GREEN BUSINESS VIEWS

Every good idea will spawn dozens of imitators, and Green certification is no exception to this phenomenon.  Every week another website is posted offering another variation of a Green certification.  How do you tell the scams from the real things?  Well, first of all, it is likely that the cheapest and easiest solution is the inferior solution.   The quick and easy solution is to pay a few hundred dollars to a website deal that asks only that you sign a ten-point pledge to certify the Green integrity of your operation.

The Internet is most often a one-sided flow.  Anyone can get information on nearly any subject.  You can even download songs, pictures, and movies.  When it comes to the reverse flow, it is almost always money from consumers to websites that are very pleased to get money from you.  In this mostly one-sided system, the ability to assist your company to install a Green operation is all but impossible.  If you could improve a business this way, I imagine that there are also  janitorial services that will clean your building through the Internet as well.

Finding the “Real Deal” is becoming more and more difficult.  It is not just a matter of Google page ranking because anyone with enough money can buy Google adwords and get on the first page of the search engines.  Neither is it about the quality of the website.  It only takes a skilled programmer to post up an impressive website that makes a garage operation look like a mega-corporation.  Obviously, it helps when the company has been around a dozen years or so, but the Green industry is still relatively young.  So, consider the keys to success for a Green certification program called the Green Business League.

1. Experience:  Green Business League grew from the Green Clean Institute which started in 2005, and has trained more than 2500 firms and individuals in Green practices and certification.
2. The Green Business League has real people in most major communities, with more than 250 trained Certified Green Consultants in the U.S. and internationally.  They expect more than 500 by the end of 2009.
3. The Green Business League actually audits each and every firm with a Green Business Certification using a flexible but well-constructed 100 point system for certification award.  It is not a paper pledge.
4. Each Certified Green Consultant works with area companies on a monthly assistance program to continue the Green progress and increase the Green IQ of each company.
5. The Green Business League website has real people, real offices, and the largest field force of Green consultants in the country.  Instead of a Internet operation, there are real Green Consultants in your community working to address the environmental challenges that we face.

The environment is a serious issue that has global and local implication of immense consequences.  The fact that some profiteers  think to extract money by offering a bogus Internet certification is both an insult and a mockery of those who take this matter seriously.  What if we also sold a seal for the hungry and starving people of the world?  Contributors need not make a difference to those who are dying daily, but they do get to look like you care when they happily post the seal for public display.  Ludicrous, right?  Yet, this parallels the same mockery of the environmental issue.  Displaying such an Internet purchased seal is a detriment to those who really care and want to make a difference.

One of the fundamental credos of the Green Business League is the statement that the Green Business Certification is “Earned, and not Bought.”  In the face of the “wanna be” Green certification program, this is not only unique, it tells all that you certify that this program is for real, and money is not the only criteria for certification.   If you are looking for a Green Business certification, you could do no better than the Green Business League.

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