Green Business Trends

June 24, 2009

Green Jobs on the Rise

The Midwest states are seeing a boom in renewable energy investment, as green energy companies pick up laid-off auto workers and demonstrate the potential for job creation in the green sector.

This is a good news/bad news story—unemployment claims have declined for the first time since January, but the new green manufacturing jobs are spreading a trend of dramatically lowered starting wages compared to what workers in traditional manufacturing have received.

Read about the renewable energy boom »
Read about wages for green jobs »

Climate Change Proposal Wins Corporate Board Majority

Idaho Power Shareholders delivered a record-breaking 52% vote in favor of a resolution calling on their company to establish greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals and to report on its plans to meet them. The vote is 25% higher than the highest vote on any US climate change resolution thus far.

Lauren McLean, Portfolio Manager at Trillium Asset Management, one of the groups that filed the resolution, commented, “This historic vote sends a loud and clear message that investors, in light of impending climate regulation, are no longer asking how much it'll cost to reduce carbon, but instead how much money their companies can make doing it.”

Booming Trend in Greening Business Meetings

While for-profit and not-for-profit companies are cutting back to weather the current economic tide, green meetings are on the rise. According to a survey by the Association Management Companies Institute, four out of five meetings held in 2008 were greener than in 2007, with one-third willing to increase expenses to go greener.

The Green Meeting Industry Council defines a green meeting as one that incorporates environmental considerations to minimize the negative impact on the environment, above and beyond the “reduce, reuse, recycle” baseline. Green meeting innovations include going paperless and relying on electronic communication, ditching Styrofoam for silverware, and serving fresh, local food.

To learn more about how we green the Green Festivals, check out the “Greening” video at www.greenfestivals.org/tv.

Learn more about green meetings »

New Collaboration Tool from Google

This fall, Google will launch their latest innovation Google Wave, an open-source conversation and collaboration tool. This is a powerful new tool for changing how businesses create and communicate. Google Wave delivers transformations for email and net publishing, and stand-out features include real-time collaboration and editing, translation, and media sharing. The unique “playback” feature allows anyone entering into an ongoing collaboration to watch its entire development.

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Consumers Solid on Climate Change— Shaky on Personal Actions

A survey from EcoAlign, a strategic marketing agency focused on energy and the environment, shows further evidence of a “green gap” between high levels of American consumer concern over climate change and conflicted feelings about their personal responsibility to “do something.”

The evidence shows that if doing something means reaching deeper into their wallets, they are less likely to do it. The survey breaks down results across multiple demographics, and offers direction for future green marketing efforts to change consumer perceptions and behavior.

Read the report »

Cornucopia Institute Evaluates Soy Products Branded as Natural

A recent study found that much of the soy protein used in natural food products contains residues of hexane, a neurotoxic substance produced as a byproduct of gasoline refining. This study by the Cornucopia Institute tested soy in FDA- and USDA-approved laboratories. The Institute also released an Organic Soy Scorecard, which evaluates a range of companies that use soy.

Read the report »
View the scorecard »

U.N. Calls for Global Ban on Plastic Bags

Achim Steiner, of the U.N. Environment Program, called for a definitive end to the era of the single-use plastic bag. Steiner stated that “single use plastic bags which choke marine life, should be banned or phased out rapidly everywhere. There is simply zero justification for manufacturing them anymore, anywhere.” While recycling is on the rise, most of the estimated 90 billion bags used annually in the U.S. go straight to landfills.

Green America Joins Campaign on Health Risks of BPA

Green America has signed on to a letter to the FDA regarding BPA (bisphenol A) usage in food containers. This letter to the new FDA Commissioner, Margaret Hamburg, supports the agency’s decision to reconsider its assessment of BPA and urges the FDA to reference independent, unbiased science in the new assessment. The FDA has been criticized by many, including its own scientific advisory board, for relying heavily on industry-funded studies and ignoring relevant evidence in its previous assessment that BPA is “safe.”