I am fortunate enough to be renting desk-time at Greenspaces, a wonderful location near Chinatown in NYC for green entrepreneurs to set up and work without having to pay for their own office & overhead (www.greenspaceshome.com). It is also home to EcoSalon, a location for events including a recent lecture by Joel Makower, founder of Greenbiz.com, and author of 20 books including “Strategies for the Green Economy,” “The Green Consumer,” and “Beyond the Bottom Line: Putting Social Responsibility to Work for Your Business and the World.”  He spoke about 1) communal consumption — for example, instead of every home buying a power drill, one is shared by a neighborhood, or even, one car being used by multiple people — one person uses it when the other doesn’t need it. This is a way to reduce overall consumption of resources while still meeting everyone’s needs. 2) He said people generally are only motivated to buy “greener” products if they are somehow “better” — either cheaper, or have more value because they work better, are healthier etc. 3) He also mentioned that some companies are doing more to reduce their environmental impacts than they admit publicly, because they fear opening themselves up for criticism that they are still not doing enough. It was a thought-provoking discussion from someone who clearly has an ear to the ground on green trends. See www.makower.com.

“Every week you make dozens of decisions that directly affect the environment of the planet Earth. At work, at home and at play, whether shopping for life’s basic necessities or its most indulgent luxuries, the choices you make are a never-ending series of votes for or against the environment.” — Joel Makower