It S Easy Being Green How Conscious Consumers And Ecopreneurs Can Save The World

Immerse yourself in a world where health-conscious and sustainable decisions are simple, and creative business leaders pave the way. You may think that this book is full of facts you really don't want to know. That may be your first reaction when you read about a product or a lifestyle choice that you believed was healthy and sustainable and then find out otherwise. It's Not Easy Being Green shows you that living sustainably and healthfully isn't as complicated as you may think. You'll discover the importance of educating yourself and making changes in your life to protect your health and the health of your family and the planet. Along with extensive advice, this book features exclusive and inspiring interviews with revolutionary ecopreneurs who break the mold and pursue health and sustainability over profits. And profits don't suffer, due to the growing number of consumers waking up and changing their lifestyle choices.After reading this book, you'll be well on your way to shopping, feeling, and thinking better. Soon you'll be glad you know facts you thought you didn't want to know, and as an ecopreneur in this book says, "When you know, you can't unknow."

As more and more of us become aware of climate change we are beginning to look for lifestyle changes that will provide us with a more eco-friendly existence. It's Easy Being Green is a little book for the growing number of what have been dubbed eco-worriers, not eco-warriors - concerned but not-yet committed people who want to reduce their environmental impact but aren't quite sure where to start. The book highlights simple changes that can be easily incorporated into everyday life to reduce the use of energy, chemicals and water, and the waste and pollution that is created. It shows how being green is not only better for the planet, but can also save money and make us happier and healthier.

Provides a comprehensive guide to adopting greener buying habits and identifying earth-friendly products, shopping for green products online, participating in online activism, and learning tips for cultivating a sustainable environment, such as collecting rainwater from your roof to use in the garden, submerging a plastic bottle in your toilet tank to save one quart of water per flush, and more. Original.

Build a Better Business And a Better World Green entrepreneur and scientist Dr. Glenn Croston outlines green business essentials and helps you uncover eco-friendly opportunities, build a sustainable business plan, and gain the competitive advantage in today's environmentally mindful market. “The world is finally waking up to the importance of green...including entrepreneurs! They understand and appreciate the importance of going green, but few have the practical roadmap to make it happen. Croston gives entrepreneurs and small businesses an incredible blueprint on how to join the green revolution, be successful, profitable, and make a difference!” - Jim Horan, author, consultant, and speaker, president of The One Page Business Plan Company “Glenn Croston's Starting Green is the indispensable guide for the entrepreneur of the 21st Century. Croston's extensive research and incredible examples will illuminate the incredible opportunities within Green Business. Even as a green business owner for the past two decades, I drew countless ideas and inspiration from this book.” -Eric Corey Freed, principal of organicARCHITECT, author of Green Building & Remodeling for Dummies “We face great challenges today in our economy and environment, but the shift toward sustainability offers even greater opportunities. Starting Green gives you the tools to join this revolution with a business of your own. The business case for sustainability is clear; what we need now is action. This book will help you pave the way forward and thrive.” -Hunter Lovins, Co-author of Natural Capitalism, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, and president and founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions “The emerging green economy offers a wealth of opportunities for entrepreneurs and innovators, building everything from green-minded service providers to breakthrough products and technologies. Glenn Croston has created a valuable roadmap that can help find the profitable opportunity that's right for you.” -Joel Makower, executive editor of GreenBiz.com, and author of Strategies for the Green Economy "In his new book Glenn Croston successfully fuses two of the most powerful and constructive trends in present day society: (1) the boom in entrepreneurship that Information Age technologies has ignited, and (2) mounting public support and consumer demand for more efficient and sustainable products and services. With Croston's book in hand, the many people eager to explore and to profit from this healthy social change can start taking giant steps. " Byron Kennard, executive director of the Center for Small Business and the Environment, and co-author of Small Wonders (http://www.smallwondersreport.org/) “Glenn Croston has done it again. In his latest book, Starting Green: An Ecopreneur's Guide to Starting a Green Business-From Business Plans to Profits, he provides eco-minded entrepreneurs with an inspiring, well thought out and information rich roadmap for creating new green businesses for the coming conserver economy. There are so many people looking for ways to enter this rapidly growing segment of the marketplace, yet because the territory is new and ideas are untested, many lose confidence before they've begun. But we need those ideas in order to create a sustainable economic future, and Croston, with his straight-forward and easy to implement advice, shows the way. If you are wanting to help re-envision our economic future, begin with this book and, and become a part of the transformation.” --Sarah Susanka, architect and author of The Not So Big House series, and The Not So Big Life

"Do you think going green will give you a competitive advantage, even save you money? Do you think your customers are more likely to buy if you are green? Do you want to do better by the environment and your community? If so, you are not alone. Many feel the need to go green. Jonathan Estes in Smart Green turns this need into value and lays out the steps for going green.?Read it and get ahead of your competition and the green tsunami sweeping the country." —Frank Phoenix, PE, LEED-AP, Partner, Greenbridge Developments, LLC "Estes's book articulates the opportunities, challenges, and trends of the blossoming conscious consumer movement using insightful research to make the case for growing a green business. His compendium examines and dissects our cultural shift in which a handful of people are optimists, many are ambivalent, and everyone is a skeptic." —David Lubensky, President, Bagatto, Inc. "Smart Green is a very practical guide for getting started with greening your company. Estes has taken the principles of business planning and applied them to a very complex subject. Worth the read." —Michael Knupp, former CEO, The RETEC Group, and former member, World Business Council for Sustainable Development "Estes's Smart Green is a great resource for small to mid-size enterprises that want to make measurable improvement in performance and align themselves with the global green wave. From strategic planning to practical how-to examples, Estes demonstrates how we can go green and make some too." —Aaron Nelson, IOM, President and CEO, Chapel Hill-Carrboro (NC) Chamber of Commerce, and Executive Director, Foundation for a Sustainable Community

We all know we can no longer ignore environmental changes caused by our actions. Industry is no different; there is increasing legal pressure, confusion about what is needed and anxiety about the potential cost. Small business in particular is slow in acting to minimise its environmental footprint and fails to realise that there are actually potential benefits for their business. It Is Easy Being Green is an extraordinary environmental book for businesses of all sizes and budgets that will show them how to implement effective and affordable environmental management systems. Jean understands the time pressures business people and managers are under and that to get the true benefits of management systems, they must be kept simple. It Is Easy Being Green will provide practical, balanced and commonsense information on how to manage your business in an environmentally friendly and effective way.

