Fear of global warming is rising. And where there’s fear, there’s opportunity.

THE GLOBAL WARMING TREND
by Franke James, August 2006

The number of people who deny that global warming is a reality, is shrinking. That's good. Because the more 'worry' that bubbles up from the masses, the closer businesses and governments will get to taking serious action.

Case in point: California recently passed a Global Warming Solutions Act. It was spurred in part by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) survey which found that 79% of Californians wanted steps taken immediately to counter the effects of global warming. "Californians now rank global warming as more important than at any time since we first started asking about it in June of 2000," says PPIC survey director Mark Baldassare. "They are so concerned that two-thirds actually want the state to address this issue - completely independent of the federal government."

But the promise of making money tipped the scale. The report, "Economic Growth and Greenhouse Gas Mitigation in California," offered an independent assessment of the economic benefits of The Global Warming Solutions Act. It found that the Global warming cap could actually stimulate the California economy by $60-74 billion dollars annually. "Climate action can be profitable," said David Roland-Holst, UC Berkeley, author of the report. (For more details read The Silver Lining in the Global Warming Cloud.)

Clearly fear of global warming is rising. And where there's fear, lies opportunity to develop and market new green products.

But will you be seen as opportunistic for jumping on the global warming bandwagon? Not if you respect and honor green values. Big brands worldwide are finding innovative ways to turn global warming to their advantage. Some ads use virtue, some guilt, some humor, and we’ve even spotted Kermit-the-Frog nostalgia. With the right spin you’ll be congratulated for being part of the solution, rather than the problem.

Ben & Jerry want you to help lick Global Warming.

And if you’re very, very clever, your product doesn’t even have to offer green benefits directly. But it does have to deliver the RIGHT message. Global warming is now on more people’s lips thanks to Ben & Jerry’s ‘Lick Global Warming1’ event. They provided every ice cream lover in attendance with free ice cream from an enormous bowl containing over 617 liters. Was it just a publicity stunt to sell more ice cream? Well, I’ve never met Jerry, but he's been riding this 'green' wave for a long time. Obviously he’s also a smart entrepreneur who prefers to ride the green trend rather than the obesity trend. Can you imagine how hard it is to sell ice cream in this age of fat phobia? Hey, you’ve got to look for every possible marketing opportunity, and licking global warming by eating ice cream has a deliciously virtuous ring to it. If Ben & Jerry can turn a crisis into an opportunity, why can’t we? And if he comes up with a new flavor, like green spumoni with melting ice caps, and dubs it ‘Global Warming’ would you think it shamelessly opportunistic? If it helps spread the word, it’s all to the good.

But charlatans beware. CSI’s Social Footprint2 is a report card which calculates the corporate social ‘bottom lines’ for Global Warming. Six organizations, BT, BP, Shell, Johnson & Johnson, United Technologies Corporation, and a university, had their global warming bottom lines calculated. Fifty percent flunked. I can see the PR benefits going up in acrid smoke.

• Indicators of the Global Warming Trend
• Will green technology be the leading industry of the 21st century?
• Build-Green-or-Else-Relegate-your-Building-to-Massive-Obsolescence
• You can beg. But even charities won’t take your old monitor
• The Green Marketing Pitch
• Green Branding Effects on Attitude
• The Global Warming Trend Shopping List
• Ten Global Warming Trend Questions

Indicators of the Global Warming Trend

The magnitude of the global warming trend really hit home as I leafed through some glossy magazines. Every other page had an advertisement for a green product. And some were not immediately obvious as green. A computer chained to a tree?

A dramatic 'nature-bondage' shot pokes fun at tree-huggers and effectively tells Sun's green story.

Oh, I get it. The 'nature-bondage' shot pokes fun at tree-huggers and effectively tells Sun Microsystem's story that their new servers use far less energy than conventional servers.

Mainstream glossy magazines, with a longer shelf life than newspapers, are one indicator of issues that are sticking on people’s minds. When large groups of them jump on the same topic the shared worldview, the zeitgeist, becomes apparent. Since Spring 2006, magazines as diverse as Time, Wired, Scientific American, the Economist and Vanity Fair have run elaborate and lengthy ‘special issues’ on the global warming problem. Scan through that shortlist again. Each one of those magazines appeals to a different demographic (business, techie, science-followers, celebrity fashion). ‘Green is the new black’ that everyone wants to wear.

