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The Importance of Taking Your Business Green ... NOW!
Written by: Stefan DoeringArticle Overview: We are running out of time: 2015 is the go / no-go year before we hit the point of no return according to climatologists worldwide. China knows this and are quickly taking the lead on green technology in many areas. Small businesses outside of China must ramp up ASAP to catch up.
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The Importance of Taking Your Business Green ... NOW!
Last week I saw a fascinating movie premier, The Age of Stupid.
Never mind that it was the first time a movie premier was broadcast live via satellite (from here in New York) around the world on over 550 screens in 45 countries. Or that they had in attendance the likes of Kofi Annan (former Secretary General of the United Nations), Heather Graham and Jillian Anderson as well as music from Moby and Radiohead. Or that The Huffington Post called the movie launch “One of the most important films of the year (perhaps decade)….” as both a new way independent films will be released and for the environmental message.
Instead, what was fascinating was it was a film about an old man living in the devastated world of 2055, watching 'archive' footage from 2008 and asking: why didn't we stop climate change while we had the chance?
Today expert climatologists around the world are agreeing we are about to hit the point of no return for our planet.
And that point is 2015, almost five years away!
What does this mean? The UN's Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) announced in 2007 that if we do not stop our earth’s temperature from increasing beyond the levels it will hit by 2015, there will be no stopping the environmental impacts that will ensue.
A month or so later Time Magazine wrote Can We Save the World By 2015? and quoted David Doniger, the policy director of the world renowned Natural Resource Defense Council's climate center, "We're almost at the point of no return. If we don't turn these emission trends down soon, we're cooked."
Does this sound dramatic and doom and gloom? Ok, it does!
And we’re here to learn about being UnReasonable in creating powerful results. Quickly.
What I teach, train and coach businesses on is the fastest way we will not only stop this disaster from occurring but actually reverse it is to show people how to make money regenerating the earth’s resources.
And a new major player just joined the contest to being the greenest. And it’s not the United States. You may be surprised by whom…
China.
Yes, Red China is now going green!
Just this past week Thomas Friedman, writer and three-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize wrote an Op Ed piece for the New York Times: The New Sputnik, arguing, “I believe future historians may well conclude that the most important thing to happen in the last 18 months was that Red China decided to become Green China.”
Examples from the past few weeks are China announcing at the UN last week it will cut carbon emissions by 2020. While they did not explain more clearly what they meant by this, they have already recruited America’s premier solar equipment manufacturer, Applied Materials, to open the world’s largest privately funded solar research facility… in China. This is after already having the world’s largest supplier of solar panels, Suntech, in China.
So this is where YOU come in.
It’s kind of like playing basketball here on the street in Brooklyn. There is a lot of “trash talking”, a form of insulting that is meant to challenge and often poke fun at the other team. And when that happens, often times it motivates the other team to play much better.
Experts predict that before the end of the next year, China will surpass the US in energy technology. And so perhaps we ought to take this as a form of China trash talking us to really step up.
Have you been thinking of going green and catching the “green” wave? Now is the time.
Have you already down this path? Now is the time to raise the bar to take on this competition from China.
Are you not interested in going down the path of “greening up” your act? You may want to seriously rethink that.
Because in case the predictions of 2015 looming just six years away isn’t enough to get you reconsidering, being caught holding the modern-day equivalent of the buggy whip might be.
Action Steps for the Week:
Take a look at your business. How can you “green it up” big time?
It does not matter what type of business you have. Look at energy consumption, travel, water and pollution issues.
Ask yourself, “How can I:
travel less?” (i.e. video conferencing, teleconferencing, etc.)
travel locally (and gain fitness)?” (i.e. bike, walk, use public transportation)
conserve electricity?” (i.e. turn off all appliances when not using them… especially computers!)
go solar or wind power?” (i.e. sign up for your utility that promotes this source of power.)
consume less?” (i.e. less paper, stop using bottled water, no disposable bags, etc.)
And if you’re really UnReasonable, ask yourself this question: “How can I compete with the Chinese and out-greening them?”Last month I saw a fascinating movie premier, The Age of Stupid.
Last month I saw a fascinating movie premier, The Age of Stupid.
Never mind that it was the first time a movie premier was broadcast live via satellite (from here in New York) around the world on over 550 screens in 45 countries. Or that they had in attendance the likes of Kofi Annan (former Secretary General of the United Nations), Heather Graham and Jillian Anderson as well as music from Moby and Radiohead. Or that The Huffington Post called the movie launch "One of the most important films of the year (perhaps decade)...." as both a new way independent films will be released and for the environmental message.
Instead, what was fascinating was it was a film about an old man living in the devastated world of 2055, watching 'archive' footage from 2008 and asking: why didn't we stop climate change while we had the chance?
Today expert climatologists around the world are agreeing we are about to hit the point of no return for our planet.
