Another reason is that inorganic methods of farming and other interrelated factors have negative impact on local environment and natural resources.

The solution we opted for was a competition among three selected village women. Ms. Rashda, one of our female volunteers (we call them connectors in our campaign) selected three potential village women through a women’s organization (WO). The connector voluntarily trained these women in preparation of plot, selection of indigenous vegetable seeds, use of organic fertilizer and organic pest management. In the next step the selected women also received orientation on sale and marketing of produce to earn income as well as to make them aware of food insecurity due to the impacts of climate change. Introducing these village women as ecopreneurs through regular mentorship is also one of the objectives of this initiative.

This is a pilot initiative of the Climate Project Connectors to link the environment and income generation in sustainable manner. The competition in this initiative is also an innovation for local women. The woman who will get more profit from the sale of produce will get the first cash prize and so the 2^nd and 3^rd position as well. This will be an encouragement for these ecopreneurs to increase the culture of organic kitchen gardening in the future and to be self-sustained.

It is a noteworthy observation that due to the heavy monsoon rains and massive flooding in Pakistan, the families of those three women also shifted to surrounding areas and Mansehra city along with other affected households, however after the flood water went down and families returned to their village in Balakot, the plots fortunately remained safe from the landslide and the turnip seeds have also started germination.

Our voluntary campaign is very optimistic for the success of this pilot initiative of organic competition that will start giving results in the coming three to four weeks. We look forward to engagong more women to seek environmently friendly income-generating opportunities for their livelihoods by promoting the “We Ecopreneurs” idea.

Visit our  blog on climate change campaign in Pakistan: http://asifoghi.blogspot.com

Photo Credit: Ms. Rashda,  one of the Climate Project Connectors in Pakistan

Related Post:

Ecopreneurship: The Best Option To Rehabilitate Flood Affectees in Pakistan

In a space where competition is strong and barriers to entry are relatively low, it’s important as an entrepreneur to always be testing new ideas. Although your business may offer a particular service, there are many creative ways to appeal to your customers. When launching a new initiative it’s important to be open to all avenues that a certain program can take and let the direction ultimately be guided by your users.

With Community Circles, any organization can easily create a Community Circle on BloomSpot, and anyone can join to support their cause. From that point on every time a Circle member makes a purchase, BloomSpot will donate a percentage back to the organization. Like any new initiative, dedicated outreach is critical to getting started. However, organic growth plays a huge part in sustaining expansion. By leveraging social media channels and promoting success stories, Circles has grown significantly since its launch in June.

We encourage all of our partners to utilize a variety of channels to share their Circle, as each channel reaches and affects people differently. We encourage the use of Facebook and Twitter, but also emphasize the value of personal email and super-users who can help drive the message.  In addition, we make it very easy for a user to share their Circle with others on the site. Designing a user interface that facilitates viral growth is critical. We’ve also set up our own Circle specific Twitter account (@BloomSpotCircle) to share stories with other nonprofits and interested users. While sharing our story is important, we also emphasize participation in the overall dialogue around social business online.

In tough economic times, this extra and low-effort stream of fundraising has been a huge benefit for nonprofit organizations. Organizations of all sizes are taking advantage of Circles as a source of online fundraising. Kiva, an international nonprofit that empowers individuals to lend to entrepreneurs across the globe, is launching Community Circles for their supporters to join in cities across the U.S.  At the same time, more local organizations such as the Voices of New York are also getting great results.

To find the right solution, in any industry, it’s important to keep an open channel of communication with your users. Encourage open feedback in the design process and truly listen to what it is your users need. “Working with Circles at BloomSpot has been a delight”, says the Executive Director of a participating Circle “it’s the easiest fundraising we’ve ever done.

You can easily join or start a Circle to contribute to a cause of your choice by visiting the BloomSpot Community Circles page or contact circelsupport@bloomspot.com for more information! As consumers become more socially and environmentally conscious there are huge opportunities to sustainably integrate “doing good” into your business model. This will not only result in a socially responsible business that you can be proud of, but also help differentiate from competitors in a way that builds loyalty with your users.