TV icon Oprah Winfrey features a ‘Global Warming 101’ primer on her site. She educates her fans about the looming crisis – and cajoles them into changing their lifestyles. Her resident expert, Dr. Michael Oppenheimer, a Princeton professor of Geosciences, states ominously that global warming is a scientific fact that could “remake the face of the Earth.” He says, “The last 50 years stick out like a sore thumb. The temperature's gone up and up and up. It bears the imprint of human activity.”

The temperature rises further when you read Stanford University ’s “America’s Report Card on the Environment3”. The study concluded that the ‘majority of Americans are pessimistic about the state of the natural environment and want a lot to be done to improve its health.’ This is a seismic shift.

“America’s Report Card on the Environment”.

Historically Americans have been known for their ‘can-do’ upbeat attitude and their pride in ‘America the Beautiful’, not pessimism! Now we hear that 86% want action taken to improve the environment. But most of the blame for environmental damage is placed squarely on businesses: 91% said that businesses harmed the environment during the past year. In short, American business has flunked environmental studies. (A result echoed by CSI’s Social Footprint report card.) And the American public desperately wants to see a change for the better.

Are American’s alone in their pessimistic view of the environment? In a recent survey, 72 per cent of Canadians said they believe global warming will have become the greatest crisis facing mankind by 20204. Let the skeptics debate the veracity of global warming. Anxiety is running high among the general population.

Will green technology be the leading industry of the 21st century?

Thomas Friedman predicts that ‘green technology is going to be the industry of the 21st century’

Three-time Pulitzer Prize winning author Thomas Friedman5, (who is making amazing strides in convincing people that the ‘world is flat’) predicts that ‘green technology is going to be the industry of the 21st century’. He’s not a guy I’d want to underestimate. His reasoning includes the rising prosperity of China (with billions of Chinese demanding for the first time the modern conveniences we North Americans enjoy), global wars and political turmoil, as well as the rising cost and precarious supply of oil to America by unstable and corrupt regimes.

Let’s mull on Friedman’s statement again: ‘Green technology is going to be the industry of the 21st century’. Will global warming have a bigger economic impact than the invention of the automobile, electricity or the Internet? If we believe he’s right, how can we position ourselves to ride the trend, and profit from it?

Think back to the early 90’s. What Internet companies would you have been smart to buy into? I see parallels to 1994 when we were advising clients about e-commerce, digital signatures and Internet sites. It was clear to us that the web was going to revolutionize communications (we saw ourselves shopping online from the comfort of our own homes). But quite a few clients didn't understand what we were so excited about (and showed us the door). I even got kicked out of a young entrepreneurs group for babbling about the Internet too much. But years later one V.P. (ironically now in high-tech HR) said he was ‘sorry’ he hadn’t listened…

I’m having a flash of deja-vu. I’d place a bet that green technology will be the leading industry of the 21st Century (if we survive religious wars that is). Some people believe that the 'green' opportunity has already peaked. But I think we've hardly begun. We're at the starting line for the 'Carbon-Neutral Race', and we're not wearing state-of-the-art gear. What type of car do you drive? And how do you heat your house? If you answered 'hybrid' and 'solar', good for you. But you're in the minority. And that virtuous smug feeling will disappear as soon as you think about the infrastructure that underlies our major cities. We have a lot of work to do worldwide. As good as North Americans can be (hoping to reverse the damage done), remember that China and India are on the upswing in terms of energy consumption. Their growth-at-all-cost mantra will only increase the impact of global warming.

We need to be a lot more uncomfortable before radical change happens. The most dire effects of global warming, those that will make people change their lifestyles and force governments to legislate tough anti-global-warming policies, are still down the road. And that is why I believe that global warming presents us with a great economic opportunity that will touch virtually every industry you can think of.

Build-Green-or-Else-Relegate-your-Building-to-Massive-Obsolescence

Harvard Business Review featured ‘Building the Green Way’, by Charles Lockwood, in June 2006.

You know the ground is shifting under corporate America when Harvard Business Review issues its first ever coverage of cost-efficient green building planning, design, and construction. ‘Building the Green Way’ by environmental and real estate consultant Charles Lockwood cites Bank of America, Wal-Mart, Goldman Sachs, IBM, and Toyota as examples of companies pushing green buildings fully into the mainstream. Buildings account for a startling 36%6 of the United States’s total energy consumption, including 65% of its electricity use. So you can see how LEED Certified and U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) building methods, that reduce energy consumption, can result in significant cost-savings for corporations, and benefits to the environment.

