“A definitive guide from a widely acknowledged expert. Any company with green ambitions can learn the kind of rethinking, retooling and rebranding to help assure long-term, sustainable success.”
—Hazel Henderson, EthicalMarkets.com
“For the last few years, I’ve been imagining what the essential one-volume green business handbook would look like. Now, I don’t need to imagine it, because Gil Friend has written it. The Truth About Green Business is simply the best green business book on the market.”
—Alex Steffen, Editor, Worldchanging.com and Author of Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century
“Talk is no longer enough—it’s now time to act. This is a timely book of practical advice for companies that are ready to take that step.”
—David Douglas, Chief Sustainability Officer, Sun Microsystems
“The best green business guide I have read this century.”
—John Elkington, Cofounder, Environmental Data Services, SustainAbility, and Volans Ventures
“Practical, inspiring, solutions-oriented, and simple without oversimplifying. A must-have playbook for finding the green business opportunities within your company or startup.”
—Christina Page, Director, Climate and Energy Strategy, Yahoo! Inc.
“Clean and green are ‘in’, but only if the excitement translates to real business plans – plans that cause a tipping point towards environment-friendly industries. There is no better guide to turning this excitement into action than Gil Friend’s ‘The Truth About Green Business.”
—Daniel Kammen, Chief Technology Specialist, World Bank
“The Industrial Revolution launched a century of resource consumption that we now know can’t last. Gil Friend sets the game plan for a sustainable century—economic growth that protects our wallets and our planet in equal measure for generations to come.”
—Terry Tamminen, Pegasus Capital Advisors, Former Secretary of the California EPA
“If there’s one ‘mother of all green business books,’ this is the one. Gil Friend provides ‘dummy proof ’ information for start-ups and enterprise leaders alike. If this book could be required reading at all MBA programs, our future would be on the right track.”
—Joseph B. Malki, Founder, GreenCities.com Event Series; Cofounder/Partner/CBDO, Seven-Star, Inc.
“Gil Friend not only makes a compelling argument for urgent adoption of sustainable business principles, but also builds a practical and understandable blueprint for action.”
—Gene Kahn, VP, Global Sustainability Officer, General Mills, Inc.
“The Truth About Green Business is brilliant, visionary, and totally practical. This book is packed with priceless hard-earned wisdom and real life experience. You could pay a consultant thousands of dollars for this information, or you can buy the book and have the distilled wisdom at your fingertips.”
—Ocean Robbins, Founder and Director, Youth for Environmental Sanity (YES!), Author, Choices for Our Future
“The world is changing rapidly, bringing the need for sustainability and green business to the forefront. The remarkable thing about Gil Friend’s The Truth About Green Business is its clarity. This book marks a turning point in how responsible business will be done.”
—Eric Corey Freed, Principal, organicARCHITECT, Author of Green Building & Remodeling for Dummies
“Whether you’ve already got a green business or are bringing a green lens to a traditional business, The Truth About Green Business is chock full of practical nuggets you can use today.”
—Ina Pockrass, CEO, Transcendentist, Inc.
“This book contains everything you didn’t know to ask about green business and can’t afford not to know! Just imagine if everyone issued a business license were given a copy of this book as required reading for success. Now that’s a stimulus package American businesses could use.”
—L. Hunter Lovins, President, Natural Capitalism Solutions; Professor, Presidio School of Management; Coauthor of Natural Capitalism
“Business as usual is destroying the natural systems upon which our economies—and our civilization—depend. We can’t afford not to do green business. Fortunately, Gil Friend has provided us with a powerful, practical plan to recovery and sustained progress.”
—Lester R. Brown, President, Earth Policy Institute; MacArthur Fellow; Author of Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization
“Thanks to The Truth About Green Business the usual excuse for remaining gray—I don’t understand it and it’s too controversial—just vanished.”
—Carl Pope, Executive Director, Sierra Club
“This is a definitive guide from a widely-acknowledged expert. Any company with green ambitions can learn the kind of rethinking, retooling and rebranding to help assure long- term, sustainable success.”
—Hazel Henderson, Author of Ethical Markets: Growing the Green Economy
“Comprehensive, witty and so easy to read. For those of us in need of a quick refresher course on the biggest issue facing today’s companies, The Truth About Green Business is a must-read. Gil Friend provides a clear explanation of the global shift that is driving the multi-trillion-dollar market for products and services that can revitalize our economy and restore natural resources. His proven approach to green business is simple, practical and absolutely necessary.”
—Christine Arena, Author, The High Purpose Company
“Gil Friend makes organizations understand what’s on their risk agenda today and how to measure and manage impact while improving the bottom line. This starts with the firm belief that becoming a truly sustainable organization does ask for more than only reducing the carbon footprint. ”
—Rudy Vetter, former Vice President Sustainability, Dial Corporation
“A much needed and highly recommended book!”