Related Posts:

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The Rise of Cause Marketing

How to Do Cause-Related Marketing Well

This is a guest post by Julie E. Gabrielli, NCARB LEED, a green business advisor, founder of GOforChange.com and author of the greening business action list with a twist!.

Keith Lasoya, founder of  Waste Neutral, owns an organics waste hauling company that collects source-separated “all food” scraps (pre- and post-consumer) waste in the Baltimore, MD metro area.

Simply put, Waste Neutral turns smelly food scraps into rich compost.

Founded in January 2008, the company has a simple mission. As articulated by Lasoya, “Most people, when they think about recycling, they think about paper, plastic, glass and metals. We want to remind everyone that food waste is the forgotten recyclable resource and ironically was being recycled way before the other man-made materials.”

Their customers primarily consist of restaurants, large educational institutions and commercial properties with outsourced food service vendors, but they also service large food production companies such as McCormick Spice in Hunt Valley.

Mr. Losoya attributes part of their success to their flexible approach that minimizes their customers’ effort and costs.  “If it is organic and compostable, we will take it. This includes meat, fish, poultry, soiled napkins etc., to simplify the customers’ separation requirements.” This is important to note, since in the early days of composting, the facilities only accepted “clean,” un-bagged vegetable scrap waste. From a practical standpoint, it is difficult for food service operations to sub-separate, so composting was not an option.

Size and volume of business

Mr. Lasoya has a couple of business partners. They outsource most of their staff, both drivers and sorters. The total is about six people, including the outsourced folks, who are paid as 1099 contractors. The sorters do waste audits for LEED-EB buildings.

Waste Neutral also services a lot of events, for which they bring on extra people. It’s difficult in this start-up phase to take on more full-time employees. However, Mr. Lasoya notes that working on a contingent basis can be the best of both worlds for both business owners and workers.

Currently, Waste Neutral hauls 50 tons per week, which will increase as they expand with routes to Annapolis and Frederick. They operate six trucks, powered by biodiesel when it is available.

Selling point to potential clients

Every account is different, but they generally find that within three to six months, costs either are either neutral or a savings to the client. For starters, Waste Neutral’s tipping fees are lower: $45/ton, as compared with between $55 to $65 per ton to landfill or incinerate unsorted waste.

Separating organic materials (food scraps) for composting benefits the customer, because this diverts the wettest, densest, smelliest stuff from their other trash. This reduces both the amount and size of containers to their current hauler, resulting in further cost savings.

Biggest challenge

Route logistics is the biggest challenge. As Lasoya has learned, in the hauling world, the path to profit is through density of the route. The more stops along one route, the better. It’s simply not profitable to be too strung out, which means they can’t say yes to everyone.

Advice for would-be green entrepreneurs

Lasoya’s advice is: “Do something you are passionate about. Partner with someone who knows the industry sector. Don’t try to do everything yourself, especially if you don’t have a working background in the industry. Partnering will avoid a lot of costly mistakes.”

Choosing a profitable business model is key to success. Coming from the volatile retail sector, he is very happy with the recurring-income business model of waste hauling. Waste Neutral has ongoing monthly contracts with their customers, so they can easily do cash-flow and profit projections.

Best thing about the business

In every successful business, Mr. Lasoya notes, there’s always a labor of love aspect. For Waste Neutral, it’s the educational component. He just loves seeing the students separating the waste into the composting bin. They always make it a point to have big bins for composting and for other recycling and a tiny bin for landfill waste.

Mr. Lasoya is amazed at how quickly people adapt to this new way of doing things. When they first got into it, they thought customers would require multiple trainings for dining staff, maintenance people, students, everyone. Instead, people just forget about the old way of doing things and they do not slip back. It’s a transparent transition, so it’s not nearly as cost-prohibitive as some clients might have thought.

Through a program called “compost credits,” their clients can enjoy the fruits of their labor by receiving compost made from their food waste. It can be used on their property or donated to a community garden. In many cases, this compost becomes part of an educational program with students at the school. This completes the cycle and lets them see firsthand that food scraps are indeed a valuable, recyclable resource.

Photo: Waste Neutral.

