By Olga Orda •
November 11, 2008
A post by contributing writer Melissa Chungfat.
When Barack Obama delivered his speech on November 4, 2008, he mentioned the challenges of a planet in peril and the worst financial crisis in a century. In the spirit of collaboration, he called upon all Americans to “join in the work of remaking this nation.” You can now check out the Clean Tech for Obama website. Cleantech and Green Business for Obama (CT4-O) is a self organized, volunteer based constituency group supporting the Obama campaign.
By Olga Orda •
October 29, 2008
We saw Wal-Mart, a company with worldwide-wide revenues only second to Exxon-Mobile, signal last week in Beijing that it is moving away from “intermittent transactions with many suppliers toward longer-term arrangements with a smaller group of manufacturers“. Then, this week in the news, IBM starts on a roll to eliminate the ‘burden’ of paper — including paper costs, compliance risks and environmental challenges — from their customers’ supply chains with a handful of recently launched software and services.
What is going on here? Both companies are adopting tactics used by sustainability minded entrepreneurs as part of the time tested sustainability supply chain model: measure, purchase local where possible, maintain long-term relationships and integrate accountability at all ‘nodes’ of the chain.
By Olga Orda •
July 25, 2008
Shortcuts can work. Sometimes, they get the better of even the brightest business minds. And, sometimes, they bite us in the posterior as we completely miss the train.
A soundbyte is that modern age, Blackberry-fueled shortcut: a way to stand on the shoulders of giants and give the appearance that we have done our research on complex, science informed concerns like climate change when, in fact, we only Googled the issue’s peripheral details and quotes.
By Olga Orda •
July 11, 2008
Long hours, an increasingly saturated playing field: it’s not always a walk in the park for young, green entrepreneurs. But Jack Short and Daniel Lyons make it look easy.
The dynamic, 20-something Missouri businessmen run Factory Green, where they roll out sexy and carbon neutral apparel, accessories, and housewares to college students, a demographic that isn’t too hot on green poster products like low-consumption washing machines or hybrid cars.
By Olga Orda •
June 13, 2008
Kudos to my colleagues who go the extra mile to design seminars I’d wake up at the ungodly hour of 5:37 AM to sit and listen to in half-wake awe, Americano in hand.
Seminars that go by blockbuster titles - as least for green entrepreneurs - such as “How to manage carbon risk” have authentic learning value.
In our over-wired world, live events are a luxury, an hour or three to feel how much we really love context and contact, not just stoic information glaring out at us from a screen when we’re learning complex stuff - like international carbon trading markets.
More to the point, events are becoming an even more attractive “pull” medium than ever. And, the savvy, green entrepreneur should know how to harness the reputation and client lead potentials of a well-orchestrated event - an eco-friendly supplied event, that is.
By Olga Orda •
June 6, 2008
Image source: it all skyrocketed with Gutenberg’s printing press…
A Green Printer dispatch.
Ever wondered how much energy and thought it took to produce that shiny brochure your marketing staff handed to you this week? And no, it’s not just the brand and visual design genius we’re talking about.
Let’s face it: making a few pieces of paper look pretty takes up some pretty hefty resources and the paper and pulp industry is there [...]
By Olga Orda •
May 16, 2008
It was a serious two hour talk on climate change realities. And, what did we eat for lunch: steak. A large chunk of medium rare cow meat in tepid gravy. Sauce and solemn speech aside, I found the plat du jour ironic. Here we were, serious business people (some even part of the “sustainability task force”), earnest as heck about doing our part to learn about the adapt prong of the two-pronged “mitigate and adapt” prong to tackle climate change. [...]
By Olga Orda •
April 15, 2008
We’ve come this far in our exasperation with junk mail-apalooza and now people are luring us with cold, hard cash (or the beauty of planting a tree) to get us to stop receiving virgin-forest-eating junk mail.
By Olga Orda •
April 4, 2008
Wow. Try convincing the zoning regulators to give the OK for more density let alone allow beer cans, car tires and water bottles be your tools of choice to produce thermal mass and energy-independent housing.
Not a chance you could pull it off unless you’re renegade architect Michael Reynolds, Garbarge Warrior.”
By Olga Orda •
March 29, 2008
Uber heavy hitter John Macdonald, Chairman and CEO of the Vancouver-based solar energy company Day4 Energy, recipient of eight honourary degrees and former MIT professor, knows a thing or two about renewable energy.
He also readily admits, with a signature askew smile and hearty laugh, that “being an academic is possibly the worst possible preparation for the business world,” and endorses a strong marketing presence in any renewable energy start up because the engineers “can’t seem to understand why somebody wouldn’t want this marvelous invention!”
It’s 7:52pm Wednesday night at the venture capital-esque forum put on by the VEF on CEO War Stories.
By Olga Orda •
January 28, 2008
(Image source: www.treehugger.com)
Ecolabelling.org — looking behind the labels
What’s green? And who says so?
Ecolabels are everywhere from Wal-Mart’s “seafood aisle” to my local grocery store. But, at the end of day, what do these labels really mean? Who’s behind them?
And, most importantly, can I rely on them to make my certified no-rainforests-were-destroyed-in-the-making-of-this-latte latte?
Ecolabelling.org – your source on the background of over 285 ecolabels around the world – makes it easier to [...]