But he also raises a red flag, which if this warning is not heard, threatens to turn existing commercial space into white elephants. “The owners of standard buildings must act now to protect their investments”, says Charles Lockwood7.

I contacted Lockwood to ask more about his views on massive obsolescence:

“Trillions of dollars of commercial real estate around the world is about to become obsolete . . . because green buildings are going mainstream. “Standard” buildings without the many benefits of green buildings—particularly lower overhead costs, like energy use, a healthier indoor environment, and greater productivity—just won’t be able to compete.

Massive obsolescence isn’t new to commercial real estate. When earlier innovations were introduced into commercial buildings — like elevators and electricity in the late nineteenth century, and central air conditioning in the 1950s and 1960s — all properties lacking these improvements quickly became outmoded, and their value fell as top tenants headed for more modern pastures.”

What an intriguing projection. Can you imagine leasing office space that does not have an elevator or air conditioning? Unless you're in a two-storey walk-up, and don't mind getting your work clothes sweaty, most people take these conveniences for granted. How long will it be before 'green' features are to be expected, and anything less is inferior? Builders everywhere should take note: ‘Build Green or Else Relegate your Building to Massive Obsolescence’.

So having read a UK study on Green Branding Effects on Attitude (featured later), I asked him what was the most effective marketing pitch. ‘Was it emotional? Functional? Or a combination of both?’

Charles Lockwood:

“Emotional appeal won’t get you anywhere. Neither will environmental benefits. Function is everything. (At least in the U.S.) Green buildings only began to enter the mainstream in the U.S. when tenants and buyers were convinced of the bottom line benefits of green commercial buildings — particularly their lower overhead costs and higher productivity — and the demonstrably healthier indoor environments of both green commercial and residential buildings. Feeling good about the environmental benefits of green buildings — reduced use of natural resources, lower greenhouse gas emissions, etc. — isn’t a driver, it’s just the icing on the cake. To be effective, I believe green building marketing programs should push the bottom line and health benefits of green buildings, and then mention that they’re better for the environment.”

Rod Nadeau’s award-winning Envirohome showcased the qualities of healthy, energy-efficient building.

Lockwood’s advice is echoed by Greg Kats8, a green-building consultant in Washington, D.C. “Developers and builders aren’t joining the green revolution purely out of a sense that it’s the right thing to do. They can’t afford to be left behind. By year’s end, at least 6% of the nation’s non-residential construction, a $15 billion chunk of the industry, will be green. Six years ago it was less than 1%.”

But is the average consumer yearning for a green home? A new Canadian housing development proves that there is a strong appetite, and that economics is a key factor. Daniels Corporation9 targeted first time buyers and saw all 159 homes sold on the first day. What was the secret of their success? The homes were built to Energy Star performance standards, and had the Energy Star rating, so buyers were assured of energy savings. But a further incentive was that the Energy Star rating qualified them for 35-year mortgages, which will save owners about $150 per month in after-tax dollars.

Builders, like Rod Nadeau, are also seeing the green opportunity. His company Innovation Building Group Ltd., builds multi-million dollar homes in Whistler, British Columbia. I interviewed him about his ‘green’ vision and he blew me away with this comment (since he builds homes in ski country):

“My goal is to build a house that requires no heating system. One that relies on passive solar heat and the heat generated by the people living in the home. I know this is realistic and achievable with today’s technology. I’ve built my reputation on building ‘Green’ homes since 1984 in Whistler, B.C., Canada… This is environmentally responsible building that’s simple to design and build. It’s energy-efficient, sustainable, healthy, economical to maintain, and produces far less waste than wood-frame construction. This is the future.”

You can beg. But even charities won’t take your old monitor

Old CRT monitors can use as much energy as a bar fridge to run.

Clearly, the desire to sweep the old out the door, is most evident in high-tech. Witness the rush to replace high-energy using cathode-ray tube monitors with sleek low-energy flat-screen monitors. It makes sense when you realize that flat-screens use 95% less energy than CRT monitors. A practical example: I called reBOOT (a non-profit network that refurbishes, and recycles computer equipment for charities) thinking I could donate my perfectly good 5-year old 21-inch monitor. Nope. Not even charities want them. Apparently they suck as much energy as a bar fridge (but without the benefit of reaching in for a cold one). I have to pay reBOOT $10 to take it off my hands and recycle it properly, due to its toxic components. And did you know that leaving a computer monitor on the curb in some urban centers can cost you a $380 ticket (escalating to $5,000 if you stubbornly choose to ignore it)?

