Welcome to Week 11 of the Green Business Blog carnival, a traveling series of green business news, commentary, and insight which has, so far, made its way across 9 terrific green business blogs, and growing. Here’s a roundup of some of the top green business news of the day.

B2B Companies are Going Green

While consumers have become increasingly conscious of the environmental impact of their lifestyle, at the end of the day, its businesses going green that truly moves the sustainability needle. Businesses of all shapes and sizes are reporting on the sustainability of the product or service they sell, with consumer goods companies benefiting the most from the greening of their brand.

However, many companies have found that the greatest opportunity for
reducing their environmental impact and increasing social stewardship
lies within their supply chain. B2B companies are in a prime position for using sustainability initiatives to attain and retain their customer base. In fact, sustainability may be a more powerful tool over the long term for B2B companies than B2C companies. Check out Triple Pundit’s Sustainability in the B2B World
on how B2B businesses are going green.

Sustainability Has Become a Business School Career Track

If you ever went to business school, you may have heard of Net Impact. Net Impact is an international nonprofit organization that aims to inspire, educate, and equip individuals to use the power of business to create a more socially and environmentally sustainable world. Net Impact just came out with a comprehensive report profiling 95 MBA programs from around the world that focus on sustainability. So if you are interested in getting a Green MBA, be sure to check out the Net Impact Business As UnUsual 2010 Report.

Go Even Greener with Green Business Bartering

If you are a green business owner, you may have found that the times are tough in this recessionary economy. The good news is, bartering services are now available to cash-strapped green businesses, courtesy of Green America Exchange. What’s even better, Green America’s new Exchange bartering program allows green business to trade services… without running afoul of the IRS. Read Jeff McIntire-Strasburg’s post on how green business bartering works.

Stories from the Clean Tech World

Buildings use a great deal of energy, especially commercial buildings, where equipment, lighting, ventilation, etc run 24/7. Over at Cleantechies, Chuck Colgan tells us that sustainability and profitability can be achieved through energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements to a commercial building.

Can you balance profits and sustainability in an ever-changing world? If you don’t believe it is possible to reduce CO2 emissions while running a business, you may want to check out CEO2: The Green Business Game. In this post, Calfinder reviews their experience of pleasing
investors, researchers, consumers, and environmentalists while keeping
the company out of the red!

It’s easy for tech professionals to become silo-ed in their industry, to the point where their message is completely lost to the average Joe. Over at Matter Network, Jeremy Shere shares with us great tips on How to Tell the Renewable Energy Story Too often an energy story is dominated by facts, figures, and other technical details that, while clearly relevant, can leave the non-industry insider cold. He reminds us that we need more stories about energy on a human scale, stories that give the average person a sense of what’s at stake and why he or she should care.

Plastic, Plastic Everywhere

Plastic bags are everywhere, but how much do we really know about them?

Check out the Curse of Immortality and Plastic Migration, which features two films that give new insight into the feelings and struggles of plastic bags. The film from Futurestates is poignantly narrated by Werner Herzog, and the second is a mocumentary presented by Heal the Bay.

Kick back and imagine yourself traveling through the vast, wide world, as a plastic bag…

Social branding was once the domain of nonprofit organizations. Nowadays social branding is equally utilized by socially-conscious businesses that are making a positive impact on society, while also turning a profit
.

What is a Social Brand?

A social brand is much like any marketing brand. It should reflect your business values and marketing message just as your conventional branding message would. The major difference is that a social brand will reflect your company’s commitment to social and environmental responsibility. Going beyond mere profitability, a social brand will signal to your stakeholders that you have a serious, relevant, authentic message about your community and the world at large.

What is Social Branding?

Social branding is branding for social change. Social branding involves harnessing all marketing and communication tools, from print advertising and PR to social media, and making them work for you to spread your organization’s socially responsible message. There are several factors that play into the success of social branding. In order for you to get the most out of your social brand efforts, you should consider concentrating on the following activities and strategies:

• From the start, identifying and committing to causes appropriate to your community and environment that will enhance your community and the environment.
• Recognizing goals, monitoring progress, and reporting successes to track effectiveness over time.
• Finding partners to work with that share your corporate social goals – this can mean working with other for-profit companies, nonprofit organizations, grassroots groups, and so on.
• Pinpointing the methods that will work best for your organization to publicize your social goals and results. You want your community and your stakeholders to know of your successes and what you’re doing to enhance human lives and the environment.
• Staying committed to a holistic approach to business the incorporates your social efforts into as many aspects of the business as possible.
• Measuring social return on investment (SROI). As an indicator of how well your constituents understand your social branding and success a bringing about positive change, the SROI will help you determine the value of your efforts and gives additional information for communicating your company’s effectiveness.

