A new greener economy will be shaped by both large and small businesses. Our StartUp category, usually published on Friday as part of the Startup Friday theme features new companies, small entrepreneurs, and sometimes just hair brained business ideas all of which are aimed at solving some kind of environmental of social problem – through business. Enjoy.
On Tuesday, while Israelis celebrated the release of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier held captive in Gaza for five years by Hamas, the team of TaKaDu, an Israeli start-up had another reason for celebration. That same day their company was the “Company of the Year – Europe & Israel” in the prestigious 2011 Global Cleantech [...]
Ginger is independent, funny and has a passion for animals. Growing up in a rural community near Kalamazoo, Michigan, she loved and cared for the many dogs, cats and horses that surrounded her. She also has a developmental disability that limits her ability to drive and keep a job. Ginger wanted to share her love [...]
In a time where organic clothing has expanded far beyond hippie boutiques and shoppers in Target don’t bat an eye at seeing it offered there, it is not a big leap to consider that clothing may one day actually be good for you. Two Square Meter has done just that, with a line of clothing [...]
By Victoria L. Petitjean I met Guillaume and Victor at a friends’ dinner, in Paris, a year and a half ago. The 3 of us were about to go and live in Cambodia, separately but all working on development projects. I have been following G&V’s incredible project and adventure ever since. Project Alba is the [...]
With the clearly entrenched trend of green, organic, locally sourced food making inroads even in the largest of chain stores, the impact is clear. And yet, there’s a missing piece to this: Where the food is actually made. Food processing facilities are often quite energy intensive, and for food businesses entering the market, it can [...]
In this turbulent global economy, sometimes the best path forward is looking backward – to brands that have been well loved in the past. They clearly had people’s attention at one point, and there’s potentially less legwork needed to resurrect them vs. starting from scratch, attempting to grab mind and heartshare among the harried masses. [...]
The meteoric rise of collaborative consumption start-ups, such as AirBnB, GoGrubly, Getaround, thredUp, and SnapGoods, to name a few, is arguably due to social media and the people-powered networks that support them. This marketplace is quickly evolving into a robust open-source business platform. Known as the access economy, it not only reduces society’s footprint by connecting people to shared resources, but increases society’s net worth.
This post has been entered in TckTckTck’s contest to sent a blogger to cover Rio+20. If you like what you see, give it a Facebook Like and head over to TckTckTck’s Facebook page to give it a like there as well. You heard that right. Some years back, Vestergaard Frandsen, a company operating under a Humanitarian [...]
Sustainability starts with personal health, and the love of healthy food can be learned. That is good news for a nation trending towards more diet related diseases every year. In one US study, over 30% of participants were overweight or obese by 9 months of age. How do we reverse this trend? Dr. Alan Greene, [...]
Nike is no stranger to green innovation. From creating the Nike Trash Talk, the first performance basketball shoe made from manufacturing waste to working with GreenXchange, a platform for the sharing of patents. Stimulating intellectual capital and property, to spurring innovation and sustainability, Nike seems to be experiencing many shapes and forms of green innovation. Now [...]
Look past the macroeconomic statistics and Milwaukee has become a hub of entrepreneurship. 3p profiles a few trailblazing green and local businesses.
Americans pay 3-4 times the price for healthcare that folks in other developed countries pay to receive equivalent or better care. A crop of self-managed tools for health is coming to market to fill in the gaps for Americans by providing better health tracking information, as well as a community, or a “social layer,” around [...]
In recent years, much has been made of the energy savings and emissions reduction associated with switching to CFLs. What if every moment the sun was out you could go completely without electric lighting? Daylighting is an often touted solution. In my case, having skylights in our office meant hiding from it as the sun [...]
Slavery Footprint is a website, launched last week, which calculates how much slave labor is used to produce the common products in our lives. The launch of the site, which is a creation of the California-based Fair Trade Fund and the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, coincided with the 149th [...]
One of the biggest problems with casual carpooling is that in most cases you really don’t know who you’ll be riding with. It can be a great person and the beginning of wonderful friendship (hey, that’s how Harry met Sally!), but you might also find yourself riding eight hours with some weirdo making it your [...]
Founded by Karl and Cara Rosaen, Real Time Farms (RTF) is a new crowd-sourcing online food guide that is every foodie’s dream, acting as a restaurant guide, local farm source map, and food artisan storytelling hub all wrapped up into one. As their website boasts, “As crazy as it sounds, our vision is to collectively [...]
Innovations abound throughout the environmental movement, from highly engineered water-and waste management methodologies, to intelligent design and streamlined manufacturing techniques. In attempting to comply with regulatory or stakeholder requirements, companies have explored a variety of clean, green technologies. But sometimes, businesses can make a huge impact with even simple, low-tech ideas that fill a vital niche.
For all the talk of emerging renewable energy technology, there has thus far been precious little movement in most of the world in terms of people getting their power directly from renewable energy sources. Options like PGE’s Green Source, and Bullfrog Power are good, but they are both indirect routes to greater renewable energy inclusion. Energy [...]
With the burgeoning demand for fresh, local produce and small food producers facing the common challenge of access to marketplaces, the new FreshList app is a welcome tool for both customer and vendor. The app uses the Twilio API (application programming interface) for text messaging which permits people to purchase and sell produce in real [...]
