According to author Diane MacEachern, women make 80 percent of all consumer buying decisions. They control at least half of business-to-business purchases, too. Put that together and you have what she calls the Big Green Purse -- the growing clout of women in the green economy. MacEachern, a veteran environmental writer and communications strategist, believes that represents a big business opportunity for companies.

GreenBiz.com editor Joel Makower spoke with MacEachern recently on the occasion of her just-published book, Big Green Purse: Use Your Spending Power to Create a Cleaner, Greener World, about how green-minded companies can tap in.