GreenMark Public Relations®, Inc.

Last month, February 2010, Greener World Media, Inc. held the “State of Green Business 2010″ event. Unfortunately, we could not attend, but we were there in spirit. We promise. Instead, I picked up a copy of the Cliff Notes from their web site, a fantastic report summarizing 2009 and presenting some outlook for 2010. Look for it on their web site, www.greenbiz.com.

“We’re still here”

A simple quote, but it couldn’t be more accurate to describe the state of green business after a very tough 2009. As was the case for most businesses, GreenMark PR included, 2009 was tasking, but we too can proudly say “we’re still here.” In some cases, a recession can actually be good for a business, provided it has the endurance. Similar to one’s personal finances, it demands that we consider what’s important enough to keep and what can be eliminated. This is obvious, of course, it’s simply a matter of trimming the fat. Luckily, folks and businesses who practice green, sustainable living are already quite lean. It’s in our nature to “reduce, reuse, recycle.” And, while the three R’s may come with much adjustment for some folks, may they also consider a greener way of living. Riding a bike to work suddenly doesn’t seem so bad if it means saving money. Once it becomes routine and once the fresh air becomes addicting, maybe it could become a green habit worth keeping once the economy turns around. That’s just one simple example of, well, just pick any green solution.

This puts green business who are lucky enough to still be around in a pretty good place in 2010 and in the future. The report uses some interesting statistics to back up these ideas, namely, “Four out of five people said they were still buying green products and services, even in the midst of the recession.”In tough financial times, people usually tend to focus more on their immediate surroundings, rather than the greater good. Monumental tasks like climate change, fossil fuel reduction, wind and solar power, world hunger, etc. are not going to be the primary concern of the average citizen. Unfortunately, this may always be the case unless the average citizen recognizes a clear cost incentive. In other words, people will live green if they can save (or make) some green.

According to the State of Green Business report, large companies have found cost incentives for adopting greener ways of producing their products, like the recent move by Coca-Cola to produce their plastic bottles with a percentage of bio-degradable vegetable product. IBM, Nokia, Pitney-Bowes, Sony, Best Buy and Nike have begun contributing patents to the public domain and Creative Commons, allowing other green innovators to collaborate with the intellectual property. These movements will create a nice “trickle-down” effect that will eventually hit the average citizen.

GreenMark PR is no stranger to the world of LEED Certification. One of our clients, The Green Exchange, is an LEED-certified green marketplace in Chicago. The report cites GreenerBuildings.com, which says the “floor area registered and certified by the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED green building rating system in 2009 is estimated to grow by over 40% compared to last year’s totals, for a cumulative total of over 7 billion square feet worldwide since the standard was launched in 2000.” This is excellent news, of course, resulting in thousands of jobs and millions of happier people in cities across the country in the years to come. The report says, “By 2030, the annual gasoline savings from LEED-certified green buildings are expected to equal current U.S. imports from the Middle East.”

Is it all just dandy, then? Will green living become commonplace rather than a fringe effort? Not every aspect of green reported well in 2009. A good two-thirds of this report focuses on specific areas of green business that are either “swimming,” “treading,” or “sinking.” It’s quite interesting to read that while the areas of energy efficiency, water intensity and green IT thrive; employee telecommuting, carbon intensity and E-waste are getting water-logged.In some upcoming blog posts, I’ll look into some of the areas that are thriving and why such is the case. I’ll describe some of the information presented in this report and do some research of my own, too.

In the mean time, please take a look at the report mentioned here in this blog at www.greenbiz.com. All of the quotes used in this post are from their fantastic report and so I’ll give credit where credit is due. The report, titled “State of Green Business 2010″ is copyrighted 2010 by Greener World Media, Inc.