How to make your environmentalism pay!

STEP 1: Figure it out:

Every time that you drive your car you contribute to global warming. The same is true for turning on a light-unless you are purchasing energy from alternative sources.

This article will help you off-set those carbon emissions. It is not that expensive to do this, and you will be helping to pay for some of the environmental cost incurred by your company.

The most useful business book I have come across since Jim Collins' "Good to Great" is "Blue Ocean Strategy", by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne.

Blue Ocean strategy is about breaking through structures that primarily exist in how you perceive your company and the market. The strategy helps you to see new opportunities. Once you see them, you have access to a world without competition.

Most businesses are structured like pyramids. People and resources are used to benefit those at the top who set policy to achieve maximum profit. This narrow focus, mandated in publicly held companies by the law of our land, has turned our basic human need for exchange into a destructive pattern.

"Consumers" slowly undermine their own wellbeing by supporting companies that function within local economies as neo-colonial entities.

To the progressive shopper, the jewelry industry is associated with blood diamonds, dirty gold, and lead poisoned jewelry imported from China. In May, 2007, I started a blog that supports the movement to ethical sourced jewelry. I found a lot of support from people within this sector who have similar values but have not had a place to have a voice.

Naturally, the focus of jewelry trade magazines is mainly on issues of fashion and business.