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Vision of "Green Jobs" and its Impact

Written by: Stefan Doering

Article Overview: How do we know when someone is doing something “environmentally correct”? In the end, it doesn’t really matter what your definition is for being “environmentally correct.” Or what "green jobs" actually means. What does are your actions? Especially for small businesses, as we are the eyes and ears of our planet and economy. Businesses that incorporate the triple-bottom line of “people, the planet and profits” into their business’ actions, can create opportunities, innovation, and competitive advantage for sustainability. Will "Green Jobs" be the new beginning for the US economy to getting its competitive edge back, and have a positive impact on our economy and well-being

Vision of "Green Jobs" and its Impact

In my retail stores in the ‘90’s, we sold about 3,500 products in 16 departments all screened for their environmental impact. Things like organic cotton clothing, energy-efficient lighting, all-natural body care and cleaning supplies, recycled paper office supplies and so on.

Did our employees in the stores have "green jobs"? An argument could be made they were just helping run a retail operation.

How do we know when someone is doing something “environmentally correct”?

It is the same for anything. Describe what it is to really love sports? If you love soccer and basketball, but don’t watch football, are you still a sports fan?

In the end, it doesn’t really matter what your definition is for being “environmentally correct.” Or what "green jobs" actually means. What does are your actions?

Especially small business, as we are the eyes and ears of our planet and economy.

What my students discover with me on the first day of class when I teach Environmental Entrepreneurism at the Center of Environmental Research and Conservation at Columbia University is what it means to be “green” is our actions in business.

President-elect Obama is announcing that creating and funding “green jobs” will be one of his major initiatives soon after taking office in January.

Great! “Green jobs” should include businesses making best efforts by being on the leading edge of sustainability. To incorporate the best known practices in business.

These businesses take responsibility for their actions and the impact they have on all their stakeholders (stakeholders = anyone who is impacted by the business’ existence).

Businesses that incorporate the triple-bottom line of “people, the planet and profits” into their business’ actions.

How Obama’s “green jobs” get the US economy and competitive edge back?

* Promotes a new way of being – far beyond just the short term profits of businesses.
* Encourages longer-term strategic planning for business, taking into account its viability in our communities and the planet. The business’ actions being sustainable over the long haul.
* Stimulate business activity and R&D for other businesses to follow suit in order to keep up with competition.
* Allows us to reassess our value structures around:
o economic growth and wealth generation
o the real value of consumerism
o consumption, allocation and handling of resources and raw materials
o the impact of our actions on a much greater scale

It is easy to write this and think about it in a visionary way. But is it realistic to powerfully set up “green jobs” and see a positive impact on our economy and well-being?


The answer depends on how we manage the future.

Short term— 1-3 years out, probably not much can or would happen without government intervention. For example, if the Small Business Administration quickly sets up training and lending programs to promote “green jobs” in the US.

Medium term—3-5 years out, we will start to see some movement and more permanent infrastructures taking hold in our economy and long-term health of our businesses.


Long term—5+ years out, if we keep our eye on the ball and continue down this path, we should start to see more permanent resilience in the sustainability of business and our economy.


Fine, but if we’re struggling to pay rent and make payroll right now, what to do?

Act quickly. Shift our attitudes and actions immediately:

* Curb our addictions to growth and consumption (see How to Curb Our Addiction to “Stuff”)
* Go back to basics: buy when we have the money and borrow responsibly
* Buy less and smarter: better quality and designed products and services
* Incorporate a “we” (not “me”) mindset and work in groups for the collective good
* Get grounded in what true happiness and abundance really is

It sounds great for our country to take on “green jobs”. The question then becomes, are you ready to take it on?





Action Steps for the Week:

Look to see how you can reinvent your operations. Even if you feel you are as “green” as possible, dig deeper… way deeper.

Look beyond just your office, business, community, city, state, and country.


How far does your impact reach? I bet it goes way farther than you thought. Start there.



Yes, way over there!


Then look to see how you can improve your operations. How can you to take care all the people, our planet and your profits back to your country, state, city, community and business?



And then start there.

Related Articles
  Beware greenwashing your business
  Green Jobs: It's about growing your existing employees too
  Earth Day 2010: Life and Death Decisions for Business
  Trains going green
  Green Building Is Up While Rest of Building Market is Down

Article Tags: best efforts, business actions, cleaning supplies, columbia university, competitive edge, energy efficient lighting, entrepreneurism, environmental impact, eyes and ears, leading edge, obama, organic cotton clothing, president elect, recycled paper, retail operation, retail stores, s green, sports fan, term profits, triple bottom line



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