And that point is 2015, almost five years away!
What does this mean? The UN's Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) announced in 2007 that if we do not stop our earth's temperature from increasing beyond the levels it will hit by 2015, there will be no stopping the environmental impacts that will ensue.
A month or so later Time Magazine wrote "Can We Save the World By 2015"? and quoted David Doniger, the policy director of the world renowned Natural Resource Defense Council's climate center, "We're almost at the point of no return. If we don't turn these emission trends down soon, we're cooked."
Does this sound dramatic and doom and gloom?
Ok, it does! And we're here to learn about being UnReasonable in creating powerful results.
Quickly. What I teach, train and coach businesses on is the fastest way we will not only stop this disaster from occurring but actually reverse it is to show people how to make money regenerating the earth's resources.
And a new major player just joined the contest to being the greenest. And it's not the United States. You may be surprised by whom...
China.
Yes, Red China is now going green!
Just two weeks ago Thomas Friedman, writer and three-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize wrote an Op Ed piece for the New York Times "The New Sputnik", arguing, "I believe future historians may well conclude that the most important thing to happen in the last 18 months was that Red China decided to become Green China."
Examples from the past few weeks are China announcing at the UN last week it will cut carbon emissions by 2020. While they did not explain more clearly what they meant by this, they have already recruited America's premier solar equipment manufacturer, Applied Materials, to open the world's largest privately funded solar research facility... in China. This is after already having the world's largest supplier of solar panels, Suntech, in China.
So this is where YOU come in.
It's kind of like playing basketball here on the street in Brooklyn. There is a lot of "trash talking", a form of insulting that is meant to challenge and often poke fun at the other team. And when that happens, often times it motivates the other team to play much better.
Experts predict that before the end of the next year, China will surpass the US in energy technology. And so perhaps we ought to take this as a form of China trash talking us to really step up. Have you been thinking of going green and catching the "green" wave? Now is the time.
Have you already gone down this path? Now is the time to raise the bar to take on this competition from China.
Are you not interested in going down the path of "greening up" your act? You may want to seriously rethink that.
Because in case the predictions of 2015 looming just six years away isn't enough to get you reconsidering, being caught holding the modern-day equivalent of the buggy whip might be.
Related Articles
Beware greenwashing your business
Trains going green
What is the Definition of Going Green?
Consumers Abandon Green to Save Money
Should You Switch to Selling Green?
Article Tags: archive footage, attendance, climatologists, environmental message, heather graham, hidden position, huffington post, important films, independent films, intergovernmental panel on climate change, jillian anderson, kofi annan, launch, moby, nobel prize, overflow, point of no return, radiohead, secretary general of the united nations, united nations
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About the Author: Stefan Doering RSS for Stefan's articles - Visit Stefan's website  1) Innovating powerful green business models, 2) Crafting and implementing marketing and positioning strategies for bringing green to mainstream, and 3) Creating a consistently profitable and sustainable business. Click here to visit Stefan's website   Is the Economy Creating Happier People 6 Parts to UnReasonable Success 7 Mistakes To Avoid When Scaling Up Your Green Biz Setting the CornerstoneThe Purpose of Your Life The Importance of Consistency for Sucess |
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Finding creativity
- Great topic Andy! For me it's:
- Going for a walk (I always try to get out at least once during the day)
- Taking a shower
- Reading business magazines (especially Inc and Business 2.0)
- Late at night (I'm more productive / creative at night than during the day)
- Relaxing with a drink at the bookstore
Re: Are you a Blue, Red, or Green?
- Hum... a lot of reds responding... Business owners must be a very aggressive community.
Now, I was surprised when I took the course personally to find out I was a Green, secondary Blue. Of course, not believing this, the first thing I did was turn to those around me to get their opinions on my colours (typical Green!).
The only thing I can really say about STRUCTOGRAM is that it was fun to explore the depths of my social and physiological make-up... I did this a over a year ago now and still use it in my daily interactions (always be on your toes with Reds).
Re: New Video - Should I Get A Job Or Start A Business?
- Hi Evan,
I was curious to know what you'd suggest and I think you gave excellent advice. Taking a year out to try and start your own business is a great idea. Taking a year out after college is a well established option so I guess it doesn't prejudice your chances of getting a job should you wish to do so later on; it probably improves your chances if you've been getting valuable experience of managing a business and of course, if all goes well, you won't need to find out.
Definitely a video for my website.
Thanks!
David
Re: 10 ideas to make you money in 2010
- I think Education would be hard to break into.
Baby Boomers, Life Support and Trading Down, however, seem like good markets.
As for Green technology goes, I don't think the business has to be entirely based on Green ideologies, but rather a business that embrace Green philosophies and use that as a marketing tool.
My entry
- 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read
- this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody.
2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto.
3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book
Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
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