Developing a social brand will help to make your company or organization a positive force in the world and is sure to increase loyalty on the part of your employees, customers, boards, community members, and so on. And of course, with greater loyalty comes greater profitability. People want to feel like they are part of something bigger and better than themselves. By creating opportunities for them to contribute to a cause, you’re not only bringing joy to your stakeholders, you’re helping to increase awareness of social issues.

Social Brand Capital, a Measure of CSR

The idea of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is relatively new in the last decade. Before the idea hit the mainstream, there were only a few intrepid companies branding their marketing with social messages, such as Patagonia with their eco-friendly outdoor clothing and Starbucks with their Fair Trade coffee. Today, CSR messages are popping up all over the Internet, and none moreso that in social media portals. Big name companies like Ben and Jerry’s, Newman’s Own, and Seventh Generation are all working with social media to advertise their company’s commitment to improving the planet and human society.

In the process, these companies are increasing their social brand capital (SBC) which is essentially the value attributed by the a company’s stakeholders to the its brand because of its CSR message. The larger a company’s commitment to environmental and social sustainability and the more verifiable the reputation, the greater the SBC. But in order to fully capitalize on your social brand capital, you’ll need to work on meeting several milestones:

• Make your CSR actions part of your everyday business activities from the very start and not as strategic add-ons as the market changes (a socially-conscious business plan helps here).
• Use your CSR to brand your company as different and set apart from your competitors.
• Convey a transparent, relevant message that’s easy to understand by your constituents.

No doubt a strong SBC is nothing without a solid business structure and are providing a valuable service or product to the community. But ingrain CSR into your daily business activities and then use social branding to get your message out and you’ll significantly be able to increase your SBC to grow your business.

Great Social Branding Campaigns

Here are a few outstanding social branding campaigns to give you an idea of what’s possible when corporate social responsibility and social branding come together:

• Stonyfield: This company is committed to the environment and their community and it shows in all that they do. They stress eco-friendly packaging, energy conservation, organic agriculture, health school food, and “Menus for Change” – all messages that demonstrate their social and environmental commitments.
• Ben & Jerry’s: From start to finish, this ice cream company has been working on their social image from nearly day one. Not only have they done amazing things with living wages, they use cleaner freezers (hydrocarbon coolers), support family farms and sustainable agriculture, donate to peace projects and support other community activism projects.
• Toyota Prius: Despite some of the problems faced by the car giant, Toyota has made great strides pushed hybrid vehicles into mainstream consciousness. By working the nature angle with their fuel-sipping vehicles and demonstrating sustainability in other areas of the business, they’ve gained a larger market share than any other company in the fuel efficient vehicle industry.

Toyota's 2010 Prius Highway Floralscapes

As far as socially responsible companies go, if you’re working on your business’ social message you’re in good company. If you need additional inspiration, check out sites that are now rating companies based on their social commitments such as GoodGuide. By providing scores for individual products, this website endeavors to educate individuals about the kinds of products they’re purchasing and whether the business is committed to producing healthier, more sustainable, and socially responsible goods. Get on board the social branding movement and no doubt you’ll see a boost in employee morale, increase in sales, and a smile on your own face!

Image Credit: Cupcake Social Branding | Beyond the Hype

From dreams to reality, your business plan is a guiding document that describes the heart and soul of your business. Along with details about your products and/or services and how you intend to deliver them, a business plan will provide financial information, forecasts, and other operational information pertinent to bringing to fruition the goals of your business. Though writing a business plan takes time, mental and emotional effort, and collaboration with key stakeholders for your organization, without a plan, your business may be operating without direction and purpose.

As a green business, a business plan is as important (if not more so) than any other organization and contains all of the same elements. However, for any organization looking to set themselves apart from the competition based on environmentally-preferable operations, products, or services, the environment should play a large part in the narrative of the business plan. It is to the green business plan that we now turn in order to explain how it is different than a conventional business plan.

What is a “Green” Business Plan?

How is it different from a regular business plan? Just like a conventional business plan, a green business plan will include all of the basics:

• Summary of business goals and/or mission statement
• Information on business structure
• Overview of your competition
• Marketing plans
• Financial information and plans

When it comes right down to it, a green business plan considers not just people and profit, but also the planet. This is known commonly as the triple bottom line (TBL or 3BL). So rather than just looking at the financial viability of a business idea, a green business plan will also take matters of the environment seriously, considering how the business will impact the planet from start to finish.

