Green sharing could send sustainability skyrocketing

Green strategists often times take advantage of the uninformed, uneducated business owner who is looking to get on board with the green movement but has no idea what steps to take. Sure, a green strategist can offer some insight into recycling practices, lighting fixtures, and maybe even a more efficient central heating system; the truth is though, most of these fixes are just band-aids for the bigger issues that exist in corporate and manufacturing environments. A new idea, the GreenXchange, bypasses the green guru and allows companies to share (key word being share) licensed information with one another to provide valuable, sustainable ideas with one another on how to improve processes.

The GeeenXchange, as it has been coined, is similar to the very popular ecovillage idea where people come together, as a community, to share ideas and resources. Within the ecovillage concept, people are dependent on one another and rely on the varying knowledge and skill sets that each person in the community possesses.

In the same way, the GreenXchange is dependent on the varying companies within different business sectors that are focused on the research and development of more efficient processes.

As it relates to the ecovillage idea, a man or woman might come up with a new idea of how to generate energy from his or her garden. She would then share that information with the rest of the community. At the same time, others from the community are coming up with new innovative ways to do others things. Soon, the information cycles and allows everyone to benefit.

With the GreenXchange, companies come up with the new innovative and sustainable processes and share them with the other companies involved in the GreenXchange.

All parties involved have the opportunity to tailor the contracts and agreements as needed so that valuable, protected information does not get into the hands of the wrong companies. For example, Best Buy might allow an apparel store to see its state-of-the-art logistics process to enable more efficiency, but would not want a competitor to have access to the same information. The contract then might prohibit some and enable others.

The benefit of the GreenXchange is obvious. Instead of having a person come in who throws a band-aid on the situation and certifies a company as green, companies have the opportunity to keep up with technology and with one another to fully transform processes. Additionally, competitors who traditionally have had a bad reputation for their environmentally harmful practices can work together to fix their eco-devastating ways.

As I see it, GreenXchange will either flop because not enough companies are willing to sign up, or create a revolution in the business world. There would be a massive improvement in sustainability if companies jump on board with this. Let’s hope that will be the case.