—Ken Wilber, The Integral Vision
“The Truth About Green Business is that there are many truths. It is not just about green products and technologies but thinking holistically throughout an entire supply, production, sales, and waste management chain. It is about a fast-changing, dynamic worldview that links a do-good ethos to pragmatic business practices. In The Truth About Green Business, Gil Friend provides a much-needed hands-on approach to thinking and acting systemically. An invaluable primer for any business today aspiring to put sustainable principles to work. ”
—Martin Melaver, CEO of Melaver, Inc. and author of Living Above the Store
“When I first heard about Gil Friend’s “Declaration of Leadership for Sustainable Business” poster a few years ago, I bought one for my wall. It says it all – except how to make it happen. This practical guidebook provides the missing prescriptions, making the dream of a truly sustainable business seem like common sense. Thanks to Gil’s experienced insights, it is. The world needs this book.”
—Bob Willard, author, The Sustainability Advantage
“The economic downturn challenges us to work smarter and more efficiently. The Truth About Green Business helps identify effective, eco-efficient strategies not only to stay in business, but to develop a marketing edge and emerge stronger as the economy improves.”
—Pamela Evans, Green Business Coordinator, Alameda County, California
“What a pleasure to read an advance copy of Truth About Green Business! I found it to be an incredible easy-access digest of virtually all the knowledge and wisdom that powers the movement toward sustainability in business. From an investor perspective, green is the color of money, the color of business, and the color of the future of a healthy and sustainable economy.”
—Steve Schueth, President, First Affirmative Financial Network, Producer and Host, SRI in the Rockies Conference
“From a founding father of corporate sustainability comes a radically practical yet sophisticated overview of green business. In order to thrive through this triple-convergence of global financial, environmental, and social crises, we need to leverage exemplary thought- and action-leaders. With nearly four decades in the trenches, a mind that revels in the challenge of complexity, and a heart committed to the flourishing of all children, I’ll take Gil on my team any day. This book offers a rare opportunity to look through his eyes at the rough terrain we face and the choices businesses can make to ensure a profitable, sustainable future for all. ”
—Barrett C. Brown, M.A., Leader – Learning & Development, Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative, Co-Director, Integral Sustainability Center
“No one can bring green down to earth better than Gil Friend! This book is the compendium that you need to rethink your business and your life!”
—Robert B. Pojasek, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor, Harvard University
“Gil Friend’s 37 years of experience yields these 52 paths to green action — one for each week of the year — to boost your firm’s profit while also benefiting society. ”
—R. Paul Herman, CEO + Founder, HIP Investor Inc.
“One thing we and the planet can use a lot more of is green business. Gil Friend has provided us an amazing service in this accessible and well-written volume. No one is better than he at pointing out the natural logic of green solutions in the business world and the practical steps we can all take to green our economy and foster sustainability in the 21st century.”
—Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, PhD., Chair Department of Integral Theory at John F. Kennedy University and co-author of Integral Ecology.
“This book is very timely. The sustainability movement is broadening both across and into new enterprises globally. This book provides guidance for those new to the sustainability field and has a few nuggets for even the savviest practitioner.”
—David Prybylowski, Sustainability Director, Mars Chocolate North America
“This book repeatedly demonstrates the extraordinary depths of Gil Friend’s experience and entrepreneurial creativity, which yield a whole host of truths about green business. To paraphrase one of his own observations, just be prepared for your eyes to pop out of your head as he teaches you to think differently about economics and environment quality.”
—Ralph Cavanagh, Energy Program Co-Director, Natural Resources Defense Council
“This little book is inspiring in its range and practicality, not just for CEOs but for every member of the enterprise, be they chambermaids or chairmen. Whether you work from a shop floor or a forest floor, a kitchen floor or a legislative floor—from the ground floor or a corporate board room—you will find The Truth About Green Business an exceptionally useful guide for “going green” at any scale of enterprise. And it’s a joy to read. Now that’s an odd thing to say about a business book, but it just happens to be true., If you care about the quality and meaning and purpose of your life at work and what that can mean to everyone else on this planet, read this book for profit and purpose!”
—Chip Conley, Founder and CEO, Joie de Vivre Hospitality, Author, PEAK: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow
“In a world in which green business advice is rampant, this is the one resource you need: a field guide that combines insight and inspiration with a solid, actionable path forward — and is a joy to read, too. Gil Friend has created the ultimate essential resource for companies that want to compete in the years to come.”
—Joel Makower, Executive Editor, GreenBiz.com; author, Strategies for the Green Economy