Blog Hotspot for Franchise News ...

We’re going to be hearing a lot about climate change in the coming months.

All week, the New York Times and others have been running lead stories and editorials about the upcoming climate change conference in Copenhagen in December. It will probably arouse the biggest media clatter about the environment since the Kyoto Protocol was signed. The media focus will not only center on what government’s can do to cut climate change, but on what businesses and citizens can do.

The hyperactive bloggers at HarvardBusiness.org have written a noteworthy post about green priorities in this coming eco-age. Though many businesses and franchises like to promote even the smallest eco-changes they’ve introduced, blogger Auden Schendler posits that companies need to do more - as much as possible - to fight to save the environment.

“Companies that tout their “green” dish detergent, and consumers who buy it, are distracting themselves from the real problem. Climate change is a desperate situation, and we have very little time to implement a solution. Any substantial energy spent on new environmental programs that don’t address climate are actively detrimental because they divert resources from where they’re urgently needed.”

It’s an interesting hard-line approach to what is a global problem that hasn’t gone away despite the downturn in the global economy. We would congratulate franchises for taking strides to protect the environment. There’s always more we can do, of course. Ultimately, we have our own choices to make. I do agree with Schendler that if more businesses stood up and took their concerns about the environment to Capital Hill, more would get done to protect the environment.

A lot of businesses are hyping their green credentials. It will be interesting to see what comes of the green movement in the coming weeks and months.