Green Options

As my wife and I write about in ECOpreneuring, if good health is important – and it should be for everyone – then a regular exercise routine along with eating right becomes a feature in our sustainable lifestyle, whether you walk around the block, do yoga or work out three times a week at a local YMCA like we do.  Or go for a hike in the woods instead of watching more TV.

Remember the last time you had the flu or a lingering cold? Get much done? When we’re healthy, we take our good health for granted. Despite what our politicians and healthcare providers might suggest, good healthcare does not necessarily provide good health. Our lifestyle and daily habits contribute to feeling great just about every day of the year.

Some companies provide a good healthcare plan when it comes to physician access and medical coverage. But what does that matter when the stress-filled, unhealthy environment in a cubicle – with no access to the outdoors and fresh air – ends up giving us poor health? The American healthcare system is great – perhaps the best in the world – if we crashed in our car. It’s designed for treatment, not prevention. It’s a healthcare system based on the poor health of relatively well-off people who can pay (by credit or otherwise) for the services it provides.

Given all the debate on a national healthcare plan offered by the United States, below are a few promising trends many people are discovering.

The first time I slept on a memory foam mattress, I was in heaven. When it was time to buy a new bed, I was thrilled to find out about a new green company called Essentia, who makes the only natural memory foam mattresses on the market. Most memory foam mattresses are made of petroleum products, which are not only harmful to the environment, they’re unnatural and unhealthy. I want my bed to be a place of sanctuary and rest, not a chemical-laden nest of disease! Luckily, Essentia makes it possible to sleep healthy and green without sacrificing comfort or quality.

My Essentia mattress arrived in a much smaller box than I was expecting, due to their sustainable shipping efforts. The mattresses are compressed and rolled so they will take up less space on shipping trucks. But this is just the beginning of Essentia’s environmental commitment:

At Essentia, we fully understand the responsibilities of being a manufacturer in today’s society. That’s why we develop and manufacture products that produce 93% less waste during production than most mattress manufacturers. Derived from renewable resources, our 100% biodegradable memory foam are good for both the environment and consumer health.

Environmental Research reports that Cause Marketing can Make a Difference which is good news for social entrepreneurs. A recent survey conducted on consumer packaged goods found that, yes, consumers do prefer and purchase products associated with a charity or cause.

74% increase in actual purchase for a shampoo brand when associated with a cause

(47% of participants who saw the cause-related message chose the brand while only 27% of those who saw the generic corporate advertisement chose the brand)

28% increase in actual purchase for a toothpaste brand when associated with a cause

Triple bottom line entrepreneurs, of course, already know that, or at least have hoped that their efforts to give back will make a difference in sales. But, just giving back isn’t always enough.

Qualitative consumer responses showed that the issue, the nonprofit and the inherent nature of products were key factors in making cause-related purchasing decisions and helped explain why movement in (some) categories was not significant.

In other words, choose well and choose wisely, not only in the non-profit you plan to support, but in how you promote your connection and how you market your product.

Awhile back I wrote a post about The Forbes Boost Your Business contest open to all entrepreneurs and offering $100,000 in prize money and, of course, lots of publicity. Last year the winner was Recycline, Inc, a manufacturer of eco friendly toothbrushes, razors and the like.

This year I predicted, with the high level of interest in green goods, ecopreneurs again had a great opportunity to take the prize. Even so I was a bit surprised to receive this e-mail from Tony Kvale at Kvalegames.

…our eco-friendly board game company’s (has advanced) in the annual Forbes contest to help young companies.

It’s not just any number: 350.

Returning to 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide in our Earth’s atmosphere is the level that most of the world’s scientific community agrees as the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. When industrial revolution began, it was 275 parts per million. Today, we’re far above that at 385 parts per million and continuing to rise at an accelerating pace, often contributing to the extreme weather, shrinking glaciers and numerous other effects of climate change familiar to more and more of us.

View this stunning 350.org video animation on YouTube, created by the innovative Free Range Studios, designed to reach out to the world to foster the coming together of global community to address this challenge — and hold our political leaders accountable to provide the policies that encourage the changes we must all make as citizens and green business owners.

For most ecopreneurs, addressing climate change is at the core of our triple bottom line approach to operating our green business, putting into practice ways to mitigate climate change, be it in how we use or over-produce energy from renewable energy sources like the wind and sun, serve up organic or pasture-raised cuisine from a sustainable food system, focus on a more bio-regional or local economy, and cultivate relationships with their conserving customers. Many paddle a kayak with a community of like-minded ecopreneurs, rather than try staying afloat on the Titanic dependent on increasingly expensive fossil fuels while trying to dodge melting glaciers.

As going green becomes more and more popular, it seems that everyone is jumping on the bandwagon. Consumers want more sustainable options for all their needs, and companies are beginning to listen. Or are they?

Maybe I’m just a little paranoid, but I don’t tend to trust the megalithic corporations that have so much power and wealth today. So while I see many ad campaigns touting green promises and hear of many large corporations changing their ways, as much as I want to believe them, I have my doubts that many of these companies are truly committed to sustainability. The very nature of our economy leads companies to focus solely on profit and their own growth, at the expense of people and the environment.

Both for profit and non-profit businesses are led by ecopreneurs who are making the world a better place through their creative, innovative and ground-breaking enterprises. Lisa’s and my book, ECOpreneuring, features numerous “Ecopreneur Profiles” — including David Anderson, the founder and CEO of GreenOptions.com — along with many other brief summaries.

But there are millions of ecopreneurial enterprises prospering throughout the U.S. and around the world. Perhaps you’re one, too.

So, we have formed a partnership with EcoSector.com, an on-line portal serving as a unique conduit for growing the green economy, offering opportunities to share video clips, feature photographs of products or services, and display blogs.

In life, as in business, it’s important to have role models. Having people to look up to and guide you along in your career is one key to success. Admiring other businesses can help you understand the market and your competition, and can give you ideas for your own business.

Now, since I need a little motivation and inspiration while starting my green design studio, I present a smattering of my business role models in the field of green graphic and web design.