Dragon's Den: Green Comes of Age

The first in a weekly series of blogs I'm doing for CBC's Dragon's Den:

Green Notes : Green Comes of Age
Posted on March 31, 2010 3:18 PM

There was a time, not that long ago, when "concern for the environment" was a marginal activity. It was about protecting faraway, inaccessible, forests and obscure endangered rabbits. It involved eating unpalatable, cardboard-like, veggie burgers and organic spelt. It was of interest only to the most hardcore devotees of unflattering sandals.

But times have changed.

It's hard to date exactly when things flipped and the environmental movement's decades-long effort emerged fully into the mainstream. The release of Al Gore's "Inconvenient Truth" in 2006 had a huge impact. Here in Ontario, the environmental debate was fundamentally transformed by the advent of Dalton McGuinty's ambitious green platform in 2003. What is certain is that Barack Obama's election last year sealed the deal. It's difficult to see any daylight between Obama's economic plans and his environmental ones. The President has convincingly made the case that there is green to be made in green, and that the road to America's 21st Century prosperity and jobs creation lies through a "green economy."

"Environment" ain't just for granola-munchers anymore. All of a sudden, the whole world is green. It's become politically de rigueur to at least be seen to be green. The US military is going green. Even the largest, most sluggish, corporations are scrambling to put their sustainability strategies in place. And in the depths of a recession, the new green consciousness has proven it's here to stay.

The realization that there's good money to be made in ideas and ventures and businesses that also protect the environment has permanently transformed the environmental discussion. Now, we see the Clean Energy Economy being hailed as the "new Internet." A recent report estimated that the clean energy technology sector will grow into a US $2.4 trillion industry by 2020, surpassed only by automobiles and electronics. That ain't no chump change. The new Green Energy Act, adopted a few months ago by Ontario, is as much about resuscitating the manufacturing economy as it is about reducing carbon pollution. Provinces are now competing against each other for green investment. And the "green economy" isn't just about energy. It's about making things in less toxic ways. It's about new approaches to waste management (though the relative merits of waste incineration remain an open question), and it's about creating new jobs by conserving water.

Which brings us to Dragon's Den (a show that my wife Jen and I have loved for a while) and Greenvention. With "green business" poised to be such a huge investment opportunity, what could be more appropriate than television's most fun and most watched investment program focusing on this area for Earth Day. May the best Greenvention win! More next week with some tips on the good vs. the bad when it comes to green products.