We all know that money talks, but do we realize how loudly our collective shopping dollars shout, forcing companies to listen to our choices, and to attempt to understand our preferences?
Why Support Green Businesses?
When we choose to support green businesses that make and market goods that reverse rather than advance global warming, we are exerting a powerful, positive influence on climate change.
As corporations decide how goods are processed and distributed, their choices have been—andwill continue to be—a tremendous contributing factor in the state of the global warming crisis.
Even the most powerful corporations in the world were made that way by consumers who decided to buy their products. This means that we, as consumers, are truly the most powerful force for change.
All that is needed to turn the tide is a critical mass of consumers who buy greener, and we are already well on our way!
Now that you know you’re sitting in the driver’s seat of our entire economy, use your consumer power to influence positive change for penguins, polar bears, humans and the planet as a whole.
According to the Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) Forum, 35million Americans today demand and support environmentally beneficial goodsand services, with their total annual buying topping $208 billion.
Although this is a big number, it’s still only about 12 percent of Americans—a clear minority,but a rapidly growing demographic as well.
During the past several years— with the resulting rise in public concern about global warming—more and more corporations are jumping on the green bandwagon. It has become an accepted fact in corporate-marketing groups that large companies catering to wide demographics must be seen as green-friendly or risk losing a significant percentage of their customers.
If you watched the green business news announcements at www.greenbiz.com in 2007, you would have noticed that virtually every day, another major corporation announced it was greening its practices, or a group of companies announced the formation of a new business alliance or coalition with a green mission such as sustainability and the fight against climate change.
The role of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Director at a corporation is held by the person or group who assesses the overall impact of a company’s practices on society. While CSR analysts became common in the 1970s, they are now taking a more prominent role and continue to be very environmentally focused, due, in great part, to demonstrated consumer demand.
Today’s consumers are responding more and more to information about how companies are behaving in relation to what’s best for people and the planet. Many consumers boycott products that they hear are detrimental to the environment.
In turn more companies are promising to donate a portion of their profits to worthwhile causes and more companies are advertising on their packaging that they source only sustainable materials, use organic ingredients, don’t conduct animal testing, or use free-range animals.
The Green Patriot Working Group has identified a list of 100 exceptional green companies called the Green Patriot Green 100™ companies (see www.greenpatriot.us/green100.html). These companies were selected for their leadership in environmentallysustainable business practices.
The list ranges from small, home grown companies, such as Esperanza Apparel, to enormous multinational corporations,such as Target and Nike, who have been chided as well as cherished when it comes to environmental performance.
The Green Patriot Green 100 companies are not all practicing perfect carbon neutrality. The common denominator is that these companies have demonstrated impressive, real action and leadership in thequest to stop global warming.
Supporting these 100 companies—as well as others you know that are taking action to squelch global warming— will reward their green leadership and encourage other companies to follow suit.
And every time you support green companies such as these, you can feel great knowing that you are helping to turn the marketplace green, which will in turn help save our earth from global warming.
One of the Green Patriot Green 100’s companies, CoOp America, also runs a terrific website that can help you to identify leading green companies in your neck of the woods. And another great Green 100 company—Greener World Media—provides a tremendous amount of valuable information daily on their websites GreenBiz, Climate Biz, Green Biz Leaders, Greener Buildings,Greener Computing, and Greener Design.
As more companies turn green, the Green Patriot Green 100 list will likely grow to the Green 200, the Green 500, and beyond. It’s a good sign that change is already very visible in the marketplace, and as we continue to vote for ahealthier world every time we shop, we are likely to see a much greater transformation in the immediate years to come.
Erzsebet Frey (Eli Frey) is an ecologist and online entrepreneur with a Master of Science in Ecology from the University of Belgrade. Originally from Serbia, she has lived in Sri Lanka since 2017. Eli has worked internationally in countries like Oman, Brazil, Germany, and Sri Lanka. In 2018, she expanded into SEO and blogging, completing courses from UC Davis and Edinburgh. Eli has founded multiple websites focused on biology, ecology, environmental science, sustainable and simple living, and outdoor activities. She enjoys creating nature and simple living videos on YouTube and participates in speleology, diving, and hiking.