Joel Makower is the executive editor of Greener World Media. Joel is a well-respected voice on business, the environment, and the bottom line. As a writer and strategist on corporate sustainability practices and clean technology, he has helped a wide range of companies align environmental goals with business strategy.
He is author of several books on business and sustainability; a frequent commentator in print, broadcast, and online media; and a regular lecturer to companies and business groups. He also is a co-founder and principal of Clean Edge Inc., a research and publishing firm focusing on clean technologies, and serves as a senior consultant to GreenOrder, a sustainability strategy firm.
From 1991 to 2005, Joel was editor of The Green Business Letter, an award-winning monthly newsletter on corporate environmental strategy. Joel is a graduate in journalism from the University of California at Berkeley and is an advisor to more than a dozen start-ups and non-profit organizations. The Associated Press has called Joel "the guru of green business practices."
Joel also blogs on "Two Steps Forward" at http://makower.typepad.com
Columns
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Published: June 22, 2008
As fuel and electricity prices have ratcheted up, so, too, have the queries about what to do: where can companies, especially smaller ones, go for help?
On the one hand, that's a big, vague question. Where you go depends on what business you are in, where you're located, what you need, and how much, if anything, you're able to spend. On the other hand, there's a lot of help out there, much of it low-cost or free, if only you know where to look.
Below are just a few of the resources aimed at small and midsize companies. They will be of help largely to U.S.-based companies — apologies to those elsewhere, though there likely are analogs to these resources in other countries. This is by no means comprehensive; indeed, it probably only scratches the surface. But it points to a handful
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Published: June 17, 2008
The spring rains have yielded a bumper crop of new reports on the business of green. I've been a bit behind in fielding them, given my travels and last week's highly successful Greener by Design conference. Here are five of the latest:
My colleagues at Clean Edge have just released the Utility Solar Assessment (USA) Study, making the case that solar power has the potential to reach cost parity with retail-electricity rates in most regions of the U.S. in less than a decade — but only if electric utilities step up to the plate. The free report (Download — PDF), published in partnership with Co-op America, provides a robust roadmap for electric utilities to accelerate the growth of solar energy. Incorporating the latest technology, market, and policy breakthroughs, and
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Published: June 3, 2008
The greening of design is gaining interest, and I'm not simply talking about our fast-approaching conference on the topic, Greener by Design. Last week, Business for Social Responsibility and the design firm IDEO released a new free report (download - PDF) showing how companies are infusing sustainability into their design processes in ways that have led to innovative products that offer value to consumers.
The report offers an "A-B-C-D Approach to Making Better Products," as the subtitle promises. And while the real-life process may not be quite that alphabetic, or simple, the report offers a useful framework for how to think about product design and development through the lens of environmental sustainability, including some key questions that never seem to get
Features
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Published: December 3, 2007
On the eve of the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Bali, two new reports show how tantalizingly able we are to reduce our climate footprint -- and how frustratingly far we are from taking the needed steps to do so.
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Published: October 27, 2007
Ron Jarvis, Home Depot's vice president of Environmental Innovations, sat down with GreenBiz's Joel Makower to discuss the progress made and lessons learned during the first half-year of the retail giant's project to promote eco-friendly products.
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Published: January 16, 2007
Two thousand seven is barely a fortnight old, but it's already shaping up to be the year that climate change action reaches a tipping point. The signs seem to be everywhere, says Joel Makower.
Articles
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Published: April 24, 2008
We've been working long hours behind the scenes to make GreenBiz.com and our sister sites even more useful and information-packed. At last, here it is, and here's what new and improved about the sites.
Podcast
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Published: March 27, 2008
According to author Diane MacEachern, women hold the upper hand in the majority of business and consumer purchasing decisions, and as a result can play a big role in growing the green economy. GreenBiz.com editor Joel Makower spoke with MacEachern about her new book, "The Big Green Purse."
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Published: January 31, 2008
In this interview with Denise Waggoner, the vice president of creative research at Getty Images, Joel Makower finds out what colors and images make consumers think green -- and that not all shades of green are created equal.
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Published: January 6, 2008
For 25 years, the co-founder and "CE-Yo" of Stonyfield Farms, has shown that making yogurt doesn't necessarily require the same old culture. GreenBiz executive editor Joel Makower talked with Hirshberg recently about his new book and how corporations can bring out positive global change.