That means for every portion of the green business plan, the reader will have to come away with some understanding as to how the environment fits into that portion of the plan. In other words, the mission statement should say something about how ecology fits into your guiding principles. In the business structure, the environment should figure largely into your day to day operations. When comparing your business to the competition, you’ll want to detail how your business stands apart because of your environmental focus. And your marketing plans should not only include eco-friendly methods, but plans for getting your green message to your customers. If you truly want to develop a green business, the planet should be included in every aspect of your business planning.

Resources for Writing your Green Business Plan

Getting your green business off the ground should start with a solid business plan, but this process can be intimidating for the newbie to the business world, especially if you’re contemplating incorporating green into your business plan. Thankfully, there are numerous free and fee-based resources online to help you spread your wings in the green business world, with things like templates, software programs, guides, and networks into which you can plug to get ideas, guidance, and all of the information you need to get your green business dreams off the ground.

• Bplans.com – Sample business plans, templates, and videos: How-to articles, sample plans, blogs, forums, and software for getting your business plan written.
• Business plan – BDC: Templates and sample business plans along with legal advice for new Canadian businesses.
• Business Planning. The Exasperating Made Simple – A Primer for Freelances and Small Shop Principles: A great article on some of the most perplexing problems faced by new business owners.
• Canada Business Plans: Articles and tips on how to write plans and avoid the biggest mistakes, as well as hands-on consulting if you need a little more help.
• Center for Business Planning: A whole host of resources including software and directories for investors.
• Developing your business plan – Government of Canada, Business: Advice from the government on writing good business and how to avoid the most common pitfalls when new to the world of business planning.
• Green Business – Green America by Coop America: Networking, resources, and technical assistance for people developing socially and environmentally responsible businesses.
• Green Business Conference – Green America by Coop America: A regularly-held business conference for green companies as well as an online community.
• Green Business Plan.com: A certification program for emerging green businesses.
• Honing Your Business Plan: Helpful advice on how to perfect your business plan.
• Startup Nation: A vibrant online community for newbies to the business world.
• The Green Business Plan Guide – Green for All: A comprehensive guide to writing your green business plan.
• US Small Business Administration: US government program for supporting small businesses.

Steps to Writing a Green Business Plan

Now that you have some general information about writing business plans, as well as some guidance as to how to include eco-factors in your business planning, let’s go over just a few of the most important factors to keep in mind as you write your green business plan:

• Mission statement: This is perhaps the key to completing an air-tight green business plan. Keep in mind as you write your green mission statement your personal goals (make them concrete!) as well as your overarching philosophy. What is your reason for wanting to develop a green business? What will it look like when it is successful? What outcomes do you want to see come to being as a result of your green business?
• Contributions to the green economy: As one green business in a sea of many eco-focused green businesses, you’re part of a larger community of business builders looking to make the planet a more sustainable, healthy place. Each member of the community is important for what they contribute. What will your green business add to this green business economy? A market for recycled goods? A way to use locally-produced waste? A service for reducing greenhouse gas emissions? Better systems for saving resources in the supply chain? Funding for small ecological clean-up projects? Whatever it is, be sure that you’re enhancing the community with your knowledge, skills, and resources so that you’re part of the larger solution.
• Input from stakeholders: Your customers, employees, community members, suppliers, investors, and advisors/directors all have a stake in your green business. Consulting them to get their input on your green business plans will be an important step to ensuring business success. And you may just find some additional ideas and resources you didn’t know you had when consulting those who will be most impacted by your eco-friendly business.

Best of luck to you as you embark on bringing your green business dreams to reality. With a solid business plan, you’ll have clear direction for how your business will benefit the environment!

Image Credits: Linda Nowakowski and gurdonark

“Going green” seems to be the new buzz word in home living and business. It’s a hot topic many people probably throw out in reference without knowing exactly what they mean by stating their business or company they work for is a green business.

A green business is one that works toward helping the environment through conscious choices to follow environmental best practices.

Many green businesses will change their copier settings to print double-sided to cut down on the amount of paper they are using for example. Others may give each person a recycling bin in addition to a garbage can by their desks. These are relatively small ways in which a business can grow in how they benefit the planet through their operations with usage of green business ideas to work smarter.

Taking a Leaf from another Business’ Book, Green Business Opportunities

In today’s society, more people are “going green” and more people are working from home – to be extra trendy you could start your own green home business.

Those looking to become a green entrepreneur and operate their own green home business may first seek out a reference point through studying already existing businesses in a green business directory to see what green business opportunities may already exist. They can also look up corporations or local businesses they know of that operate in a green style to see how they operate and implement these practices and help the environment on a daily basis.

By studying what already exists and has been tried, you can see which practices work well and would work well for your own business. The opportunity exists to work from those ideas and the traditional ideals of operating a business to form a great green home business.

