I'm certainly not the first one to see this today, and have just had the opportunity to read through some of the articles in today's special section in the New York Times. Titled "The Business of Green," the paper features articles on a wide range of topics, including emissions trading, the profitability of adopting green practices, and even a special center established for making restaurant equipment more energy efficient (I had no idea that the restaurant industry was the biggest energy waster in the US). I had thought I'd choose one article for close examination, but as I read through a number of them, I found myself a little disappointed. The articles I read all focused on the activities of big corporations: GE, PG&E, Ford, GM,... you get the idea. Many of these companies are making positives steps (though we can debate sincerity and/or effectiveness of individual efforts), but it seems to me that the companies doing some of the most innovative work or engaging in truly green business are missing from these articles. I covered many of them here, as have other green bloggers -- I wonder how they escaped the NYT. While the large corporations have the money to go green on a large scale, they're also going mainly after the low-hanging fruit, or making adaptations to existing product and service lines. The real innovation is coming from farther down the corporate food chain, and had the Times looked there, they could've given a major push to companies that live or die by green products and services.
Perhaps I'm being too harsh... What did you think?
Categories: green, sustainable, business, emissions, energy, newyorktimes
