The Business of Global Greening

How Technology and Business are Saving the Planet

AUTHOR STEVE BANNISTER

Article 2 in a Series of 6
In the January 2007 issue, Steve Bannister provided an overview of five key trends that will affect people and businesses in the year ahead. These trends were: Global Greening, The Flow of Philanthropy, Connecting the World, Information vs. Knowledge, and The Power of Design.

In this issue, Steve analyzes the Global Greening trend in depth to help determine the real implications to assist readers determine their responses proactively.

Imagine a massive piece of glacial ice bigger than the area of Manhattan Island (61 sq km) breaking off from its main ice shelf and crashing down into the sea. This exact event occurred recently in Canada’s far north and it remains to be seen next summer whether shipping lanes or oil-drilling regions will be adversely affected. Scientists can’t say for certain that this break was a direct result of global warming. However, the vast majority of scientists agree that global warming is occurring mainly because of people’s behaviour and not the result of the natural evolution of the earth’s climate.

So, how are environmental issues different today from the same issues of say, 30 years ago when new buzz words such as, “the ozone layer” and “carbon dioxide emissions” became so popular? Environmental concerns were voiced by members of the hippie movement in the 1960s and early 70s. Then there was the oil crisis in the late 1970s. But this time, it is proving to be quite a different matter.