More Than Personal Recycling: Starting a Green Home Business

The easiest way to know and use environmental best practices in your home business is to start using them in your personal life. Begin by greening up your home life by buying environmentally friendly light bulbs, recycling and looking for opportunities to carpool or walk or bike.

Once green living becomes a habit in your daily life, it will be a natural fit for your business. Use some of the ideas mentioned above, such as efficient printing through printing double-sided, or on recyclable paper. Supporting environmentally friendly causes can also help your business to seem more green.

Once your green home business is established, you can share tips and support by starting a green business blog about environmental best practices. Once you establish your own successful green business you can use blogging to spread the word and help others succeed in being and seeing green.

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Main Image Credit: zzzack

Guest post by Tim Kovach, Energy Product Coordinator, COSE

The face of American business has changed significantly over the last two decades.  The largest companies have gotten larger and larger, the biggest 500 corporations in the U.S. grew more than 700% during this period.  One hundred million Americans – one out of every three – visit Wal-Mart each week. More than 15,000 independently-owned bookstores have closed across the country.  Almost 10,000 independent hardware stores have gone out of business.  As big businesses get bigger and the economy becomes more globalized, it has become more difficult for small businesses to compete.

Yet, despite this, small businesses are widely recognized as the job creating engines of the country.  While those 500 corporations grew seven-fold, they have actually fired more workers than they’ve hired.  As the National Small Business Association has pointed out, the 29.6 million small firms in the U.S. account for 99.7% of all employer firms.

Fortunately, people throughout the country have begun to recognize the important of their local small businesses, and the buy local trend has grown exponentially in recent years.  Some may wonder what the difference is in buying items from a local merchant as opposed to the local big box store.  After all, the store is located there and the people employed there live in the community.

However, when one actually pauses to consider the differences between the big box stores and local small businesses, it becomes clear that the buy local movement is beneficial for the community and the consumer.  For every dollar that is spent at a big box retailer, approximately $0.30-0.35 remains in the local economy.  For each dollar spent at a local, independently-owned business, however, $0.70-0.75 remains in the community.  These numbers are even more significant when one compares food purchased at a supermarket with food that one buys directly from a local farmer, whether at a farmers’ market or through a CSA (community supported agriculture).  Just $0.15-0.18 of each dollar spent at a supermarket returns to the farmers that produced that food; upwards of $0.85 goes to the farmer when you buy your food directly from its source.

Buying locally has an added economic benefit, as well.  When a chain opens a new store in a community, a lot of things must take place.  New infrastructure needs to be created to accommodate it; businesses may be purchased or forced out of business; homes or businesses may be moved or torn down for the new facility, and land that could be used for other purposes is utilized for the store instead.  As Jeff Milchen of the American Independent Business Alliance pointed out, when one takes this into account, local businesses actually have an economic multiplier effect that is 3 to 3.5 times greater than that of the big box chains.

Furthermore, there are significant environmental benefits of buying local.  Many products at big box retailers are created on the other side of the country or the other side of the globe and require intricate, long-distance transportation networks to deliver them to the consumer.  This produces of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and greatly increases the carbon footprint of the product.  Shipping long distance also requires businesses to make use of large quantities of shipping materials.  Many of these materials, including plastics and Styrofoam, are petroleum products.  These items generate large amounts of GHG emissions during their lifecycles, and most end up in landfills where they do not biodegrade.

Ultimately, there are considerable benefits to buying locally.  From reducing your carbon footprint and strengthening your local economy, to generating demand for high quality, locally grown food and supporting your friends and neighbors, buying local just makes sense.

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Tim Kovach is the Product Coordinator for Energy at the Council of Smaller Enterprises in Cleveland, Ohio. He works to help small businesses cut their energy costs, reduce their energy use through energy efficiency, and improve their sustainability efforts through COSE’s Energy Solutions. COSE, a small business support organization with over 16,000 members, provides cost-effective group purchasing programs, advocacy on legislative and regulatory issues, and networking and educational resources to help Northeast Ohio’s small businesses grow.

Image Credit: Niall Kennedy

Guest post by Tim Kovach, Energy Product Coordinator, COSE

For the majority of small businesses, the business case for sustainable and energy efficiency just isn’t strong enough to make any real investments. Most articles and analysis discuss how going green can help a business reduce its energy costs and improve its brand recognition and popularity. However, it can be difficult for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to sign off on projects that have projected payback periods of three years when they are concerned about having cash on hand three months now.

If one focuses entirely on these more obvious benefits of sustainability, it can make it difficult to believe that we will reach a tipping point on small business sustainability anytime soon. However, there are a number of added benefits to sustainability and energy efficiency that are often overlooked but that can help SMEs reap tangible, short-term dividends on their investments. These include improved productivity, a decrease in lost time to sick days, and being better equipped to recruit talented employees.

