Polar bears & business flares

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (MarketWatch) — Polar bears may be put on the endangered species list because of global warming. What else may become extinct? How about oil, water, trees, fish and food?

The way in which we buy and consume — create our economy — is going to have to change; we are running out of the resources to support it. And that means more ethical choices will have to be made with regard the products we buy and the companies in which we invest.

Sustainability, the new buzzword, is already making its way into consumer and capital markets. The success of Whole Foods, Seventh Generation, the hybrid car market, as well as the fanfare behind solar and clean energy is paving the way for other industries to become more, for lack of a better word, conscious. Wal Mart sees this and is changing the way in which it operates, touting more energy efficient light bulbs and organic food. DuPont is another unlikely candidate that is advertising its desire to become more socially responsible. DuPont’s chief executive Chad Holliday says, “What’s good for business must be good for the environment and for people worldwide or you are not moving toward sustainable growth.”

Critics, of course, says this is all “greenwashing,” with corporations acting just a little more ethically and gaining a whole lot more publicity from it. I’ll take a little more than less of anything any day. However the situation upon us requires urgency. We all need to become stakeholders in this economy and force change for the better through more sustainable investments and consumptions.

Here’s why:

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