I've had the opportunity this week to interview several businesses in the Strathcona area who are already taking moderate to extreme action toward decreasing their own footprints. They buy and manufacture their products locally, they build green roofs, they go to Climate Smart to learn how to track and reduce their footprint, they participate in by-product synergy exchanges, they provide incentives to their employees to ride bikes to work, etc. These businesses are making these changes because it is the "right thing to do", and because they are preparing for what they anticipate the realities of business to be in the near future. Many of these actions do not save money for the business owners, and in some cases, can actually increase their costs.

However, for each of these forward-thinking businesses, there are dozens more who will not or cannot afford to make these types of changes because it's the right thing to do. These are the businesses that we must motivate to make changes through the provision of multiple incentives.

For example, many businesses would like to put in green roofs, but they don't have the capital required to upgrade the infrastructure of their roofs to make this possible. If the City can provide grants for these upgrades, we will see a lot more green roofs in the Strathcona area.

If we can make it easier and more rewarding for businesses to take actions toward sustainability, they would be able to sell their goods and services at prices comparable to those of unsustainable products, creating a huge spike in demand for sustainable goods and services.