Several studies have shown that energy efficient upgrades and sustainable building practices can improve employee productivity significantly. According to a 2003 study from the Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics at Carnegie Mellon, taking steps to improve indoor air quality and installing energy efficient lighting both have strong positive effects on productivity. Enabling workers to control air temperature at their workstations increased their productivity anywhere from 3.5-36.6%. By installing high-efficiency lighting fixtures, businesses can experience a 3-13.2% increase in worker productivity. Taking advantage of natural light also has its benefits. The report notes that utilizing daylighting can improve productivity 3-18% and even increase sales by as much as 40%. Taken together, these numbers can represent a considerable advantage for any small business, especially considering that the EPA estimates that even a 1% increase in the productivity of office workers is enough to offset the costs of such upgrades.

A second major benefit of sustainability and energy efficiency comes from the added value of countering what is commonly known as “Sick Building Syndrome.” Many businesses work in facilities that were not built in a sustainable manner. They have poor ventilation, lack access to natural light, and contain equipment and materials that release large amounts of volatile organic compound (VOCs). All of this can take a serious toll on the health and well being of employees, as indoor air quality leads to a number of health issues. Fortunately, green buildings go a long way towards mitigating these issues, providing businesses with considerable added value in the process. According to a 2009 article in the Journal of Sustainable Real Estate, green buildings produce an average financial benefit of $37-55 per square foot of facility space for businesses. This is due to the face that better indoor air quality improves productivity by 6-9% and reduces sick days by 2.88 days annually, per worker. The average value added to a business per worker is $6,432.

Third, sustainable businesses are better equipped to recruit the best employees. A recent study from Johnson Controls provides strong evidence that Generation Y is highly concerned about the environment and expects employers to become more sustainable. Ninety-six percent of Generation Y respondents said they want their employer to be environmentally friendly or at least environmentally aware, and large percentages – 47.4% and 47%, respectively – would like to see water saving features and solar panels on site. But it’s not just Gen Y workers who are increasing their commitment to sustainability in the workplace. The study noted that 98% of 26-35 year old respondents want their employers to be environmentally friendly or aware. This suggests that SMEs ignore sustainability at their own risk, particularly in this time of economic uncertainty.

I recognize that many SMEs still struggle to find a convincing argument to make the move towards sustainability. But going green is not some altruistic move that SMEs should make just because of personal beliefs or commitments – it is a smart business decision that will make them more competitive in the long run, one that they may not be able to afford to pass up.

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Tim Kovach is the Product Coordinator for Energy at the Council of Smaller Enterprises in Cleveland, Ohio. He works to help small businesses cut their energy costs, reduce their energy use through energy efficiency, and improve their sustainability efforts through COSE’s Energy Solutions. COSE, a small business support organization with over 16,000 members, provides cost-effective group purchasing programs, advocacy on legislative and regulatory issues, and networking and educational resources to help Northeast Ohio’s small businesses grow.

This post was written by Rob Reed. He is the founder of MomentFeed, a location-based marketing, strategy, and technology firm.

Location technologies are transforming how we experience, navigate, and ultimately better our world. From the global to the local, here are #10Ways geolocation is a positive force for good.

Social media has changed the world. It has revolutionized communications on a global scale, and the transformation continues with every status update, blog post, and video stream. The global citizenry has become a global network.

Since becoming widely adopted just a couple years ago, social media has supercharged social action, social cause marketing, and social entrepreneurship. Indeed, the true value hasn’t been the technology itself but how we’ve used it. Today, a second wave of innovation is defining a new era and setting the stage for change over the coming decade.

Mobile technologies will extend the global online network to anyone with a mobile device while enabling countless local networks to form in the real world. We’ve decentralized media production and distribution. We’re doing the same for energy. And we’ll continue this trend for social networking, social action, and commerce.

The combined forces of smartphones, mobile broadband, and location-aware applications will connect us in more meaningful ways to the people, organizations, events, information, and companies that matter most to us—namely, those within a physical proximity of where we live and where we are. Can location-based services (LBS) change the world? Here are #10Ways:

1. Checking in for Good: If Gowalla and Foursquare have taught us anything, it’s that people respond to simple incentives. By offering badges, mayorships, and other intangible rewards, millions of people are checking in to the places they go. Apps like Whrrl take this a step further and enable like-minded “societies” to form on a local basis. The next step is for these apps to add greater purpose by encouraging more meaningful checkins and offering corresponding badges and stamps, thus mapping the cause universe. Or for a dedicated app to be developed that rewards conscious consumption, social responsibility, and civic engagement. Yes, the CauseWorld app features a cause element, but it’s not about cause-worthy places.

