THE ROLE OF GREEN BUSINESS IN OUR LIFE.

Why have I decided to choose the theme “Green business”? The answer is very easy-
today it is very important issue to make your business ecologically sustainable. Not everyone
clearly understands what means ecologically sustainable or green business. I think if every
person really understands the importance of this problem, especially in 21st century, when it
reached the most dangerous level during the whole history of mankind, it will be easier to find
the right decision in solving this problem.
By choosing this theme I want to prove that opening green business today is the most
right decision you can make. This kind of business has two main advantages: it brings profit to
the businessmen and save our nature, which is much important, comparing with other material
goods, because everything we own was given for us by our nature. Today we have everything we
need, but if we don’t save it, our future generation will face ecological tragedy, when there will
be nothing to produce, because of lack of natural resources.
The term “green business” is used in discussions of businesses and business practices
which are viewed to be environmentally sound. In the early 21st century, many companies began
capitalizing on growing consumer desire for sustainable business by “greening” their practices to
make them more environmentally friendly, and a number of entrepreneurs sometimes known as
ecopreneurs opened businesses with a green slant. Today, green business is an extremely
profitable branch of the business world, and it hosts a range of companies, from prestigious
multinational companies to small, locally based companies [1].
In order to be considered a green business, a company must use practices which are
viewed as sustainable and environmentally friendly. These practices might include the use of
organic and natural products to build its factories, tighter protections against emissions, and
environmentally responsible sourcing of supplies. For example, a green clothing business would
seek out organic, fair-trade cotton to promote an environmentally friendly image, and it might
have a factory with a living roof, or power gained from solar panels. Many green businesses are
also concerned about human and animal exploitation, and they make an attempt to create cruelty
free products and to pay their workers well in addition to providing them with benefits.
Let’s take an example of real companies occupied with eco business- The Body Shop. It
is the second largest cosmetic franchise in the world. The Body Shop carries a wide range of
products for the body, face, hair and home. The Body Shop does not claim its products are 'all-
natural', but "inspired by nature" and they feature ingredients such as marula oil and sesame seed
oil sourced through the Community Trade fair trade program. This is the example of the
producers, who do not want to attract our attention only by using popular label “eco friendly”,
but they show us really care about environment, and our health.
The goal of a green business is to keep its environmental footprint small, reducing waste
and reusing materials as much as possible. Many use innovative building techniques for their
facilities which are designed to promote energy efficiency, along with building materials which
are environmentally friendly like panels fabricated from recycled materials. These companies
also encourage their workers to think about the environment when they generate printed material
and think about new products. Today for managers of huge multinational companies the issue of
eco friendliness is one of the most important, comparing with previous times, when people, who
had enough money to hold some part of the global industry, felt themselves kings. All
international organizations, which deals with environmental protection, carefully monitor the
activity of the companies, who have some influence on the environment, and, if they find any
violations, it will negatively affect your position on the market. Advanced managers understand
the situation in the world, and try not to become a red tape.
A green business can sell all sorts of things. Many car manufacturers, for example, have
green model factories and offices to convince their target consumers that they are concerned
about the environment. Many green businesses also offer green products, ranging from
composting toilets to green architecture. When a company offers environmentally products,
many consumers also assume that the company itself is environmentally responsible, as its
products reflect a concern about the environment.
The success of green business has shown that it is economically feasible and in fact very
sensible to do business in a sustainable, environmentally friendly way. It has also encouraged the
growth of initiatives which are designed to benefit the environment, from carbon trading to tax
breaks for people who make energy-efficient modifications to their homes. However, it has also
given rise to “greenwashing,” a trend exhibited by companies which want to capitalize on the
green revolution in business without actually doing the deed. When businesses market
themselves aggressively as green, you may want to do some deeper research to ensure that they
are not greenwashing in an attempt to win your dollars[2].
Today there are a lot of sources, giving information about this issue, including mass-
media and Internet. Reading different articles you can’t catch the main idea and you get
confused. Another very important problem is that businessmen are afraid of loosing the profit,
because they think that business, which is ecologically sustainable and doesn’t bring harm to
environment, using only natural, energy- saving and recycling materials, won’t be profitable.
Today a lot of businessmen all over the world have already started actions supporting this
problem, but their number is measly little comparing with the great amount of people, who close
their eyes on this issue. They just don’t understand that the consequences of this problem are
awful and they depend on every of us. Everyone will agree, if I say, that children are the main
sense of our life, and nobody wants their nearest to live in the dying world. According to the
terrible statistics, the speed of destroying of our nature is so great that we can’t exactly say how
much time we have. But what I can say exactly today we have the opportunity to change the
situation and save our green planet.
