I've read a few chapters into the book Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World (2008) by Gary Hirshberg.

It is easy to read and offers an interesting business perspective based on the author's experience running a successful green business, Stonyfield (makers of a line of Organic yogurt and milk products), as well as case studies on the business practices of other successful green businesses (e.g., Patagonia, New Belgium Brewing, etc...).

One way Stonyfield "saved the environment" was by doing an Eco Audit of their business to 1) identify and quantify the eco impacts of their business, and 2) to track them over time. This lead to a number of initiatives:

• Invest in self-generated renewable energy (solar panels)
• Invest in converting waste to biofuel
• Invest in co-generation; capturing and reusing heat from their manufacturing process and from waste
• Numerous energy-efficiency investments
• Offsetted when they couldn't avoid fossil-fuel usage (e.g., product distribution)
• Worked to get toxic chemicals out their products, packaging, and marketing materials
• Continuous work on minimizing packaging and selecting the right packing materials. Stonyfield's Eco Audit pointed to packaging as the second largest fossil-fuel comsuming component of their business.

One of the main points that Hirshfield makes is that these eco-investments were also excellent business investments. For example, increased energy efficiency and reduced consumption of fossil fuels have reduced Stonyfields operating costs substantially and allows it to be competitive and profitable. Their workers (and workers in other green businesss case studies) experience alot of job-satisfaction when they work in an enviroment where eco-friendliness is actively practiced. And last but not least, consumers are buying tons of their products (second in Yogurt sales in the US) in part because it is an organic product that comes in eco-friendly packaging from an eco-friendly business.