I purchased a pillow today. A newly produced pillow which probably came from some pillow producing factory pumping pillow producing sludge into some pillow producing country. Immediately after doing so, I stepped onto the sidewalk and  ran into Brad, an advocate for Children International, and the conversation went something like this:

Brad: “Hey, have you considered giving to Children International?”

Me: “Yes but two problems…”

Brad: “Go on…”

Me: “Okay well, for one, I’m really really broke.”

Brad: (Looking down at my shopping bag) “I see you have purchased a pillow.”

Me: (Awkwardly) “Yes. This pillow is necessary for my survival.”

Brad: “…”

So, that went well.  I had a long interesting discussion with Brad, who turned out to be pretty cool, and went home wondering why I was able to budget 40 dollars for designer pillow, but not 22 dollars to help a kid in a third world nation.

The answer is more complex than it seems.

I purchased the pillow so I could have better back support when working at my desk at home.  I work as a video editor, so having a better work environment translates to higher productivity, more money, and therefore more power to help out starving kids in Somalia.  Nice rationalization right?

A similar thought process is happening right now all over the country.  At any moment, there are thousands of entrepreneurs thinking up business ideas, registering domain names, talking with investors, all trying to work out a way to start something that actually starts bring in assets.  If you bring up the topic of ethics, or sustainability, a reasonable response you might hear back is, “What?  I haven’t done anything yet!  Lets see if I can make money first, and then I’ll worry about that stuff.”
This is the entrepreneur’s dilemma.  We don’t want to hurt the world, but first we have to make money so we have the luxury of being ethical.  Okay, that’s fine.  In the grand scale of things, it’s not the worst thing in the world for a small business to do a bit of harm to stay afloat.  I won’t blame you for it.  Certainly the rest of the business world isn’t held to such a standard, so why should the little guy, who is under much greater pressure to have the finances come out right?  Fine.  But here’s the thing, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity.

“Opportunity?  What?  I thought ethics, and the environment were just sources of legal trouble?” you might say, and until recently, you probably would have been right.  In the past profit and ethics have been at opposite ends of the rope, each pulling in the opposite direction.  And at times ethical considerations had been seen as idealism, posing a direct threat to the company and the stockholders, meant to be minimized if not erased completely.

After all, It takes time, money, and people to be ethical.  A clever business man might try to save some money by cutting off these corners, burying the concerns of ethics, and focusing on profit.  However, what if there was a way to marry the two priorities and create something that surpasses the old business model?

This is the green entrepreneur.  Instead of seeing ethics as a restriction, he uses it as a platform to stand on.  Instead of seeing it as a disadvantage, he finds a way to use it to his advantage.  To allow the green mentality to infuse his businesses with a vitality that allows them to grow stronger than they would have been able to without it.

This is a new age we’ve stepped into, and those who adapt this attitude will be able to find riches in a time of a down spiraling economy, and meaning in a time spiritual poverty.

Sounds pretty good huh?  Now all I have to do is prove it.