State of Green Business 2011

Why do some green buildings perform as designed or better, while others might barely make the grade, even if certified? It turns out that even the most sustainably designed, intelligent building is only as smart and green as the people who occupy and operate it.

A free, open-source and volunteer-driven platform is behind a partnership between Office Depot and New Leaf Paper to let shoppers know exactly where their paper comes from.

Arun Majumdar, the director of Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, lays out the audacious goals and the tough budgetary realities of the U.S. Department of Energy unit that's best known by its acronym ARPA-E.

Michelle Moore is on a green mission. The federal environmental executive with the Council for Environmental Quality offers an insider's view of President Obama's Green Gov Challenge and government efforts to rein in energy use in a conversation with GreenBiz Executive Editor Joel Makower.

Eben Bayer, the co-founder and CEO of Ecovative Design, extols the natural processes and properties of grass and cows as a way of thinking about the design of environmentally responsible products.

Despite the well-trod cliché that a journey to sustainability is a marathon and not a sprint, Nike, with its Considered design ethos, shows all the signs of being in it for the long haul.

From green buildings to e-waste, Martha Johnson regards greening the government's General Services Administration as a serious challenge that can help lead green practices elsewhere in the economy.

Although Seth Goldman says the company is still his baby, the planned full acquisition of the organic tea company will be another interesting experiment in how a smaller company can help shape the values and performance of its much bigger owner.

As head of the Carbon War Room, Jigar Shah has a gigaton-sized challenge ahead of him; and though he's plenty frustrated at the slow pace of progress to date, but sees some rays of light in getting business on board with major emissions-reduction efforts.

At the State of Green Business Forum in Washington, D.C., Timberland CEO Jeff Swartz talked about how his company strives to embed corporate social responsibility, sustainability and authenticity into their operations and products in a candid, edgy and at times rollickingly funny conversation with GreenBiz Senior Writer Marc Gunther.