW Bergey wind turbine and .7 kW photovoltaic system, respectively.
By Leah Edwards •
February 8, 2008
Revolution Foods is a fascinating start up — a for-profit company focused on a public health issue (obesity), in a highly regulated “industry” (meals served in schools), with venture capital funding. When I heard that co-founder and CEO Kristin Groos Richmond was going to speak about the founding of her green company, I had to go hear how she got the idea, how she got Whole Foods to become a partner before Revolution Foods was even off the ground, and how she obtained venture funding.
At an event co-sponsored by the UC Davis Center for Entrepreneurship and the Davis Net Impact chapter, on January 24, 2008, Groos Richmond advised attendees to do a pilot project when starting a company. Although she acknowledged the importance of the startup business fundamentals (identifying a market need and researching what the market really wants) before starting, her advice was to get started with a pilot project as soon as possible.
By Leah Edwards •
February 4, 2008
As Joshua S. Hill wrote in our sisterblog Planetsave.com, on January 31, 2008, over 1500 universities and other organizations across the country participated in an all day teach-in about global warming solutions. Under the title “Focus the Nation”, each participating organization held a wide variety of trade-show-like fairs, panel discussions, public debates, presentation of research, and tours of buildings either built with sustainable materials or gardens planted with drought resistant plans, and much more.
I attended a pane
l at UC Davis’s “Focus the Nation” program called, “Innovation: Commercializing Science In Energy & Efficiency’. UC Davis has strong programs in many science disciplines, and there is a desire among university players and local politicians to have Davis, California (and some of the greater Sacramento area) be known as a cleantech center. I was interested to hear about what is actually being done to support green entrepreneurs.
By Paul Smith •
December 20, 2007
What do you do when you’re a cookie fan, one of a specific breed that likes crispy cookies, and you’d like them to be organic, and just can’t seem to find what you’re looking for? Start your own company of course. It helps if you’re named Crummy, and you have two brothers, ideal for creating a “Pep Boys” like logo for said cookies.
I recently had a chance to speak with Jason Wachob, the CEO of Crummy Brothers cookies, on what makes them unique, what his experience has been, being in a greener realm then in his past endeavors, what he’s learned so far, and what’s up with the individually plastic wrapped cookies?
The eminently friendly Wachob was glad to lay it out for me. He chuckled and said he might discourage people from getting into the packaged foods business, but then had many redeeming experiences to share that tipped the scales towards encouraging other ecopreneurs out there to make a go of it.
