The Business of Green
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/business/businessspecial2/index.html
The New York Times put out a special section on May 17, 2006 called "The Business of Green." This is the website version, where you'll find many articles about sustainability from a business perspective. Food, waste, energy, transportation— many aspects of sustainability are covered. Since the skeptics of sustainability often use "the economy" as their excuse as to why they do not make sustainable choices, these articles are an interesting look at how business and environmental awareness really interact. You might be asked to set up an NYTimes account before viewing it, which is free and only requires your email address and a password.
Here's an excerpt from an article in "The Business of Green: A Special Section":
WHAT'S KIND TO NATURE CAN BE KIND TO PROFITS
By MATTHEW L. WALD
Published: May 17, 2006
GENERAL ELECTRIC would like you to know that it makes the world's most efficient electric generators, part of its Ecomagination program of clean technologies. BP, which used to be an abbreviation for British Petroleum but is now the company's official name, is promoting itself as "Beyond Petroleum," with solar cells and wind.
Ford, which before its profits fell off a cliff was promising to increase the fuel economy of its S.U.V.'s by 25 percent, still cares about the environment, company executives insist. Now it has found a way to paint cars that drastically cuts emissions of pollutants, and has patented technology that lets cars run on fuel from corn.
These industrial Goliaths want to be Jolly Green Giants. They have investors to impress and public images to maintain so that they can pursue high-profile projects that need government approvals.
They may also have profit motives; most of the green technologies that make money now are profitable only because of government tax incentives or subsidies. But if oil and natural gas become expensive enough, some technologies could become commercially viable on an unsubsidized basis.
Green is in fashion — the new black, the must-have, this decade's version of business imperatives like "total quality management" or "management by objective." How else to explain why the National Football League plants hundreds of seedling trees to offset the greenhouse gas emissions produced by Super Bowl events? Did it help sell out the stadium or make football a more popular sport? The last World Cup soccer championship was also carbon-neutral. So was the 2002 tour by the Dave Matthews Band.
Business is going green for many reasons, not just the most obvious one, public image. There is also competitive advantage........(cont'd)
| Who: | The New York Times |
| What: | newspaper website (.com) The New York Times is one of the premier news sources in the country. Don't worry, they do their research, and do it well. |
| Where: | researched by their business writers, there are links for further research |
| When: | May 17, 2006 |
| Why: | This is a way to look at sustainability from a different (business) perspective. |
| You: | Zoë Morrison |
| Geography: | US |
| Type: | Readings |
| Educational: | 1 |