Your Start-Up Starts Now A Guide to Entrepreneurship What Is Environmental Entrepreneurship Alexander Offord Crabtree Publishing Company www crabtreebooks com
Imagine it’s 10 20 maybe 30 years from today You wake up in the morning and peek at the weather outside A bright sun beams down on the solar panels fixed to the roofs of the buildings next to yours All around the panels are rooftop gardens where urban farmers harvest fresh home-grown berries for their breakfast You have a quick wash in your space-age shower Most of the water you use is recycled the rest is filtered in a treatment plant The World of Tomorrow Future cities will be more environmentally friendly Buildings will combine solar heating with the benefits of live plants 4
You get dressed and make breakfast using the fresh eggs your hens have laid overnight Their small coop sits on the balcony You compost their manure to use as fertilizer for your garden After eating you unplug your smartphone from the USB port built directly into a potted plant Overnight photosynthesis which occurs in the plant has recharged the battery You glance at the time you’re running late Usually you would hop on the high speed electric train that takes you right into the city Today you get in your electric car and take off down the road The road you drive on is made of special solar panels Together with the rows of windmills on the horizon these panels power the entire city You breathe deep as you rocket along the highway windows rolled down The breeze smells fresh because the paint on the buildings you whip by is specially designed to react with water droplets and sunlight to pull pollution from the air This is just a glimpse of the world of tomorrow It is a world in which environmental entrepreneurship has created a cleaner healthier planet It is a world that celebrates the best of both high-tech modern conveniences and traditional ways of life It is a world where technology and the environment exist in harmony The world of tomorrow is actually being built right now by environmental entrepreneurs For some the future is already here This sketch shows the Garden Pool an Arizona-based ecohome started by the McClung family They raise chickens vegetables and fish in what used to be a swimming pool The home is solar powered and all waste is recycled for fertilizer or food for the fish 5
