Dear parent, from time to time we will request your daughter to bring in a toilet roll to her class teacher. These rolls will be specifically for your daughter’s class and will be dispensed by the class teacher. We would also request that your daughter has tissues in her sack at all times.

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Sustainability is a complex topic - and means that the business protects not only its future through ALL activities associated with its operations, but the future of the planet and future generations. 

Not too long ago, most Western businesses saw a large conflict between sustaining profitability, people, and the planet’s natural resources.  Decisions were made on a quarter-by-quarter basis, as the stockholders had to see immediate profit - this often meant sacrificing the future in order to make the financial statements look good.  As the green movement is still young, most businesses haven’t yet moved to sustainability just yet - but this perception of conflict is beginning to change.  

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GOP Senator from Wyoming, John Barrasso, has said that the United States must tap all oil and coal resources available domestically for energy production as relying on renewable sources will not fulfill the energy needs of the country.

Noting that there are vast untapped reserves of oil in coastal areas as well as the Outer Continental Shelf, the Senator said that if the goal of energy independence is to be achieved these resources along with clean coal technology and nuclear power must be used. While pointing to domestic oil fields he said there was enough oil to quench the demand.

“There’s enough oil shale in the Rocky Mountain West alone to power America for the next hundred years. As a nation, we need to be more energy independent. It is a matter of energy security, as well as national security.”

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The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act (formally the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act) authorizes a dramatic funding increase for AmeriCorps and other volunteer programs, and the creation of new programs for seniors and veterans. It establishes a goal of expanding from 75,000 government-supported volunteers to 250,000, and would increase education funding and establish a summer volunteer program for students, paying $500 (which would be applied to college costs) to high-school and middle-school student who participate.

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Are efforts to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide actually working, or is there something else going on here? The answer, according to an economist at Harvard, is the latter: The recession will cause a drop in carbon emissions simply because there won’t be as many industries, homes and vehicles spewing the greenhouse gas into the air.

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For many families facing tough economic times during this recession, both parents need to work to provide enough income to survive. What does this do for homeschooling?

Apparently, nothing. Parents who homeschool are choosing night jobs over giving up homeschool. Homeschool mom Judy Aron of West Hartford, Connecticut explains:

Homeschoolers are pretty self-reliant. They’d rather cut back on other things…. They very vehemently don’t want to see themselves as victims.

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Given that overall US consumer spending in the fourth quarter of 2008 fell by its largest margin in almost 30 years, one has to wonder how the market for ‘green products’ will be impacted by this recession. Leading up to the economic downturn the momentum of the green economy was chugging along splendidly. The consumer demand for environmentally-friendly products was at an all-time high, even if the products were priced at a premium over standard options.

A recent survey by the consumer research firm Mintel explored the green buying preferences of Americans during this recession. The results should serve as a wake-up call to producers and retailers of green products.

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While President Obama makes strides towards dealing with the issue of climate change, many prefer that he focus on fixing the recession first. Republicans like Rush Limbaugh have been quite vocal about it but other political figures like Tony Blair say that climate change must not fall victim to the recession.

Can President Obama realistically fix both the recession and climate change?

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]]> http://inspiredeconomist.com/2009/03/03/the-economy-versus-climate-change/feed/ http://redgreenandblue.org/2009/03/01/india-west-should-not-use-recession-as-an-excuse-to-stop-investments-in-renewable-energy/ http://redgreenandblue.org/2009/03/01/india-west-should-not-use-recession-as-an-excuse-to-stop-investments-in-renewable-energy/#comments Sun, 01 Mar 2009 10:27:07 +0000 Mridul Chadha http://redgreenandblue.org/2009/03/01/india-west-should-not-use-recession-as-an-excuse-to-stop-investments-in-renewable-energy/

India’s special envoy on Climate Change has demanded that developed nations invest more in renewable energy projects and do more to reduce their carbon emissions.

The Indian government wants the developed nations to ‘re-double’ their efforts on funding clean energy projects and not let the current economic crisis be a roadblock in those efforts. The envoy also reiterated that his government was not yet in a position to pledge to any mandatory emission reduction goals. He reminded the developed nation of the ‘historical responsibility’ to bring down their carbon emission levels.

Continuing with his hawkish tone, the envoy added that the developed countries should carry on with their effort to reduce carbon emissions but should not expect the same from developing countries. He said that any efforts to pressurize developing countries to sign up for mandatory emission cuts under the next climate treaty could jeopardize any international treaty. 

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]]> http://redgreenandblue.org/2009/03/01/india-west-should-not-use-recession-as-an-excuse-to-stop-investments-in-renewable-energy/feed/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/02/27/going-for-the-big-fish-is-now-the-time/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/02/27/going-for-the-big-fish-is-now-the-time/#comments Fri, 27 Feb 2009 18:09:17 +0000 Scott Cooney http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/02/27/going-for-the-big-fish-is-now-the-time/ A recession such as we’re in can be a rough road for entrepreneurs.  Conventional logic says to batten down the hatches and prepare for a long, cold winter.  Conventional logic, however, is for conventional thinkers.  You’re an eco-entrepreneur.  So ride the horse that got you here and think outside the box. 

