Green Options

There are always sooooooo many events going on during the week of Earth Day, which is technically on Wednesday, Aprill 22nd, it’s hard to know which to choose. But at least there’s a searchable database that contains what appears to be a complete listing – there are 49 events within 25 miles of my 90401 zip code.

A few look particularly interesting, like the Soyjoy-sponsored Battle of the Chefs: Eco-cuisine. Each chef is charged with creating three different soy-based dishes on site, with the winner scooping up a $15,000 prize package (wanna bet there’s a lot of soy products in it?) There’s even a celebrity judge (Julianna Moore) – it is LA after all – to taste the well-known chefs’ concoctions. The best news is that you can to, if you go to the event on the 22nd.

For parents committed to green living and environmental concsiousness, the greatest gift we can bestow upon our children — and to the world in which we live — is the spirit, passion and commitment to keeping our planet flourishing. 

We all want to ensure that our children are safe, happy and protected, and what better way to do that than by helping them preserve the earth, freeing the air from harmful contaminents and pollution, decreasing our dependence on — and wastefulness of – fuel and finding eco-friendly alternative energy sources.

Between in-home teaching and associations and resources committed to educating children about environmental protection and conservation, it’s easy get your kids out of diapers and off the grid!

“Go Green.”   It may have started out as a catchy slogan, but people everywhere are realizing it’s not just a nice idea, or even an option.  It’s necessary to preserve our way of life.  Businesses are not only heeding this message and providing ground-breaking support, they’re keying into the profitability factor as well.  Helping the environment, simply put, can have an immediate ROI.

“Consumers are thinking about it, and therefore retailers think they need to think about it as well,” said Mary Brett Whitfield, senior vice president at consultant TNS Retail Forward.

“Retailers have woken up to the idea that not only is this going to be good from a public-relations perspective but also from a profitability perspective“.

Public awareness of global warming is at an all time high.  People are looking for ways to make the world a better place.  In fact, “83% of Americans would choose products and services with environmental benefits over similar non-environmental alternatives.”

Businesses are noticing this trend, and stepping in to provide their customers with the resources and the opportunity.  As The Wall Street Journal’s Livemint.com notes,

“ …for the corporate world, “green” can be a mantra with a dual advantage: it’s the right thing to adopt, not just as an environmentally responsible entity, but also — more important — as a profitable proposition”.

I’m Krates Ng, cofounder of mokugift. I’m delighted to become an occasional contributor here on Ecopreneurist.

I have always considered myself environmental. I care. I drive a hybrid car. I recycle religiously. I minimize the use of electricity, paper and water. I even cut down the amount of meat I eat (started with no meat 2 nights a week) with the intent to reduce the amount of live stock it takes to support our lives.

However, I hadn’t thought about pairing business with the environmental initiatives until we started mokugift the end of 2007. In this post, I’ll write about how we transformed from entrepreneur to a ecopreneur.