School for Startups Minutes
Hollow leadership erodes our trust and distracts us from the real solution. If we want environmental progress, we must celebrate the doers—the entrepreneurs solving problems—not the talkers and those who only pose as green with their checkbook. That is the call of the real environmentalist. Please go act, and call out those who are faking it.
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Entrepreneurs are building products that are sustainable and profitable. At the same time, capitalism isn't the enemy of the environment; it's the tool. That's the surprising truth you'll find in The Real Environmentalists.
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Recycling ships is an ugly, dirty business, but it's much better than the alternative. Entrepreneurs like Wayne Elliott are stepping forward and turning the nightmare into a business. They are using capitalism to tackle the dirtiest problems in the world and making a profit while they do it. That's what makes him one of the real environmentalists.
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The real environmentalists are the capitalist entrepreneurs. They're not posing; they're building. They are solving global problems in ways that are profitable and practical. And that's the lesson we need to follow. Thank God for our entrepreneurs, especially the ones in the environmental space.
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I love the environment. I love going for walks along a path with a lake and beautiful trees. There's nothing more enjoyable, but I'm also a hypocrite. I like my air conditioning in my airplanes too, and I drive a big car and have a swimming pool. Am I a hypocrite? Can I love the environment and still drive a big car? That's what I want to talk about this week: real environmentalism. It's an uncomfortable truth. Much of our environmentalism is performative. The real work isn't happening on the red carpets or the U.N. stages or in People magazine. It happens in laboratories and startups, places...
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Kevin Gast, with his company VVater, took on the housing challenge with fresh eyes and figured out how to make the water part of the equation more sustainable. It’s now scalable and producing cleaner, better water for all of us. He’s one of the real environmentalists. Check them out.
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I have been a lifelong scuba diver. It's one of my absolute favorite passions. One of the first things you are taught is not to touch the coral because you will kill it, and it will never come back—except now, maybe it will. Gator Halpern has invented a new technology that grows coral 50 times faster than nature does and can replace an entire reef. He's one of our real environmentalists.
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Dr. Stephen Mayfield was one of the few academics to see that his research had practical, everyday uses. He was studying algae and discovered that he could grow plastics from algae-based products. This could be used to replace petroleum. Wouldn't that be a great godsend? Another one of our real environmentalists.
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Lovesac has long been one of my favorite furniture brands. The founder, Shawn Nelson, has great ads. I love the ads, but he has dedicated the company to upcycling materials and designing products that are meant to last a long time instead of throwaway couches. He builds products that will adapt and endure. He is an environmental entrepreneur.
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What happens when a 900-foot ship is at the end of its life? Many of them are sunk in the middle of the night, in the middle of the ocean, destined to leak toxins forever. How can we solve this problem? Surely, we need government help—or maybe something else is happening. I'll tell you who’s cleaning up this mess right after this.
info_outlineZapier, Z-A-P-I-E-R, connects all of your apps together, your email, your customer list, your social accounts, your payments, all connected so that they can talk to each other. It automates repetitive tasks so you can focus on growing your business. This is one of the must-haves for a busy person. It's called Zapier.