2. Eating Locally: Sustainability demands that we source our food as close to its point of production as possible. Many so-called locavores subscribe to the 100-mile diet, which requires that one “eat nothing—or almost nothing—but sustenance drawn from within 100 miles of their home.” Given the difficulty of accessing and verifying this information in order to live by this standard, there’s a geo-powered Locavore app. It gives you info on in-season foods, those coming in-season, farmer’s markets, and links to recipes. This rather simple app is clearly just the start. In time, location-aware apps will guide us not only to the grocery store or farmer’s market but through them. All the while identifying foods based on our particular diet or sensibility.

3. Political Organizing: In the next presidential election, politics will not only be local but location-enabled. We saw the power of social media in Obama’s 2008 landslide victory. In 2012, location-based apps and technologies will play a central role in how campaigns are organized, managed, and ultimately won. Much of this will be visible through mobile apps and location-aware browsers. Activists and volunteers will be more empowered. Voters will be more engaged in the moment, right down to casting their votes. Behind the scenes, though, we’ll see massive new sets of data available to campaigns for targeting, empowerment, and optimization. The party, candidate, and/or cause that has the best handle on geolocation will have a measurable advantage. (The Elections app will soon be updated for 2010.)

4. Finding Green Businesses: The web has effectively replaced the paper Yellow Pages as a way to find local businesses and services. However, this “stationary web” experience is quickly being supplanted by the mobile web and mobile applications, which give us access to this information when we most need it. The Yelp and Around Me apps are popular ways to find restaurants, coffee shops, or hotels wherever you are, but what about green-rated businesses? Greenopia has transformed its printed, local guides into a dynamic, nationwide mobile application that lets you find local, green-rated businesses in any category. No more paper and a much better experience. The Green Map app is another that facilitates discovery and connects us to local green environments.

5. Traveling More Efficiently: We’ve had access to GPS navigation systems and static traffic information for some time, but only now are we seeing the full potential of these technologies. With access to more detailed traffic information that is specific to your route and updated in real time, we can minimize congestion and maximize traffic flow (as much as physically possible). The new turn-by-turn MapQuest 4 Mobile app is a good start, as you can get traffic alerts specific to the route you program. However, user-generated information from apps like Trapster and Waze can crowdsource more specific details, such as whether to avoid an intersection due to a toxic chemical spill. Or, if you want to avoid automobiles altogether, Google Maps makes it easy to use public transportation and take a bike.

6. Scanning for Ethical Products: With online shopping, we’ve become accustomed to reading reviews and making comparisons before we buy. This can now be done in the physical world through games like MyTown and services like Stikybits. By scanning a product barcode using a smartphone camera, you can unlock a treasure of additional information (not to mention deals) that can help with your purchase. This might include where it was produced, how far it traveled, the reputation of the manufacturer, chemical contents, carbon footprint, or the full lifecycle analysis. Location-aware applications can also transform commerce itself by giving us better access to local inventories and locally-produced goods. Whether it’s fruits and vegetables or books and electronics, if something can be found within blocks of your current location, it makes no sense to ship it from afar.

7. Networking Neighborhoods: One of the hottest categories in geolocation is neighborhood networking. The vision for many of these apps is to strengthen the very fabric of our communities. With DeHood, you can keep track of what’s happening in your neighborhood, share your favorite places, and grease the wheels for actually meeting people. After all, if you’ve made contact through the app, it’s a lot easier to say “Hello” in the real world. Blasterous is another that lets you share information locally, whereas BlockChalk does this on an anonymous basis. Finally, NeighborGoods uses your street address to facilitate one-to-one borrowing and trading of useful stuff. In the end, making connections with your neighbors can lead to safer, more productive, and more sustainable communities.

8. Tracking Environmental Disasters: The size and scope of environmental disasters appears to be growing. In 2008, we had the Tennessee coal ash spill, which was billed as “the largest environmental disaster of its kind in the United States.” And that was before we realized it was three times bigger than originally estimated. More recently, the BP oil spill set daily records for “largest environmental disaster in the U.S. ever.” In each case, geolocation technologies can be used by engaged citizens to monitor and track the effects. They can be used by response teams to coordinate containment and cleanup efforts. Ultimately, these technologies can be used to accurately measure the size and impact of a disaster in order to better understand its damages and costs.