We can compare our nature with the cup, filled with emotions. When we harm it, the
level of negative emotions in cup is increasing. Someday it will be overfilled, and all harm and
pain will flow on us. And this punishment will be awful. Nobody knows when it will be
overfilled. Tomorrow? Next week? Or we have enough time? Maybe your negative influence
will be the last? Do you want to be the cause of ecological catastrophe? We will never know the
answer, but it will be better not to risk, because the live of all mankind, moreover, of our planet
is in our arms. This is the great responsibility to save the life of the whole Earth. If everybody
joins the “green” sight, together it will be easier to solve this global problem. You don’t need to
become a superhero and do impossible, just start with yourself, change your attitude to the things
around you, because the world is so beautiful, and we are responsible to save it for our children.
They also have a right to look at the sunset on a beach, to meet with a new unknown culture, to
start a new day with a smile, just to live…
After close investigation of this problem I started to feel the desire to join people, who
have already started supporting this issue. Exactly now I haven’t opportunity to open my own
business, but I have great plans for the future. According to my specialization, I hope that I will
get knowledge, which is necessary to start my own business.
But there is another sight of the moon. What should I do to make my business
ecologically sustainable? How can I prevent the using of non-ecological materials and control
these processes. I try to find the answers on these questions right now. Since I started the
studying “Ecology of sustainable development” I have been gradually realizing the importance
of this issue in our life. Reading different articles and statistics I was in shock, because of the
real ecological situation in our world. The worst thing that everyone think that the actions he can
take have so little influence on this problem that he doesn’t want to change his attitude .
I want to do everything I can to make the ecological situation better. If I start my own
business in future, it will be ecologically sustainable. I want my business to be green. If to think
about the area of concern, I want to choose the issue, which will be important in changing
today’s situation, something at global level.
21st century is associated with the high speed of life. The main reasons are globalization
process which erases the boarders between countries, and technological progress, which gives us
the opportunity to set a connection with the different parts of the world within a minute. The
progress, mankind made, gives a lot of advantages, but there is a negative sight. All the factories,
plants, which produces goods for consumers bring a lot of harm to the environment.
I want to provide statistical data of different world ecological organizations which shows
how awful the situation is:
1. During winter months, 49 percent of soot and other particle pollution in Sacramento is
caused by burning wood in fireplaces and wood stoves.
2. According to the World Health Organization, if you are one of the 18 million residents
of Cairo:
- Breathing daily air pollution is like smoking 20 cigarettes a day
- You take in over 20 times the acceptable level of air pollution each day
3. The World Bank reported in 2002 that pollution causes 2.42 billion dollars worth of
damage to the Egyptian environment annually - equaling about 5 percent of the country’s annual
gross domestic product.
4. The risk of cancer from breathing diesel exhaust is about ten times more than ingesting
all other toxic air pollutants combined, with diesel emissions contributing to over 70% of the
cancer risk from air pollution in the USA. – reported by Environmental Defense.
5. The Boston area ranks number 5 in the country for premature deaths due to diesel
pollution annually. – reported by the Clean Air Task Force
In the state of Massachusetts alone, diesel emissions are responsible for the following
annual statistics:
- 450 premature deaths
- 700 non-fatal heart attacks
- 9,900 asthma attacks
- 13,000 respirator symptoms in children
- 60,000 work loss days.
6. According to Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology, carbon dioxide (a
greenhouse gas) is rising at an alarming rate. During the 1990s, carbon dioxide emissions
increased approximately 1.3% each year. But since 2000, the rate has increased to 3.3% per year,
with an estimated annual global CO2 emissions increase of 35% from 1990 to 2006.
7. A recent study from Toronto Public Health estimates over 440 deaths a year in the
Canadiancity can be directly attributed to traffic emissions.
8. The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have:
- Contributed 25% of the total diesel particulate emissions in the Los Angeles Basin.
- Added more NOx emissions to the atmosphere than all of the 6 million cars operating in
this area of California.
- Have not completed an environment impact report for infrastructure improvement
projects in six years.
9. Emissions from ocean-going ships contribute to approximately 60,000 deaths each
year, mostly from heart and lung-related cancers. Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong rank
within the world’s top 5 busiest ports, and experience a higher impact from emissions-related
health issues.
