Green Options

Last week Bill Gates entered the digital publishing world by establishing the Gates Notes - an online evolution of his now annual January letter sharing his thoughts and learnings on the progress of the issues central to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

This Wednesday, Pepsi launches one of the biggest corporate social responsibility efforts that we’ve seen since the launch of (RED) in 2006 with the Pepsi Refresh Project.

The founders from three bay area start-ups gathered in HUB’s first bay area home in front of a sold-out crowd to talk about their origins, give the audience - and each other - advice and insights on the “secret sauce” for creating impact.

Yesterday the White House announced President Obama’s 2010 request to Congress for $50 million to set up a Social Innovation Fund with the goal of identifying the most promising results-oriented non-profit programs in order to expand their reach throughout the country.

Students of the KaosPilots International Education in Aarhus, Denmark spent this past spring living and working in Shanghai, China. OurTheir mission: explore the term “Social Innovation”.

The result of their research, study and exploration is a book: A Travel Guide to Social Innovation. It will be for sale as of Sept. 12, 2008, but they offer a PDF version via their Web site: http://socialinnovation.biz/.

via Ode Magazine

In an entrepreneur’s world, staying current means staying ahead of the competition. Yet with all of the urgent tasks piling up on your to-do list, keeping tabs on the latest industry news and views can easily fall by the wayside. Don’t lose that competitive edge — listen to it.

My personal introduction to the growing menu of green business podcasts came while searching for strategies to make my commute time and gym visits more productive. Ranging from four minutes to forty-five minutes in length, these concise audio feeds speak directly to ecopreneurs through a mix of interviews, international news, trend analysis and expert commentary on the emerging green economy.

I’ve pre-screened the front runners and highly recommend these five favorites:

• The Global X Series on SocialEdge
• Ethical Corporation
• GreenBiz Radio
• Social Innovation Conversations at Stanford University’s Center for Social Innovation
• IdeaCast from the Harvard Business Review

(descriptions after the jump)