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| <back | home "Green" Means "Black" by Natasha Dalton “Given everything we do to give back to the environment, our bottom line certainly doesn’t suffer.” — Dominique Conseil, CEO, AVEDA Corporation “And you must lean on me, and I will turn to you, and we must count on us.” — Vocolot The need to redefine the very idea of the way business is done is both apparent and urgent. “If the corporations have their way, the Earth will be killed, and that’s in your lifetime. It’s revolting to me that students are being trained to work in corporations. It’s obscene to me that the corporations are running the world,” says Dr. Helen Caldicott.* Fortunately, the trend towards new, socially responsible and environmentally sound businesses is gaining momentum. According to John Stayton, the Co-founder and Director of the Green MBA at New College of California in Santa Rosa, green businesses are among the fastest growing industries in the nation. 54% of the traditional business schools now require a course in corporate social responsibility and sustainability — up from 34 percent in 2001, wh-ereas three schools in the nation: the New College of CA Green MBA, the Bainbridge Graduate Institute in Washington State and the Presidio School of Management at Presidio World College in San Francisco – made the concepts of sustainability and social justice the cornerstones of their programs. The awareness and desire to make a difference are there, the only question that still remains to be answered unequivocally, is the question of MONEY. Really, is there money in the ”green field”, or is it still the kind of enterprise that is mostly powered by the idealism of its proprietors? Shana Levy McCracken, President of Gigantic Idea Studio, Inc., a social marketing firm specializing in environmental campaigns for government agencies, represents the new generation of the corporate world who does business differently. “I have people tell me all the time that they’d like to work in the field of sustainability, but they don’t want to sacrifice a good income. That’s absurd in my opinion,” she says. “Sustainability is such a broad industry. In fact, it’s not an industry, it’s everything. Literally. I had the planning chair of an environmental conference tell me recently that I couldn’t speak because he didn’t believe people could “do well while doing good.” I think that’s incredibly narrow-minded and is the kind of thinking that could sink us all. I’ve worked in the non-profit and government sectors—both within the environmental arena—and I know for a fact that I’m having a greater impact as an entrepreneur.” Shana is one of the Green MBA graduates with a distinctive new voice (in Shana’s case, it’s true both figuratively and literally, since she is also a singer in a touring band Vocolot,). Green MBA at New College was created in 2000, and by now it has 40 graduates. About 50% of them started their own businesses, while the other half “is almost evenly divided between holding consulting jobs and doing entrepreneurial work in conventional companies,” explains Stacie Wickham, the Director of Marketing and Admissions for the Green MBA, and a program graduate herself. “The people we attract have strong environmental and social values. The Green MBA opens doors people didn’t know existed, and gives them practical tools to move their initiatives forward,” she says. The Green MBA graduates appear to be pretty ‘hot commodities.’ Some get hired by fellow students from the Green MBA program who had already started their own business. Such is the case of Anne Buffington, a 2006 graduate, who is working with her former classmate Joey Shepp on the development of Earthsite. She also works for Manka’s, an innovative lodge in Marin County which serves only local organic food to its guests. Other graduates have been hired by established companies exactly because of the ‘green component’ in their training. Ofer Morag is one of them. With his fresh Green MBA, Ofer was able to step straight into a management position at FedEx/Kinko’s. Target and ConSol also brought green MBA graduates on board. Another example of this new type of a successful private enterprise is that of Joey Shepp. He is the founder of Earthsite.net — a company building a global network of sustainable businesses. He is also a co-founder of AloNovo.com, a “responsible shopping portal with a mission of empowering consumers to create change.” Joey has consulted many major players in the sustainable economy, including Global Exchange and Fantastic Foods. “The old way of doing business is going extinct,” he says. “Polluting, cheating, and short-term thinking are not providing the financial returns they used to. There is a new buzz in the business world and it is sustainability. Companies like Clif Bar, Organic Valley, GE, Toyota, HP, and BP are changing the game by investing in sustainable business. When I talk about sustainable business, I mean sustainable profits—and did I mention that environmental and social values are the way to get there? I got a Green MBA to have a competitive advantage in today’s new economy.” “There are all sorts of sales drivers because there’s a market for environmentally responsible products,” says Green MBA Program Director John Stayton, referring to the success enjoyed by two Sonoma County companies Traditional Medicinals and Clover Stornetta. “When you’re reducing waste, you’re often reducing costs. You’re actually becoming more profitable. The reality is that the companies that aren’t on board will lose. That’s why there is a strong market for people with our degrees.” “One sign that green biz is viable” is that “green is the new black”, says Sonora Beam, another Green MBA graduate and a co-owner of Digital Hive Ecological Design, a thriving marketing design firm. “That is, companies that are catering to the social and environmental concerns of their customers are so “in the black” financially that they are a prime target for buy-out from conventional corporations,” she explains. “Ben and Jerry’s. Odwalla. Tom’s of Maine. They are great examples of companies begun with a green mission that became so valuable dollar-wise and in market share, they were worthy of being bought.” The numbers speak for themselves. Statistics posted on Earthsite.net are impressive: in 2005, retail sales of organic foods were expected to exceed $15 billion, with more than $32 billion projected by 2009… savoring “years of 17%-20% growth”. Wind power had a 28.5% growth rate over the last 5 years – “that is more than a doubling of wind power capacity every three years.” In 2006, sales of hybrid vehicles are likely to account for 10% of the 2 million midsize vehicles sold annually in USA. The annual market for green building is $5.8 billion, “representing 34% growth over the prior year (based on 2003 figures)”. “There is so much need out there for people with vision and skills,” says Shana Levy. “That need spells opportunity. There is no reason you can’t do whatever you’re doing in the old economy and apply it to sustainability. It’s really not getting into sustainability that’s going to mean you’re left behind economically.” To learn more, go to: www.greenmba.com; www.newcollege.com (John Stayton, Stacie Wickham) www.digitalhive.biz (Sonora Beam, Janet Pomeroy) www.gigantic-idea.com; www.vocolot.com (Shana Levy) www.Earthsite.net; www.AloNovo.com; http://www.shepp.org (Joey Shepp) * Quoted from www. 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