10. According to the US-EPA, emissions from power plants contribute to over 2,800 lung
cancer deaths and 38,200 heart attacks annually in the US[2].
This information is given with the purpose to start actions immediately, because time is
up. Don’t forget this, when the time to start your own project come.
 In such a developing world transport plays very important role in a life of every person.
And here we are also facing the dilemma. Today our cars are so breath-taking beautiful, fast and
comfortable. If you have money, you can choose everything that you want- sport cars, jeeps, they
have different sizes and appearance. But there is a very dangerous problem- these cars produce
very harmful for our nature and people’s health gases, which pollute atmosphere and destroy
ozone layer that protects us from ultraviolet energy. This problem is very serious especially in
mega policies, where sometimes the number of cars is greater than the number of people.
This problem is very important today, because the situation becomes worse every day.
That’s why I decided to help to find the better decision how to make this situation better.
Recently some genius scientists have invented very important thing- a car, which don’t
bring harm to the environment. I want to connect my future business with the production of
ecologically sustainable cars.
Nowadays cars produce a lot of polluting to atmosphere. If you look at our Almaty from
the top of mountain, you will see nothing because of smog. It is awful, because Almaty today
takes 9th place in the list of the most dirty and polluted cities all over the world. And one of the
main causes of this situation are gases-the product of combustion of fuel used to run cars. I think
I can take a part in solving this problem, because some people have already proved that it is
possible.
According to statistical analysis of world’s most polluted cities, the first places are given
to overpopulated industrial global centers, which are situated in developing countries, such as
India and China[2].
They take the first places in the rating of industry development, but the first place in our
anti-ecological rating should attract more attention and raise concerns about the health of not
particular group of persons, but the nation in whole.
Today the producing of ecologically “clean” cars isn’t so popular, because this sphere of
car’s producing is new, and not everyone one know about it. With the help of mass- media and
Internet we can change this situation in near future, because the amount of people, who think
about this problem, increases. What does mean ecologically “clean” cars? These are the cars,
which don’t pollute the atmosphere with dangerous for our health gases. Cars, I want to produce,
will be ecologically sustainable and won’t bring harm for environment. The main their feature is
using ecologically sustainable resources.
Nowadays all the cars have engines of internal combustion, which produces a lot of
harmful gases during the cycle of work. But recently genius scientists have invented other types
of engines, which use renewable kind of energy- electrical or solar.
The cars, which I want to produce, will have electrical gearbox instead of mechanical or
automatic one. It is very important from different sights of view: human and natural. Firstly, this
type of car is very efficient, because of economy of fuel. It needs only 2-3 liters of fuel for 100
kilometers. Consequently they are ecologically safe, because you can stop the work of engine in
necessary situation. As an example let’s consider the situation when you stand in traffic. This is
very important, because you don’t pay harm to environment with gases.
These cars have a lot advantages comparing with modern ones. They can develop higher
velocity, they start faster, need less energy and work in comfortable for you mode. These
characteristics are very important for people, who like high speed, because they can go with 200
km/h velocity. The work of engine is carried out with the help of electrical signals, which
charges the accumulator. After the full charging you can use your car. The fuel is very important
too. I want to produce cars, which will use biodiesel instead of gasoline, which compounds large
amount of harmful gases, and especially carbon dioxide, which is the result of combustion. The
second important problem is that nowadays we can not utilize the components of car and recycle
them. I want to make my cars from natural materials, so it will be very easy to utilize them, when
you decide to change your car. Nowadays technological progress gives us an opportunity to
produce different parts of the car, using natural components. For example, hempen filament is
used to make a body of a car. The main advantage of these cars is efficiency. Firstly, their price
is lower than modern cars’ price. Secondly, they need less energy and fuel. Today, when the
market of fuel is so unstable, it is very important.
There are a lot of reasons to buy this car-you receive beautiful, fast, clean transport,
which is much better, comparing with modern cars from different points of view. The producing
of ecologically sustainable cars is very important step in changing our attitude to the nature. If
every person wants to help stop the polluting of environment, he will buy such type of transport,
which is ecologically clean. Let’s help ourselves to breath with oxygen, not with harmful gases.
This is just one kind of green business. I hope that every person will start thinking about
how to make his business ecologically sustainable just from today. Help of everyone is very
important in saving our planet.

Literature

1. Neil Roberts: The Holocene

2. http://www.worldinterestingfacts.com