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16 April 2008
Green Entrepreneurship, Better Business
The speakers are Wendy Gordon, founder of National Geographic Green Guide; Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC Universal; and Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin. This video was produced in April 2008 by America.gov and Crossborders.
(begin transcript)
WENDY GORDON: America is, on the grassroots level, going green, and it’s now trickling up, or trickling back up into the leadership.
BEN SILVERMAN: NBC Universal along with all of General Electric have an enormous commitment to “green” and the environment and we have built within our company a cross-divisional committee which is focused on ways in which we can limit how we affect the environment ourselves.
RICHARD BRANSON: Far more emphasis needs to be placed on finding scientific and technological solutions to the problem.
SILVERMAN: Richard Branson obviously is an extraordinary entrepreneur and maverick who has built amazing businesses and really uses those businesses to deliver for his customer and I think he’s a man who cares about the world.
BRANSON: We at Virgin have put up a $25 million prize to encourage scientists and investors to put their mind to it.
SILVERMAN: I think you’re also seeing the capitalist democracy actually now helping accelerate the environmental movement.
NBC FOOTAGE (“30 Rock”): “Green-zo” (Laugh) “Saving the Earth while maintaining profitability.”
SILVERMAN: I think consumers help those companies by consuming those products. Those market factors are now enabling “green” initiatives to be commercially viable as well.
NBC FOOTAGE: On an all new "Deal Or No Deal" ....
NBC FOOTAGE (Howie Mandel): This episode is going green.
GORDON: The media has a great responsibility and power to guide green behavior and even green citizenship.
SILVERMAN: Across all of the NBC Universal platforms the idea came, let’s use our existing programming to really hammer a great green message, and at the same time as a company we would start doing things and adopting approaches during that week for our employees.
NBC FOOTAGE ("The Biggest Loser"): Next time, take a moment, find the nearest recycling bin.
SILVERMAN: I am a huge advocate for consciousness in everything you do so if you have the platform, use it for good. It’s good business now, doing well while doing good. All of those things are possible and I think consumers recognize when a corporation demonstrates some extra responsibility or some philanthropic ethic. You know, green is green.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
