Go Green, Get Rich

Inspiring news on an otherwise dull Monday morning. Business 2.0′s latest features nine companies working nine global problems. The problems? (1) Global Warming, (2) Oil Dependency, (3) Hunger and Malnutrition, (4) Dirty Air, (5) Dirty Water, (6) Overfishing, (7) Epidemics, (8) Drug-Resistant Infections, and (9) Waste Disposal. Seeing more and more coverage of these types of stories in the main stream media is heartening. Take some time to go through this entire feature. While the link takes you to the slide show on the nine problems / nine companies, each links to a feature story that describes the issue and potential solution in greater detail. I found it a very concise way to get a handle on the globe’s main problems.

Diseases are noticeably absent from the list. I don’t think that’s a big issue though. A few medical topics are covered with (3), (7) and (8). The impact of these problems are more likely to be solved by business innovation than medical research. Cancer, AIDS, heart disease . . . these are the problems needing medical breakthroughs, not socially-minded corporations, to be eradicated.

Socially-minded corporations are what inspire me to continue reading, writing and learning about sustainability. There are so many problems the planet is facing that sometimes overcoming them seems hopeless – until you read about creative, passionate people doing things the right way. Many of the smaller problems facing the globe can be eliminated or kept small by being environmentally, economically and socially responsible.

For more on this topic, see Responsible MBAs or The World Trade Organization and Sustainable Development.