9. Viewing the World Through an Eco Lens: Augmented reality (AR) follows geolocation as one of the hot trends in mobile technology. It enables you to view the world through a smartphone camera (or similar device) and see layers of geo-specific content or information. One of the most popular apps is Layar, an augmented reality browser/platform that lets you choose specific data layers or experiences. The potential for green- and cause-related content is tremendous. You might view green-rated businesses, LEED-certified buildings, or virtual GHG emissions as they enter the atmosphere. Combined with smart meter technology, you could see the most efficient and inefficient homes around you in real time. And for the cynics among us, you could view our mountains, forests, rivers, and oceans as they once were…before the effects of climate change and so many environmental disasters.

10. Capturing the Moment: Better access to information about what’s happening around us—right now—can dramatically improve quality of life. This sense of “geospatial awareness” is possible through today’s smartphones, whereby a piece of content or information—a moment—is captured and preserved based on the unique time and place in which it occurred. It is essentially to document spacetime. Protests, natural disasters, sporting events, parties, political crises…real-time information about anything happening anywhere at any time, as well as the history of what happened. This will take several years and a number of different applications to realize. In the end, though, it will revolutionize how we access and consume content. It will complete the democratization and decentralization of news and information…based on time and location.

Cautionary note: Privacy is the single biggest issue in the LBS industry. It’s important to understand what information you are sharing with regard to your location and with whom.

Author’s note: We’ll be hosting geolocation events for Social Media Week in Los Angeles this September. This is the third in Max Gladwell’s #10Ways series of distributed blog posts. It was published simultaneously on as many as 300 blogs.

Guest post by: Dinesh Thirupuvanam

Chefs all across the country are embracing sustainability. Whether it’s buying organic produce, sourcing grass fed beef, or buying local, these food lovers are starting to view sustainability as core to all aspects of their business. As a result, many chefs and restaurateurs have started to move away from traditional petroleum based plastic food packaging and are now using “compostables.”

What is Compostable Food Ware?

Compostable food ware is a form of food packaging made entirely from renewable resources. These products are available in many of the same sizes and shapes as plastic or Styrofoam products and they can be certified as compostable in a commercial composting facility. Typical materials used in the construction of compostable food ware, include:

• Corn / Polylactic Acid (or PLA) – Most of the compostable clear plastic containers and cups being made today are from PLA. PLA is a fully compostable bio-polymer made from corn. Natureworks LLC is the largest manufacturer of PLA pellets and these pellets can be molded into a variety of compostable plastic cups & containers.
• Sugarcane / Bagasse – Bagasse is a by-product of the sugarcane production process. When sugarcane is pressed for it’s juice, the remaining fibrous material is bagasse. Bagasse can be dried and formed into paperboard, which can then be molded into a variety of different containers.
• Paper lined with PLA – Paper products such as hot cups or paper bowls are also fully compostable, so long as they’re lined with a bio-plastic such as PLA and not with a petroleum based plastic like polyethylene.

How to Make Sure You’re Purchasing Compostable Food Ware that is Actually Compostable

For compostable food ware to be certified as 100% compostable in a commercial composting facility, the products must be tested and meet the standards provided under ASTM D-6400, ASTM D-6868, or EN13432. These standards ensure that any compostable product will biodegradade by 60-90% in 180 days, will disintegrate to pieces of 2 millimeters in size or less, and will have concentrations of heavy metals below the limits provided.

Once products meet one of these standards, they can then be certified by a 3rd party. The leading North American certifier is the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI), who provides a full list of all products that meet the above standards and are certified as compostable.

Important Note: The above standards and certifications will ensure that products are compostable in a commercial composting facility. Certified compostable food ware products will take significantly longer to break down in a home or backyard composting environment, as these environments do not reach the same high heat levels of a commercial facility. Manufacturers should be able to provide specifications on the biodegradation times for products in varying environments.

A Warning regarding “Biodegradable” Products

Some brands (e.g., Taterware) have labeled their products as “biodegradable.” These products are in essence green washing and have passed no tests for compostability and have no time requirement for biodegradation (i.e. calling a product biodegradable means it will eventually break down, but it may take several years or more). We strongly recommend not purchasing these products.

Where to Purchase Compostable Food Ware

A variety of manufacturers and retailers exist, but we recommend consulting the BPI’s list of approved products and vendors first to ensure that you’re purchasing supplies that are 100% compostable.

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Dinesh Thirupuvanam runs an Eco Buying Group for small businesses called the Viv Biz Club. Viv helps businesses pool their purchasing power to save up to 80% on sustainable products, including compostable food packaging supplies, corn cups, and recycled office supplies.