“The report outlined a goal of doubling renewable energy capacity from the 28.8 gigawatts of solar, wind and geothermal sources installed as of the end of 2008 to 57.6 GW by the end of 2011, which would be enough to power 16.7 million homes, or 55 million electric cars, for a year,” reports Reuters.

This sounds great on paper, but the Associated Press seems to believe we didn’t get all the facts in the report Biden presented on Tuesday.  One such fact check is below, to see all of them go here.

“The claim: Government stimulus money will lead to “cutting the cost of solar power in half by 2015, putting it on par with the cost of retail electricity from the grid.”

The facts: That projection assumes a huge payoff from stimulus spending on technology improvements in solar energy. [Robert L ]Nelson, who has worked in renewable energy for 25 years, called the prediction “highly unlikely,” unless there is a big increase in utility-scale solar power projects.”

Many states seem to be putting more efforts into renewable energy, but some aren’t stepping up to bat. The SunSentinel is reporting that, “Florida taxpayers spent $135,000 on a study that concluded that the Sunshine State has sufficient sunshine to power 20 million homes. There’s zero support to the mass production of a zero-energy house standard by Florida officials, politicians, even the “people’s governor.” This level of efficiency is mandated in the 27-nation EU and in California by 2020.”

Hopefully this report will jumpstart states like Florida to take note and do their part.  For now most of us need to research what we can do to keep up with renewable energy.  There are many options (and usually tax write-offs) available to all of us.

Shannon Suetos is an expert writer on payroll processing based in San Diego, California.  She writes extensively for an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs such as small business payroll services at Resource Nation.

Remember, your commitment to the environment is a competitive advantage. By being green, you can attract customers who value your environmental offerings.

If you’re looking for ways to enhance your competitive advantage with sustainable business practices ask yourself a few key questions that can help you identify additional green opportunities:

1. Are there new customer segments that you can attract? Which customers will have a greater interest in your offerings? Consider how your green-ness will be attractive to customers you don’t currently serve. Can you now market to health-conscious consumers? Thrifty consumers? Practical consumers?
2. How can you expand your products or services to meet the needs of new consumers or businesses that care about sustainability? Can you add a greater selection of green and Fair Trade products? Can you offer one-stop-shopping for green products such as office supplies or gardening supplies? How much do you need or want to shift your focus in order to attract each consumer segment?
3. Can you increase your market share? Will your green efforts allow you to attract the competition’s customers?
4. What new markets will open to you? If you are a B2B business, is there a consumer market you can now tap into? If you are a B2C business, is there a business market you might now be able to attract?
5. Are there new product lines you can now offer? Can you release green line extensions of existing offerings? What about green services that are not available in your area? Is you business in a position to provide these services?
6. Will going green improve your bottom line? Will it reduce your expenses? Allow you to take advantage of new tax conditions? Free up capital for other investments? Generate new profit centers or improve existing profit margins? Reduce governmental oversight or paperwork requirements?
7. Are there new opportunities to influence your customers or your industry? Can you reduce demand for resources by steering your clients toward sustainable behavior?

Think about how going green creates value and think of all the opportunities it opens up. These are your new green opportunities.

Photo: Sxc.hu

True economic recovery in the United States is caught in a Catch-22. The economy is stuck in ‘neutral’ while employers hold off on job creation until consumers start spending again, while consumers (particularly those who are out of work or fear for their jobs) are not comfortable enough to start spending until unemployment goes down. Despite the efforts to cast blame on the actions of a few companies and individuals, people seem to have lost their faith in the system. Regulation, looked to by some as the answer, has followed like somnambulant policeman arriving long after the accident to write a report on what happened. The concept of ‘corporate social responsibility’ itself is being looked upon by some credible sources as an oxymoron.

A recent OpEd in the Wall Street Journal states, in part:

“Executives are hired to maximize profits; that is their responsibility to their company’s shareholders. The movement for corporate social responsibility is in direct opposition, in such cases, to the movement for better corporate governance, which demands that managers fulfill their fiduciary duty to act in the shareholders’ interest or be relieved of their responsibilities.”

The argument is based on the false premise that shareholders are a company’s primary (or sole) stakeholders and that their interests are in inflating the next bubble rather than in sustainable, long-term economic recovery and growth. Personally I’d rather my investments (including my home value) grew at a reasonable rate than continued in a cycle of boom and bust while I hope to time things exactly right to avoid the negative consequences.

