I’m always talking about sustainability, and as awesome as it is to ponder how it will save the planet and 
create a spiritual transcendence and all that good stuff that makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside, I thought it’d be smart to put a practical edge on the whole thing by taking a look at the actual markets that make up LOHAS (lifestyles of health and sustainability) and what type of numbers are behind them. This movement is growing fast and is creating incredible value in our economy. I believe it will gradually work it’s way into every imaginable vertical and serve to harmonize the economy into a holistic transcendence beyond capitalism. My friend Lee and I like to call it ecolism as I’ve mentioned in past posts. Here’s a breakdown of the current markets of the “sustainable economy”, what products and services they offer, and which ones are growing fastest.
Breaking Sustainability down into Markets
Open Platform Breaks Down Walls
Opening up API’s and access to content driven sites, especially in the case of Guardian News Media Group, heralds in a new and refreshing approach to online by a transitioning traditional media group. In days of yore nomadic brutish types would stand on bridges and charge arbitrary taxes for crossing them. In many ways, this old keeper of the keys mentality should have died years ago and has no place existing. Even the music industry has been quick to adapt, and we’re already seeing the music-as-a-singular-unit model fall away as Spotify tears down walls, and merely offers a light tax for those who wish to dwell – but is also fine for passers through to just listen to the occasional advertisement.
Zemanta Upgrade
This is an update to a post I wrote last year after first discovering Zemanta, a blog tool/firefox add-on that makes intelligent real time contextual recommendations based on the content you’re writing. These recommendations come in the form of pictures, links, tags, and related articles. I’ve been using it for about 8 months now, and have to say, it’s probably the most useful Firefox add-on, let alone web tool in general, that I’ve found. The pictures and link recommendations are becoming more relevant over time, showing the creators’ legit semantic engine skillz, and the tag generation is a priceless feature for annotating posts with meta information. They’ve recently enhanced the magic by integrating the tool into Gmail and Yahoo mail!
Wells Fargo, a bank on the rise
My financial adviser notified me last month that our bank Wachovia is going to be 
acquired by Wells Fargo. It’s also been recently announced that Wells has exceeded $3 billion in environmental financing. Seems like they’re taking full advantage of this economic crisis and positioning to become a major player. Wondering what they’re gonna do with that 3 bil?
Obama’s Energy and Environmental Team Completed
President-elect Obama has proven pragmatism and decisiveness with the completion of his energy and environmental team. He apparently understands the issues and is ready to lead.
His team includes:
Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy: Nobel physics laureate and head of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Lisa Jackson, Administrator of the EPA: former commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
Nancy Sutley, Chairman of White House Council on Environmental Quality: former energy advisor to California governor, Gray Davis
Carol M. Browner, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change: former EPA administrator under Bill Clinton
Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior: Colorado Senator
Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture: former Iowa Governor
Obama’s first stated target is to reduce U.S. GHG emissions to the level of 1990 by 2020. This is an incredibly bold goal and the wheels need to be put in motion immediately. The first course of action is deciding on a carbon tax and/or cap-and-trade system.