The desire for green businesses has been increasing greatly in recent years, and pizza is one of the most popular food choices all around. Therefore, it makes plenty of sense why an eco pizza business would be a promising green business venture. Pizzerias can be found in nearly every city or town, but traditional pizzerias aren’t often considered to be an eco-friendly business. However, there are now some eco pizza businesses popping up. Green pizza businesses offer the same products and services as traditional pizzerias, but operate with stricter sustainability principles, thus making the overall experience not only delicious, but better for the environment.

One green pizza business that has been successful since its start in 2006 is Pizza Fusion. The co-founders, Gordon and Vaughan Lazar, combined sustainability, social responsibility, and profitability to create the concept for their eco pizzeria, which has now grown into a franchise. They did their best to employ eco-friendly practices in all aspects of their green pizzeria, from the ingredients to the energy usage to the delivery, making this an overall green pizza business that meets the customers’ needs while maintaining sustainability and utilizing environmentally friendly practices.

What makes a eco pizza business green?

What separates an eco pizza business from a traditional one are the earth friendly practices the business employs, including using mostly organic ingredients, such as organic cheese, sauce, vegetables, and dough, but the sustainability practices go beyond the food.

In addition to making sure their ingredients are healthy, Pizza Fusion strives to operate an low impact, energy efficient business. Pizza Fusion even plans to use their hot water heater without electricity and to heat their northern stores solely using the oven. The franchise even makes all of their deliveries using hybrid vehicles to lessen their carbon footprint, a great move when considering their deliveries can often top over 60 in a single night.

Pizza Fusion is a great example of how you can start an eco pizza business that is eco-friendly, sustainable, and profitable. By employing environmentally friendly products as well as services, eco pizzerias prove to be much more sustainable overall than a typical pizza business.

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Adopting green marketing practices is one avenue where businesses can both lower their ecological footprint while basking in the good PR karma of becoming a greener business, if their efforts to uphold sustainability principles are sincere, measurable and verifiable. A failure to understand what green marketing is, as well as the inability to demonstrate improved sustainability measures, while making efforts to portray one’s business as green is simply another example of corporate greenwash. So how can a marketing professional avoid the pitfalls of greenwash while embracing the principles of green marketing? Let’s begin with the definition of green marketing.

What is Green Marketing?

Green marketing is the promotion and selling of services, products, or a combination of the two, that are assumed to be safe for the environment. Green marketing, also called eco marketing or environmental marketing is used for products and services that are presumed to have little or no effect on the environment, which is thus seen as an advantage to consumers. By making their advertising campaigns green, businesses can then reach additional customers by spreading the word of their green products or services.

What Makes a Green Advertising Campaign Green?

A green advertising campaign, or green marketing campaign, is used to show how a business’s products or services are green, or environmentally friendly. To do this, a green advertising campaign showcases the eco-friendly features of the products or services. For example, green advertising may show that a product is organic, or made from entirely natural ingredients, without any synthetic proponents. A green advertising campaign may also note that a product uses environmentally friendly packaging. A green marketing campaign shows how the business’s services or products are presumed to be environmentally sound and safe, thus appealing to customers and increasing your business.

5 Ways You Can Green Your Marketing Campaign

1. Have your product or service eco certified. By having your product or service certified green, you can prove to your customer base that your goods or services are green and reach additional customers. Some certifications you can get for your product or service include getting organic certification, fair trade certification, green business certification, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, or Green Seal certification. All of these types of green certification will help you green your marketing campaign.



2. Use marketing that doesn’t add waste. By choosing to use e-marketing, television marketing, or any other form of marketing that isn’t wasteful, you’re greening your marketing campaign. Using wasteful forms of marketing such as flyers and brochures adds to the waste of your business and therefore, is not green. However, if you still want to market your product using paper advertising, you can green your marketing somewhat by using recycled paper and environmentally friendly ink.
3. Make your product or services greener. By making your goods or services greener, you can make your marketing campaign greener. To do this, consider using more recycled materials in your products, making sure your products are energy efficient, or making your products more easily recyclable. To green your services, you can use natural and organic products, make sure your location is energy efficient, use renewable sources of energy, and reduce waste while increasing recycling. A successful green advertising campaign will keep getting greener by showing consumers how the business is constantly greening their products or services.
4. Consider stewardship programs and industry partnerships. Industry partnerships and stewardship programs are great for green marketing campaigns as they increase the life cycle of your products.  By using a stewardship program or industry partnership, you can reduce the harmful output you put out through the manufacturing of your product, as well.
5. Use greener manufacturing. There are a number of ways to employ greener manufacturing processes when creating your products that help to green your marketing. Find manufacturing processes that use less energy, create less waste, use less harmful materials, and create less waste.

By keeping these green marketing tips in mind, you will be well on your way to truly greening your marketing campaign, rather than embarking on a greenwashing campaign instead.

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