In western Wales, a small town charmingly called Cardigan with a population of 4000 once churned out 35,000 pairs of jeans every week for 30 years. Before the days of outsourcing, the last existing denim factory in Britain crafted the world’s finest dungarees. With the closure of the last denim factory in Britain, these craftsmen [...]
Doing the right thing is hard. From sticking to a daily exercise routine to starting a company, we can all use a pat on the back to fuel our good intentions. One of the start-up companies at SOCAP 2011 is empowering people to make daily positive actions large and small. In this interview, Veer Gidwaney, [...]
As generous as human beings are, an investment instrument will almost certainly bring more dollars than philanthropy. Can we direct this flow of capital for good? This year’s marquee sponsor for SOCAP is turning philanthropy on its head by providing impact investment options to the everyday investor. Instead of giving, users of Mircoplace can invest, [...]
Think of how much energy it takes to stop a moving subway train as it screeches into each and every station along its route. Right now, that energy is mostly dissipated as heat and noise. Imagine being able to capture some of that energy so that it can be used again. That’s exactly what that [...]
Landfill mining is a rapidly growing area of waste management that is proving to be extremely profitable. About 50 miles east of Brussels, at Houthalen-Helchteren lies the Remo Milieubeheer landfill which dates back to the 1960s. It consists of industrial waste, household garbage and other things that landfills normally have – basically 16.5 million tons [...]
It could be argued that Hawai’i’s three main sustainability challenges are energy (90% diesel-powered), food (90% imported, mostly processed), and waste (limited landfill space). The Ulupono Initiative is a social investment organization, focused exclusively on addressing these three main challenges in Hawaii. Impact investing, as this phenomenon is called, is another option for funding green [...]
An upcoming business plan competition hosted by The William James Foundation provides mission-driven entrepreneurs an opportunity to compete for investment dollars, as well as many other prizes. Exclusively for mission-driven entrepreneurs, the competition’s volunteer judges (including yours truly!) provide feedback on entrants’ business plans. The William James Foundation’s Sustainable Business Plan Competition offers a total [...]
I love reading about little innovations that make life easier for so many people with eco-friendly solutions. In the realm of water conservation, every drop is precious and rain water is one of the purest forms of water before it reaches the ground. It has long been used for non-potable uses and rain water harvesting [...]
You don’t often think of airports and honeybees together in the same context. And you never think of airports, honeybees and ex-convicts together, but that is exactly what Sweet Beginnings is doing. Sweet Beginnings LLC makes raw honey and honey infused personal care products. They have an all natural urban apiary in the North Lawndale [...]
Mobile is unlocking possibilities for local lifestyles that could very well redefine consumption as we know it. Location based micro-economies are emerging with increasing levels of sophistication – micro-economies operated by you and I. Now, anyone with a smartphone and something to offer can be a friendly neighbourhood retailer. Every day, mobile startups are creatively making this easier and more enjoyable in the name of collaborative consumption, the groundswell movement within which true sustainability may finally be achieved.
Local food is not just a growing trend but also a fertile ground for innovation. Last June I wrote here about BrightFarms’ innovative model of supermarket rooftop farms. Another example is Atlanta-based PodPonics that is also presenting a unique approach to growing local food, combining computer-controlled environmental systems with recycled containers. PodPonics believes its approach [...]
Best Practices in Corporate Volunteering
Communicating Corporate Responsibility with AHA
The Future of Fair Trade with Fair Trade USA
Bard College MBA in Sustainability
Sustainability Ratings and Key CSR Topics
How to Invest for Income and Impact
Energy Options: Pros and Cons from Solar to Nuclear
[coming soon] The Green Beer Series 2012
San Diego: June 4-7
Sustainable Brands 2012: Join us as the Sustainability, Brand Strategy and Innovation Communities convene to shape the future. Discover and participate in the sustainable brand revolution by collaborating to shift consumer demand, drive heretical innovation, and evolve the business case. 20% Reader discount with code "nwtripsb12".
Webinar: June 5
Running an Effective Corporate Volunteer Program with AngelPoints: Key clients discuss how they put the AngelPoints Volunteering solution to work for them. Attend this webinar to learn best practices, tips & tricks - and how to get an effective volunteer program off the ground at your organization.
Seattle: June 11-12GRI Certified Training: Demand for sustainability experts is growing rapidly as companies look for proven professionals. For companies, GRI trained employees mean faster implementations and better use of the GRI Sustainability Reporting Framework. Join our partner ISOS group for this two day session. Early bird discounts apply!
Portland & Seattle: June 13 & 14
Sustainable Industries Economic Forum:
NYC: June 27-28Responsible Business Summit USA: Discover how to fully embed and integrate CSR in your organization. Learn how to collaborate with key stakeholders and establish competitive edge using proven CSR strategies. Hear best practices from GAP Inc, Timberland, Lockheed Martin, Life Technologies, Campbell Soup and many more.
Minneapolis: July 19-20GRI Certified Training: Demand for sustainability experts is growing rapidly as companies look for proven professionals. For companies, GRI trained employees mean faster implementations and better use of the GRI Sustainability Reporting Framework. Join our partner ISOS group for this two day session. Early bird discounts apply!
Boston: Sep 13-14GRI Certified Training: Demand for sustainability experts is growing rapidly as companies look for proven professionals. For companies, GRI trained employees mean faster implementations and better use of the GRI Sustainability Reporting Framework. Join our partner ISOS group for this two day session. Early bird discounts apply!
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