But where there is a problem, there is opportunity. Dell, Apple and HP10 all announced major upgrades to their recycling programs. It’s a good marketing strategy, evoking aspirational, if slightly unrealistic, ideals equivalent to leaving your wilderness campsite as untouched by humans as when you arrived. Segue: Panasonic Taiwan recently stated11 that it will phase out CRT TV production in two to three years. The writing is on the wall.

The green marketing pitch

Nostalgia is used to catch Gen-x's attention in this Ford Escape Hybrid ad. Kermit says, "I guess it is easy being green."

What makes a marketing pitch ‘green’? And what makes it effective? Like all great marketing, the green pitch starts by telling a story that the consumer wants to hear.

Provocateur Seth Godin in his recent book All Marketers Are Liars, focuses on a central truth that had me nodding my head in agreement. And it was not that all marketers are liars (his title was admittedly a cheeky ploy to pique curiosity).

The real truth is that all marketers are storytellers (some of whom lie, some of whom tell the truth). Marketers, especially green ones, don’t have a lot of time, or space, to tell you everything you need to know about their product. So they weave the most important benefits into a story that they hope you’ll listen to, and will make you want to learn more. But the very best marketers tell people an entertaining story that resonates as being true and is in keeping with their values. Whether or not it is true is another issue…

By embracing some marketing stories over others we are telling people what we believe about the world, and who we are. Some people who don’t like to think of themselves as vulnerable to marketing messages, may squirm at that thought. But clearly the purchases we make reflect our preferences, whether it’s a certain color of shirt, type of house, or the brand of car we drive. We project our personal style, our social identity (for good or bad), through the objects we purchase. They become our identity symbols.

The Room analyzed shopper’s personalities based on their choice of products.

Segue: In 1997 we created a fun online psychological test called ‘The Room’, that analyzed shoppers' personalities based on their choice of products. Millions of people around the world took the test and told us they were impressed that we managed to assess them so accurately. How did we know them so well when we’ve never met them? Our secret? We benefited from the phenomenon that people ignore what is false in their analysis, and remember only what is true (which is also why horoscopes are so popular). From the client’s point of view, they did not care whether the test was accurate or not. They just saw it as a way to establish an emotional connection between the shopper, and their product. For the web visitor it was a fun way to understand what the products, theoretically, said about their personality. In short: an identity symbol.

Returning now to the green story, marketers have a fertile story to tell. Green has shifted from being a crunchy granola, long-haired hippie statement by a fringe community into a mainstream status symbol that celebrities and business people alike are flashing. We’ve heard from Charles Lockwood, the environmental real estate consultant, about impending massive obsolescence. But how is the business education stream viewing this green branding opportunity? To find out, I called Rami Mayer12 at the Schulich School of Business. He commented:

“The symbol ‘Green’ in the West has come to project our identity in a way that tells a story. Green has become part of our identity as it is a reflection of our values. Our identity and values are the result of personal and social constructions that are grounded in experiences, aspirations and what has come to be in vogue. Brand owners, have come to recognize this and are targeting the emotional and functional appeal of green products. They position the brand in such a way that it creates value which translates into:

1. greater likelihood of sales;
2. greater likelihood of loyalty;
3. greater likelihood of lower price sensitivity;
4. greater profit.

Even the most environmentally conscious individuals would concede that there is a lot of money to be had from green products. Certainly brand managers are catching on and positioning their products as such. The green brand - the name, logo/symbol relies on marketing initiatives to the perceived users with the following points: differentiation between other products and relevance to the consumer, instilling feelings of esteem and familiarity.”

Clean up your world, and feel virtuous with Eco-friendly cleaning.

Ultimately it is up to the consumers to decide if the product reflects true environmental benefits, or is just a crass grab for cash. Because marketers everywhere are recognizing that fear of global warming is reaching desperate levels, and know how to push the consumer’s ‘buy green’ button.

 

Green branding effects on attitude

In light of this, a 2005 U.K. Research study “Green branding effects on attitude”13 is quite fascinating. The report analyzed whether buyers were swayed more by emotional appeal or the functional benefits of green products. Are people buying green through rational decision-making, is it an emotional decision or is it both? They concluded:

“A well implemented green positioning strategy can lead to a more favorable perception of the brand, giving support to the green marketing approach in general. This study supports significant attitude effects of both functional and emotional green positioning strategies. Thus, brand managers should deliver emotional benefits through the brand, at the same time making sure that target groups perceive real environmental benefits.”

