Contest Sows Seeds, Growing Green Business Trees
by Rachel Wasser, Beijing, China on 02.21.07
It always warms the heart to hear about entrepreneurs turning a profit as they protect the environment. And nothing says there’s plenty of green to go around as well as eco-businesses that put some into the pockets of the poor. The Supporting Entrepreneurs for Environment and Development (Seed) Initiative is all about promoting this sort of “business as unusual.” A collaboration of inter-governmental organizations, governments, and the private sector, Seed supports innovative entrepreneurial partnerships that deliver real solutions in the field of sustainable development. The Initiative means business – business that improves local community livelihoods and contributes to environmental protection.
Through its Seed Awards contest, the Initiative nurtures start-up seeds that will hopefully grow into super-huggable sustainable enterprise trees. Cows to Kilowatts, one of the previous winners, aims to provide cheap, clean energy to Nigerian households through biogas. Though the importance of biogas as alternative energy in developing nations is not to be underestimated, you might not actually want to get close enough to hug this one. The power source is literally cows, in the form of abattoir waste.
Finalists for the 2007 Seed Awards were announced by Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), at the World Economic Forum in Davos in late January. The ten finalists hail from ten different developing countries. All offer inspiring examples of exciting, locally-adapted solutions for sustainability – from an eco-tourism endeavor in Brazil to a scheme for marketing Vietnamese medicinal plant products internationally to a Tanzanian alternative fuel production venture. “Future Fuels,” the Tanzanian finalist, saves trees by making fuel from wood waste. This year’s winners will be announced at the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development in New York in May, and we’re psyched to learn more and watch these seeds take root.
I strongly support any business interests that want to get on board. We must remember the thing that mostly got them on board was the fact that, rich or poor, an impoverished planet is a less happy place for everyone to live, including the rich.
The richest people in the world are those who've helped interrelate economies more. The computer nerds have increased efficiencies tremendously and have literally made more money than they can ever spend.
But not everyone can be rich, and the game has gotten much more competitive.
And maybe if society has a little less shortage-driven discord, there will be less anxiety, and fewer individuals so driven by status anxiety that they feel they MUST be the next billionaire.