In your pool of customers, there are big fish and little fish.  Enough little fish will keep you fed, clothed, and support your family.  Being a small business, you’ve always catered to the little fish, and figured one day, maybe, you’d land a big fish.  Whether it’s a large account, or just premium customers of the LOHAS demographic

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Private-label packaged goods could surge as much as six times the roughly one-point market-share gain already seen since the recession began in December 2007, Jack Neff reports, bolstered by a slowdown in consumer spending that could last from four to 10 years.

This sounds scary, if you’ve been building your brand based on a green selling proposition. Then you come across something like piece, this from Ad Age, Private Label Winning the Battle of the Brands, and you wonder how you will survive.

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Low domestic consumption coupled with an unprecedented slump in exports (such as cars and electronics) has shrunk Japan’s economy by 3.3 percent, its worst result since the first oil crisis in 1974. Japan’s finance minister, Shoichi Nakagawa, who should be facing the music has resigned, denying allegations that he was drunk at a G7 news conference. Apparently he took too much cough medicine instead! (Reuters)

This coincides with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s trip to Japan where she praised the U.S.-Japan alliance stating that the United States and Asia needed to work together on the global financial crisis and climate change. Noble words from the Secretary of State but one can only wonder whether the concern is actually about addressing the economics and environment situation or whether in fact the U.S. desperately needs to reinforce ties with Japan given their increasing concern over Pyongyang’s nuclear program.

Your thoughts?

Image credit: Latest Business Updates

“Connecting with nature calms and soothes both children and adults, and it is something that both children and adults can do for a wealth of benefits, for free”, says REAL School Gardens.

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For the second time in four years, KB Toys filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed doors for good after the winter holidays.  NorthJersey.com describes the company’s financial downfall:

KB blamed the difficult economy for the filing, but toy industry experts said wrong decisions by the retailer hastened its demise. It had shifted its focus to mall-based stores, saddling itself with high rents just as shopping-center traffic was dropping; it stopped selling video-game consoles; and it moved its merchandise mix away from hot toys and toward closeouts.

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I’m an avid gardener.  I live in San Francisco, and have a garden full of winter crops:  lettuce, kale, kumquat, lemons, spinach, rosemary, mint, and a variety of other herbs that are in full force right now.  I recently added a plum tree, an almond tree, and an apple tree, all ultra-dwarves to accomodate my limited San Francisco-style backyard, and was telling a friend how much fun I was having.  He said, and I quote, “Sheesh.  Are you hunkering down for the Great Depression, or what?”

It was a brilliant comment, and made me think about what businesses could be doing during this downturn that would ‘bear fruit’, if you don’t mind the pun, later down the road.  For a green business during this time of economic hardship, there are a lot of opportunities to reach out to a disgruntled workforce, a slowing customer base, and other local businesses in the area to plant some seeds. 

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The administration is increasingly thought of as favouring large payments to the very bankers who got us into this mess, while being prepared to allow ordinary workers’ jobs to go en masse. Very likely the Left strongholds in the South will link up with disaffected urban youth across the country and particularly in Paris: a powerful combination. The people protesting this week have not been particularly encouraged by the opposition Socialist party, either, which they see as little different to Sarkozy’s centre-right administration, much as those on the traditional Left regard “New Labour” in Britain. Street protests have brought French governments down in the past: they will doubtless do so again.

That feeling – that bankers get enormous bailouts while ordinary people go to the wall – is not solely a working class concern. Jim Rogers (a former confederate of George Soros, one of the few people who in my view really knows what is going on) recently opined that it was wrong for the British government to be bailing out the banks and that instead they should be allowed to go bust. Only by doing so, he suggested, would the country be able to start with a clean slate; the present course, on the other hand, would lead to debts that could take a generation or more to pay off.

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The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is calling for a complete economic boycott of Icelandic products after the country’s announcement extending their illegal commercial whaling campaign into the next five years.

Last year, Iceland killed nine endangered Fin whales. A few months back they began exporting the meat from the endangered whales to Japan, which is a clear violation of international law. This year, they want to kill 150.

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With eyes on the Copenhagen talks for discussion on the next climate policy, the European Union plans to propose a tax on the carbon emissions of the developed nations, a move which could generate more than $200 billion by 2020. These funds will be used in helping developing and poor nations move from fossils fuels based energy systems to those based on renewable sources.

The European Union proposes that carbon offsetting through the trade of carbon credits under the Clean Development Mechanism be phased out and replaced by a scheme under which the developed nations would commit to cut their carbon emissions but would also pay taxes for extra emissions. The proposal also calls for a similar scheme for the ‘advanced developing nations’ like India and China but fails to clarify its nature.

Carbon offsetting cannot be pursued as a long term solution to mitigate the global carbon emissions and thus the Clean Development Mechanism should be seen only as a transformational step and not the solution to the problem. Replacing carbon offsetting with binding emission reductions seems to be the obvious next step but one has to ask if the world can afford a climate tax at this time of economic meltdown.

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