The Green branding effecit is a blend of emotion and functional benefits

What better product than hybrid cars to see the blend of emotion and functional benefits? I contacted the team at UC Davis’s Institute of Transportation Studies who have done extensive research into people’'s car-buying habits, including studies of hybrid car buyers. Reid Heffner, Ken Kurani, and Tom Turrentine interviewed consumers to understand what was behind their purchase decision of a hybrid. The consumer’s rational explanation was that the hybrid delivered true ‘green’ benefits. But their research also reveals a strong symbolic aspect to consumers’ decision-making. Cars, like clothes and houses, are a symbol of identity for all of us (albeit of varying importance depending on how much of a car lover you are). You may hate advertising, but cars are our personal rolling billboards. Whatever you choose to drive, you are making a statement to the world about who you are.

Ken Kurani:

“We are currently working on a draft article in which we articulate some of the ways in which hybrid vehicles are incorporated into existing or new narratives of personal or household identities… Through qualitative research, we have proven the existence of some combination of these meanings in every household we've interviewed. What we have not heard, is any household making a solely "economically rational" evaluation of their hybrid vehicle purchase. Further, except in the case of the most financially constrained households, we don't hear any automobile purchase being made for primarily economically rational reasons. And in some households who have made financial comparisons, they have chosen hybrid vehicles whether or not they make the most financial sense.”

Toyota is threatening to pass GM as the world's number one car maker.

I can see it now… the next generation of young drivers stomping their collective feet and refusing to buy or drive anything but a hybrid.

Heffner, Kurani and Turrentine's findings confirm that early hybrid buyers chose a hybrid over a conventional fuel vehicle because it fit into a story they wanted to tell to the world about themselves. Saving money on gas was not the prime motivator, even if part of a particular person's story was “I’m a smart shopper.” Reducing harmful emissions, resource over-consumption, the threat of terrorism and war, were other important goals the hybrids symbolized. (Which circles back to Friedman’s reasoning that green will be the industry of the 21st C.)

Buying a hybrid car allows consumers to showcase their concern for the world, their community, and the environment. Kurani added:

“Most of these hybrid buyers know that their car alone could achieve few of these lofty goals. But more than just a statement about themselves, many of these early hybrid buyers are also displaying a new possibility, hoping to influence other automobile manufacturers and other consumers.”

But what if you just can't kick that fossil-fueled SUV habit? Some clever green marketers have devised an easy method to offload your guilt. The Cleanairpass website calculates your “carbon credits” and allows you to offset your personal greenhouse gas emissions (just like those big polluting countries) by purchasing a Cleanairpass. I wondered, Is this just green marketing hype? Is there real value here? I contacted the company to understand the thinking behind this product. Bryce Conacher14, CEO wrote,

“While the heavy lifting on emissions reductions will come from government and business, there's a small but important role to be played by consumer supported programs that make things a little bit better. Cleanairpass holders are juggling a lot. It’s hard to make huge changes to their lifestyle or household expenses and the benefits are sometimes so far down the road, they can't see them. Cleanairpass captures that sentiment, offering a solution that's just a little bit better than what they're doing now, for just a little bit more money, and a little bit of visible credit for their efforts. This makes a lot of sense to people who won’t be buying a new hybrid vehicle or attempting difficult lifestyle changes right this minute. Most importantly, buying a Cleanairpass isn't something that was created for a certain demographic, like environmentalists. It is a concept that can be understood, considered and accepted by many. Fighting Global Warming is becoming a going concern, and a popular cause. The idea is just this; global warming is something that can be fought on a personal level.”

Animation created by CleanAirPass

What does the personal carbon credit market need to do to actually motivate me to buy? A good start would be a transparent system of verification, so buyers can see how much of their money is being used to reduce emissions. I’d also like to see something that's more fun than a car sticker. Something that makes a great gift, and publicly pats the person on the back. In short, a green status symbol. Perhaps they could steal a few tricks from the non-profit Trans Canada Trail? The brilliance of Trans Canada's fund-raising is that it is personal, ego-flattering and it makes a great gift. For $50, donors can have their names (or a recipient) permanently inscribed in a Trail Pavilion along the route of the Trail. This works. I’ve given metres of the Trail to family and friends. And I’m proud to say I've received the Trail as a gift myself.