Everything you need to know to green your business and grow your profit. * The truth about what climate change means for your business * The truth about running lean and green * The truth about future proofing your business Simply the best thinking THE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH This book reveals 52 PROVEN GREEN STRATEGIES and bite-size, easy-to-use techniques that get results. "This little book is inspiring in its range and practicality--not just for CEOs, but for every member of the enterprise...an exceptionally useful guide for ''going green'' at any scale of enterprise." CHIP CONLEY, CEO, Joie de Vivre Hospitality "In a world where green business advice is rampant, this is the one resource you need: a field guide that combines insight and inspiration with a solid, actionable path forward." JOEL MAKOWER, Executive Editor, GreenBiz.com Introduction ix Part I: The Truth About Green Business TRUTH 1: What is a green business? 1 TRUTH 2: Why green your business? 5 TRUTH 3: How to approach greening your business 9 TRUTH 4: Why now? 13 TRUTH 5: Climate change and your business 17 Part II: The Truth About Green Strategy TRUTH 6: Profit and purpose 23 TRUTH 7: How green is good enough? 27 TRUTH 8: Green regulations 31 Part III: The Truth About Green Operations TRUTH 9: Secrets hiding in plain sight 35 TRUTH 10: Eco-efficiency: Good for business and the environment 39 TRUTH 11: Waste? Not! Eliminating non-product 43 TRUTH 12: EcoAudits can guide your course 47 TRUTH 13: Running lean and green 53 TRUTH 14: Carbon footprinting 57 TRUTH 15: Reducing your carbon footprint 63 Part IV: The Truth About Green Marketing TRUTH 16: Green branding and messaging 67 TRUTH 17: Creating strong EcoLabels 71 TRUTH 18: Green marketing claims 77 TRUTH 19: Reaching conscious consumers 81 Part V: The Truth About Green Products and Services TRUTH 20: What makes a product green? 85 TRUTH 21: Product take-back 89 TRUTH 22: Product to service 93 TRUTH 23: What makes a service green? 97 Part VI: The Truth About Green Design TRUTH 24: Biomimicry-learning from life TRUTH 25: Reducing your product footprints 105 TRUTH 26: Cradle to cradle 109 TRUTH 27: Design with nature 113 TRUTH 28: Innovation is at the heart of greening 117 Part VII: The Truth About Green Procurement TRUTH 29: Environmentally preferable purchasing 121 TRUTH 30: Supply chain management and partnerships 125 TRUTH 31: Supplier scorecards 129 TRUTH 32: Clearing the rising bar 133 Part VIII: The Truth About Green Buildings TRUTH 33: LEED standards for green buildings 137 TRUTH 34: The cost of green building 141 TRUTH 35: Green buildings improve productivity 145 TRUTH 36: Integrative design for green building 149 Part IX: The Truth About Green IT TRUTH 37: Computers and electronics 153 TRUTH 38: Creating more effi cient data centers 157 TRUTH 39: How IT can drive greening 161 Part X: The Truth About Green Management TRUTH 40: Engaging employees 165 TRUTH 41: Engaging stakeholders 169 TRUTH 42: Keeping score 173 TRUTH 43: Employee incentives 177 TRUTH 44: Environmental management systems 181 Part XI: The Truth About Green Finance TRUTH 45: Profit, value, and risk 185 TRUTH 46: Reality-based accounting 189 TRUTH 47: Investing in green and attracting green investment 193 TRUTH 48: Carbon trading and offsets 197 TRUTH 49: Fiduciary duty 201 Part XII: The Truth About Green Futures TRUTH 50: Certainty in the face of uncertainty 207 TRUTH 51: Scenario planning 211 TRUTH 52: Future proofing 215 APPENDIX A: References 219 Acknowledgments 228 About the Author 229 Note: Appendix B is available online at no charge at www.informit.com/title/9780789739407. APPENDIX B: Resources

Sustainable Entrepreneurship stands for a business driven concept of sustainability which focusses on increasing both social as well as business value - so called Shared Value. This book shows why and how this unique concept has the potential to become the most recognised strategic management approach in our times. It aims to point out the opportunities that arise from putting sustainable entrepreneurship into practice. At the same time, this book is a wake-up call for all those companies and decision makers who underestimated Sustainable Entrepreneurship before or who are simply not aware of its greater dimension. Well structured chapters from different academic and business perspectives clearly outline how Sustainable Entrepreneurship contributes to solving the world's most challenging problems, such as Climate Change, Finance Crisis and Political Uncertainty, as well as to ensuring business success. The book provides a framework of orientation where the journey might go: What can a successful concept of SE look like? What are the key drivers for its realisation? What is the role of business in shaping the future of our society? The book also presents best practices and provides unique learnings as well as business insights from the international Sustainable Entrepreneurship Award (www.se-award.org). The Sustainable Entrepreneurship Award (short SEA) is an award for companies today who are thinking about tomorrow by making sustainable business practices an integral part of their corporate culture. Companies that receive the SEA are being recognised for the vision they have shown in combining economic and sustainable responsibility.