"…development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" - World Commission on the Environment and Development - The Brundtland Commission
"Sustainable products are those products providing environmental, social and economic benefits, and protecting the needs of future generations, public health, welfare, and environment over their full commercial cycle, from the extraction of raw materials to final disposition." - Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability – MTS
I heard last week on the Treehugger blog that green prefab designer Michelle Kaufmann was closing up shop. It 
seems that Kaufmann’s business has fallen victim to the credit crisis, despite a backlog of clients clamoring for her work. We were really disappointed to hear the news, since Michelle’s concept of modular sustainable housing combined with her unique design aesthetic is something we appreciate and admire.
I first heard about Michelle Kaufmann a few years ago when her mkLotus show home was being constructed in front of city hall plaza in San Francisco for the West Coast Green show. I worked with some of the folks who were building and designing the home to pick out a sustainable Merida rug that would fit with the simple, clean aesthetic of the house. We chose one of our paper and wool rugs, Festival in Layer Cake. This rug is designed and woven in the US and the paper yarns are obtained from sustainably-managed forests in North America.
The rug looked great of course, but the house was the real talk of the show. Michelle’s 
beautifully simple, modern design felt deeply connected to the outside world and the landscape it was a part of. The green roof, grey water usage, solar power, and many other sustainable elements only added to the overall beauty of the space. We hope that Michelle finds a way to continue her excellent work. We’ll be keeping up with her on her blog: http://blog.michellekaufmann.com
Socially and environmentally concerned consumers are often puzzled about how to make responsible shopping choices. Information about how companies treat their workers, contribute to their local communities and manage their environmental and social impact are rarely available on product packaging or in stores, making it extremely difficult to make well-informed shopping choices on the fly.
As someone who wants to use my purchasing power to support companies I admire, I was thrilled to discover a new web site – and accompanying iPhone application – called GoodGuide. GoodGuide rates thousands of products with comprehensive and easy-to-understand data points. Each product is rated according to things like the health or nutrition of the product and the environmental and social performance of the company that makes it. The site also provides lists of similar 
products and their ratings for comparison.
GoodGuide has put together more than 80 million data points from different databases that evaluate products and companies. The company considers transparency to be of the utmost importance, and it i
s committed to providing users with details about their rating methodologies and database sources. It is all in the site.
GoodGuide is currently in “beta” mode, and lists products in four categories: food, personal care, household cleaners, and toys, but the site will soon be expanding to cover additional areas. I find the site incredibly helpful, especially when I’m standing in the supermarket trying to make a decision. Check it out!
As an economist, I subscribe to the belief that an idea will get further if there is an economic incentive to support it. For so long, the discussion among businesses has been along the lines of “Can we afford to focus on the environment, or are we too small to be sustainable?” It is exciting that we are moving beyond this false dichotomy as many companies realize that they can do well by doing good, a it was argue in a previous post in this blog.
What is even more encouraging to me is that new business opportunities are arising out of sustainability. I am on the board of advisors for a very successful local dry cleaning chain called Dependable Cleaners. I recently learned that Dependable Cleaners provides eco-friendly hangers to their customers that they receive for free from an organization called Hanger Network. Hanger Network provides recycled (and recyclable) plastic hangers to dry cleaners at no cost, earning money from advertising that appears on the hangers themselves.
In this instance, all companies benefit from this sustainable idea: Dependable Cleaners is reducing costs and waste, advertisers are gaining access to consumers through a new and interesting medium, and Hanger Network is creating an entirely new business around sustainable practices. 
This endevor is a huge win for the environment, helping to reduce the 3.5 billion wire hangers that go into US landfills every year.
I believe that as the number of people interested in sustainability continues to grow, the opportunities for existing businesses to do well by doing good will grow rapidly, as will the opportunities for innovative entrepreneurs to create new markets.