In order words, the case against corporate responsibility is, in fact, as case for more responsible corporate behavior.

The article goes on to point out that:

“Pressure from shareholders for sustainable growth in profitability can (solve the problem). It can lead to incompetent managers being replaced and to a realignment of incentives for executives, so that their compensation is tied more directly to the company’s long-term success.”

This will benefit the shareholders. In addition, we must also recognize that the interests of other stakeholders often are aligned with those of shareholders. This includes customers for whom corner cutting on quality prevents repeat business; employees who recognize that eschewing safety puts them at risk and results in lower productivity and morale (as well as higher medical, insurance and legal costs). Communities that feel a company is risking environmental catastrophe limit growth by blocking permitting and may vote against a business by boycotting its products.  Even competitors will benefit from responsible behavior as the misdeeds of one company can often taint the entire industry (as well BP’s Gulf of Mexico blowout resulted in a universal moratorium on deep water drilling). And, if shareholders are to be encouraged to invest for the long haul (which is after all in the company’s best interest) there is a business case for engaging in responsible actions that reduce the need for legislation and regulation that add to operating costs, etc.

So, as the American economy seems afraid to move forward and fears moving backward, we would do well to look back to the original captains of industry who built companies to pass down for generations to come rather than to sell regardless (or despite) their long term prospects. Built to last was the mantra then, and it needs to be the mantra again. It is time to return to the values that were once the acknowledged foundation of the American economy.

John Friedman has more than 20 years’ experience in internal and external communications and a decade in the area of corporate responsibility and sustainability including developing and implementing award-winning programs that maximize stakeholder engagement, community relations, organizational development, change management, and strategic philanthropy.

Photo: Spekulaor at sxc.hu.

Of course, there will still be some services many businesses will rely on the post office for.  It is one of  the only ways to legally send letters to clients. Postage will certainly be on the rise soon, leading many businesses to start other options about how they can save money on postal needs. Many companies have now started thinking about purchasing postage meters as a result of this.

Saving Money on Postage
One reason why you will be able to save money using postage meters is because of postage scales–which weigh out each post. By knowing exactly how much each post weighs you will use exactly how much postage you will need to send the letter to your clients. This way you will be able to put such things as bills and legal correspondence in the mail to your clients without spending the extra money. Depending on how much mail you send out every day, you have the potential to save thousands of dollars in a specific period of time.

Saving Paper
Along with the benefits of saving money, you will also get the benefit of saving some trees. Postage meters print postage right on letters rather than on stamps, which will be affixed to the letter. The stamps that are printed by the USPS are small, but the paper they are printed on add up. When you are printing directly on the letter you will not waste extra paper.  Instead, you can print postage using biodegradable soy ink.

Personalizing Your Letters
Another great thing you get from using postage meters is that many companies allow you to load software onto your computer which makes it possible for you to create different themes for your postage. This way you can have your company logo and holiday messages on the postage. Your clients will be impressed by the fact that you have your own postage stamp, and it is just the kind of thing small businesses need to make sure their name is fresh in the minds of their clients.

Solutions do not always have to be cutting hours. In fact, companies might benefit more from augmenting hours. Because some employees might function better at later hours, allow them to work at the times which suit them best and give them clients in time zones which are more in tune with the hours they prefer to keep. Your clients will appreciate having someone on call when they are in the office which will help to boost profitability as well as the productivity of the employee.

Working From Home

Allowing some employees to work from home at least part of the time will help to save your company money. With good time and attendance systems in place, it is no longer necessary for employees to clock in at a station. Best of all, when working from the peace and quiet from home, many employees will find that they are not subject to the interruptions which are normal to the office like people stopping by your desk or phone calls from other employees and clients. They will stay focused on what they are doing.

Video Conferencing

Cutting costs is possible through the onset of new technology. It is no longer necessary to travel around the world to have face-to-face conferences with clients. You can do it through the use of video conference hardware. The great thing about the hardware is that for less than the cost of one plane ticket, you can install a state of the art system in your conference room which will allow employees to talk with clients anywhere in the world as if they were in the same room. The hardware pays for itself after the first time you use it making it cost effective for you to purchase more units.

