Greening Business

Posted by A. Caleb Hartley

As a “greentrepreneur,” I always keep an eye out for good information and community regarding the environment and ways to reduce my impact (and to encourage others to reduce THEIR impact).

In that vein, I recently found the Startup Nation forums, and within, a discussion of “green” business.  Here is my first post on the forum:

I am a non-apologetic environmentalist, aviation/transportation professional, and entrepreneur.

And yes, I think all of those things are reconcilable. I think that they HAVE to be, or we - the human race - are doomed.

The answer lies not in changing people’s lifestyles (not gonna happen unless forced), but in changing the products and services USED to MEET people’s lifestyle expectations.

Look at compact flourescent lightbulbs, for example. I’ve heard that if each household in the US changed just ONE incandescent bulb to compact flourescent, the US would save enought energy to power all the homes in Delaware and Rhode Island combined. And because of that, they save money that can be spent on something else to increase your standard of living.

That’s just ONE benefit example. You want more? Think about how much cheaper health care might be if we didn’t have so many people in the emergency room for health problems that we would see less of if the world used fewer toxic products in manufacturing, cleaning, etc.

Green can only be good!

Namaste,
Andrew Hartley

Check out the Startup Nation “green business” forum by clicking here!