I love finding new ways to engage the community in green issues.  Check it out here:

I just returned from the ground breaking of Galaxy Elementary School in Boynton Beach, FL.  Galaxy will be the first Platinum level LEED certified school in the state of Florida and as they say "striving to be the greenest school in the galaxy".   This school will come off the heels of the successful Pine Jog Elementary school which achieved its Silver LEED certification.   It will have solar panels, windmills, special cooling units, you name it.  It will also have a nature trail to explore. It will be a model for school building in the future.  They also have the foresight to think about building a whole visitor center that will be open to the public.  I am honored that they are considering working with us to build a Wyland educational exhibit within the center.   We should know about that part of the project by the end of the summer.

While meeting and talking to the officials who are responsible for this project, I couldn't help but notice the enthusiasm, positive energy and sense of accomplishment that they all had.   This is not just about a green building project.  This is not just about a school.  It is about changing an entire community for the better.   The school is in a area right off of 95 and Boynton Beach Blvd.  Not necessarily prime real estate.  Imagine the sense of pride the parents will have when the school opens.  People will be visiting this school from all over the region.   I bet the homeowners who live in that area will see a bump in the values of their homes.  I can see renovations taking place and landscape projects happening in order to fit into the theme of the neighborhood.

I also talked to the head of the Boynton Beach Chamber about using this as an opportunity to create a Green Economic Zone in the same general area.  Imagine businesses relocating and starting up in this green zone right around the corner.   Lets hope the city council can get behind this.  I dont think it is too far fetched of a concept.

By the way, the amount of green commerce just from building this school is enourmous.  From the builder, the architecht, the engerneers, and all of the green product suppliers, this project will create good paying jobs that are green and add millions of dollars to the local economy.  

What a home run!!!  Kudos to the Palm Beach School District.  

I cant wait to see the finished product.

I don't think there is any secret sauce here.  But I do think green opens up an opportunity to small businesses that didn't exist even 3 years ago.  No matter what your business is, you have to have good products & services first.  But if we take that as a given and you add a green component, I think you have an advantage.  We'll talk about this in detail in May. 

The Solar Industry has grown from 3.6B to 6B from '09-'10.   By 2013 almost all major manufaturers of cars will have Electric models.  The fastest growth area in the food and beverage industry is natural health and wellness products.   Organics continue to dominate.  Walmart sells more organic cotton than anyone else.  LEED building has taken off and each one of the LEED projects needs supplies and services.  From lighting, roofing, floors, electrics, cleaning, you name it.  There is an entire mini-industry created by just supplying LEED based projects with the products and services they need.

Not sure where to begin or how your business can take advantage of this boom? Come to our next event, meet some like minded business owners, and start growing your business. 

Hope to see you in May. 

More importantly, these business owners are finding ways to reduce costs in their business because of the "green" things they do. We heard all kinds of ideas on how businesses can save money.  From changing lighting, to slowing down in the car/truck, to unplugging equipment, to inflating tires (we had a few chuckles about the politics of that one), re-using items, new recycling ideas, you name it.  There must have been at least two dozen take-aways.

We heard from Ken Yerves, the EVP at JM Families about all of the amazing operational improvements they have made including a very impressive solar installation on one of their buildings.  Ken talked about the culture of sustainability in the company and he proved it with many examples. 

We then heard from an ex-FPL executive, Tony Altmann about his new small business.  He is saving companies thousands of dollars a month on their energy bill by implementing energy control systems.  Not only is he saving his clients money, his company is growing!! 

Our interactive table discussion may have been the highlight of the morning.  To see the energy that came from the passionate discussions was so inspiring. Not to mention we got some really good ideas out of the discussion.

Our small business owners panel discussion really hit it on the head for me.  We had the owners of a water management company, a house cleaning business, a pizza restaurant chain and a social marketing firm.  What do they all have in common?  They are all saving boat loads of money because of the green initiatives they have implemented.   It doesn't matter what business you are in, you can always find ways to save money by going green.

We ended the day with a talk from the owner of a Hospitality/Hotel business in South Beach.  Wow, the passion and work they have put in to making their hotels green is inspiring and compelling.  Brian talked about the amazing amount of savings he recognized from reducing his energy costs and how he significantly reduced the costs of his cleaning products.

It is so obvious to me.  Going Green doesn't just make good social sense, it makes good business sense. 

I cant wait for the next one.

I usually find myself jumping into the middle of these conversations trying to dispel this myth.  Yes,  It is a myth.   And there is evidence to support this all around us.  From Wal-Mart greening their whole supply chain and saving millions if not billions of dollars, to a local furniture store who reduced their energy bill by 40% simply by changing their lighting.  Companies are saving big bucks by going green. Did you hear the one about the company that outsourced their technology to the "cloud" and saved money?  They saved money by ending the practice of buying computers that are extinct one year later.  They saved money by reducing their electricity bills from removing their inefficient server room.  They saved money by not needing a huge IT staff.  It's true.  Examples are everywhere.

If you are one of the few who are still reluctant, come to our next seminar on February 17 and see for yourself.  We'll give you hands on examples and tips that you can implement immediately to save your business money today.

And if you want some tips on how to save money at home, check out the segment I just did for WFLX.

But when it comes to my beloved grapefruit, I don’t see any such label.  All I see is a little round annoying sticker that I have to pry off before I eat my fruit.  What most people don’t realize is the tiny sticker you peel off has some very valuable information on it.  It tells me everything I need to determine if I buy that grapefruit or not.

This so called, PLU sticker, has either a 4 or 5 digit code and it usually tells you where the product is from.  Let’s start off with the code.   If its 4 digits, the fruit is conventional, meaning they most likely grew your fruit using pesticides and petroleum based fertilizers. 

If it has a 5 digit code it will start with either an 8 or a 9.  If it’s an 8, that means the fruit has been genetically modified, GMO.  In other words, some scientist put a gene in the fruit that was not there in nature.   Sounds a little scary, huh?

If the 5 digit code starts with a 9, this fruit has been grown to an organic standard.

The other information on the label is location.  Most of the time you can tell if the product comes from the U.S. or some other country.  A lot of times it will even tell you the state it comes from in the U.S.

I don’t know about you, but it sounds logical to me that if I buy a product that was grown in Florida vs. Honduras, that product probably needs less pesticides and preservatives to keep it fresh.  Since it is local, it also takes less fuel/energy to get to my supermarket.   

Next time you go shopping, do yourself a favor and read the label.   Pretty amazing what a sticker the size of a nickel can tell you!

I cant tell you how inspriing it is to get such positive feedback from the community about the events we did in 2010.  

So far for 2011 we are planning 5 business conferences and one fair.  In 2012 we plan on doing more fairs.  Its going to be fun from here.

Here's to a great, green, 2011!!!!