Of course, one thing most companies are cracking down on for those who do come into the office is making sure that they eliminate all time theft. This is being done through more effective time card software. This prevents friends from clocking each other in. It also helps to prevent employees from clocking in and leaving. One way this is being done is by requiring employees to use their card to get through doorways in the office. Managers can track where their employees are and talk to them when they are not at their desk doing the work they are supposed to be doing.

The ICCC program gives entrepreneurs one-on-one feedback from seasoned investors and consultants who are interested in assisting with business growth strategy. Its a unique way for business people to learn about a range of financial options while at the same time building and strengthen relationships with investors.

To date the ICCC has raised $140 million in capital, held 6 events through and provided funds for 150 inner city companies.

In order to qualify, a company has to have:
• Under $2MM in sales or located in inner city
• Green Businesses and Green/Clean Technology
• 40% of employees must reside in inner-city

The guys at BEST Coaches are helping screen companies so contact Daniel Lorch for more information before the August 30th deadline.

Photo: S. Vilan at sxc.hu

I know it is too early to talk about the rehabilitation of the people affected due to the massive flooding in Pakistan. Right now about 20 million people, directly affected due to the unexpected monsoon spell are in immediate life-saving need of drinking water, food, shelter and medical treatment. Almost half of Pakistan is under water.

Agricultural land under flood water in Nowshera district

Families who are able to find safe places are now struggling to protect their little children from the heat of the sun. Women, particularly those pregnant, little children and elderly are more vulnerable in the aftermath of flood.

More than 60 percent of the country’s population live in the rural areas, and their major source of earnings are farming and livestock raring. The majority of women help their families in the agriculture sectors, in addition to their domestic chores such as fetching water, collecting fuel wood, food preparation and care for their children. The horrible flood water not only destroyed the houses, bridges, link roads and other infrastructure but also destroyed the primary source of communities’ livelihoods, i.e., crops, vegetables and fruit orchards, thus making survivors totally dependents and helpless.

According to the UN secretary general, it is a slow motion tsunami. The biggest challenge to the government of Pakistan is to provide immediate relief and life saving items to the huge numbers of flood survivors. However, the rehabilitation and development phase will be perhaps, the more challenging task, in the near future.

Punjab province, the backbone of the Pakistan agriculture sector, faced massive losses to its crops in the fields. It is the same is situation in the provinces of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa where farmers have lost everything. Food security is a big risk to the people of Pakistan in coming years.

Despite the challenging relief period, rehabilitation has to be started in the coming three to six months. I think ecopreneurship is one of the best options for the stakeholders who would come forward to rehabilitate the affectees’ assets and their sources of livelihoods. Ecopreneurship, in this regard, can really help people not only to restore their livelihoods but also to help them to adapt to the worse impacts of climate change in future. Experts are of the view that due to no proper rain water harvesting and storage system, particularly in the catchment areas of Swat River and other tributaries, flash flood becomes more and more severe due to the extra ordinary rainfall.

One of the options in the rehabilitation phase could be to organize communities, including women, into community based organizations (CBOs) with necessary capacity building and other inputs and encourage them to start rain water harvesting and storage of river and other natural spring water. People can use this stored water into number of the agro-forestry initiatives like multi cropping, fruit orchard and kitchen gardening. By utilizing the water of rivers and natural springs in the catchment areas, people can produce clean energy through micro hydal power plants which the local CBOs can easily handle. The same water can be used for irrigation of agricultural lands and construction of fish ponds on commercial basis.

In the plain areas, which are particularly feasible for crop production in Pakistan, such as Punjab and Sindh, organic farming must be started along with improving water distribution system from canals to benefit tail user farmers in particular and others in general. Women and other community members should receive inputs and trainings to start organic kitchen gardening and fruit orchards on commercial basis with proper mitigation measure such as CBOs’ cash saving mechanism and crops’ insurance schemes for poor and small farmers. Such initiatives will not only provide source of livelihoods for poor communities but also contribute in lessening the chances of floods and damages to the community assets in future.