Certainly offsetting our personal carbon emissions with the Cleanairpass is cheaper than buying a hybrid and makes it, as Kermit-the-Frog says in the Ford Hybrid ad15 “...easy being green.”

The global warming trend shopping list

Bill Clinton: “This is a very, very serious problem, but also a phenomenal opportunity.” Photo: Dr. Eszter Hargittai at Princeton, June 2006.

A long shopping list might not be the first thing that springs to mind when you think of President Bill Clinton. But indeed his Clinton Climate Initiative16 is creating a very long shopping list. The consortium pools the purchasing power of 22 international cities, in a distinctly pro-business approach, with the shared goal of lowering the prices of energy saving products and accelerating the development of energy saving and greenhouse gas reducing technologies and products. In practical terms their shopping list includes everything from street lights, to building products, to municipal water and sanitation systems, to the use of bio-fuels or hybrid technologies for city buses, garbage trucks and other vehicles. “This is a very, very serious problem, but also a phenomenal opportunity.” Clinton said. Green entrepreneurs and marketers would have to agree. Changing the water, power and transportation infrastructure of the world’s biggest cities is a necessary undertaking to reduce global warming – and one that could be the foundation for the success of many 21st Century green innovators. Whether it's green idealism or old-fashioned greed that is fueling the rise in green innovation I agree with Friedman when he says 17 :

“I’m a big believer that you get real change in the world when the big players do the right thing for the wrong reasons. If you wait for all the big players to do the right thing for the right reasons, you wait forever. So, if every shopping center or office building developer will go green because they think it’s a great way to attract customers and lease their space, God bless them…”

Green as a fashion status symbol: Ecoist purse made from recycled candy wrappers which have never touched by food. They were 'misprinted' rejects.

So the shrewd business mind can ask: Will adopting innovative green technologies create a ‘Blue Ocean18’ of opportunity? As opposed to a shark-infested battle for market share in a bloody red ocean? Rudy Bratty19, chairman of Remington Group thinks so. With a hefty $3 billion dollar price tag, his visionary Downtown Markham project is the largest LEED certification project to date in Canada. “I have three triple-A tenants lining up to take space, and each of them is looking for more than 100,000 square feet of space,” said Mr. Bratty, Remington’s chairman and CEO. “There is tremendous demand from major corporations, especially public companies, which want to be seen as promoting environmental protection.” [North] America’s Report Card is starting to look better for some businesses, particularly in the building sector.

If all of this has you nodding your head that green technology is going to be the leading industry of the 21st century -- let me leave you with just one desperate but comical example of how Beijing is being readied for Western lungs...

Rami Mayer:

“For the Beijing Olympics, the city is undergoing a major boom in construction. In order to enable participants to enjoy smog free games (an expectation from Western societies), many industries were moved out of the city… There is still the risk of smog coming down during the games... Just in case, they are putting huge fans on top of buildings that will ‘push’ the smog away. Short term solution, but one that would get their desired result. What is happening in China is not fuelled by triple bottom line approach, but rather by showcasing Beijing to the world and making an impression on all of us who will be watching.”

Ride the Global Warming Trend. Global opportunity awaits.

Ten Global Warming Trend Questions:

Whether you are a marketer, an entrepreneur or a business person, marketing insights and new product ideas can arise from asking yourself the following questions:

1. How will the Global Warming Trend impact my industry?

2. Will the Global Warming Trend harm me, or help me?

3. What ‘green’ features would I like added to products I use daily? Would I pay more for them?

4. Will increases in fuel and energy costs force me to make changes to my home? (e.g. heating/cooling system, windows, roof)

5. Will I buy an energy-efficient car if gas becomes more expensive? Will my kids want to drive hybrid cars?

6. Should I take personal responsibility and try to offset the negative effects of my lifestyle on global warming?

7. If I’m worried about global warming, how many of my neighbors and friends are too?

8. How will global warming affect the stocks I am invested in?

9. Can I ignore the impact that developing countries, seeking modern conveniences en masse, will have on global warming?

10. If green technology becomes the leading industry of the 21 st century what will I wish I’d done?

Any one of these answers could provide the seed for a profitable green business, and be part of the solution to reducing global warming.

Join the debate: Will green technology be the leading industry of the 21st century?

See: Energy Star makes money and Additional Reading and Links

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