Clean Tech Gets Funding

As buzzwords go, while "Green" gets the ink, "Clean Tech" gets the money. PricewaterhouseCoopers reports that 3Q07 VC investments in Clean Tech companies numbered 62 and totaled $844M- over 10% of the total VC pie ($7.1B!). And just as I was about to claim that the phrase "Clean Tech" itself was becoming so ubiquitous as to lose its independent meaning, Inc. did a nice job of describing such start-ups as "alternative energy, conservation and recycling."

So Facebook is the "it" company of the year (our last Fast Company link, I promise...for today!) but you can get funding for your recycling business!

Meanwhile, tour the blogosphere on these other environmentally focused blogs, courtesy of our own Blogger.

More Dairy Do Good: Ben and Jerry's

If you like rich ice cream with clever flavors named for (mostly hippy) inspirations (like Cherry Garcia) OR the music of the best guitar/bass/drums/ fiddle/sax quintet (that isn't really a quintet since it also has a piano) in rock and roll OR both, and are concerned about the environment and global warming, then you'll love "Lick Global Warming", Ben & Jerry's collaboration with the Dave Matthews Band and SaveOurEnvironment.org.

The program sports a number of educational tidbits and calls to action, like letters to Congress or support for renewable energy efforts like myclimate and NativeEnergy.

Google: Doing Good, Locally

Google. Do No Evil. Google.org. There are so many "Optimist" facets to one of the most fascinating and fastest growing companies out there (and one with unbelievable brand-building momentum, according to Interbrand.) Here's another:

If you believe that small business is the life blood of this country, which we do, then this project, Google Local Business Referrals, is an example of a technology company doing good while probably also doing well. Google is enlisting paid local representatives to take digital photos and collect information about local businesses for integration with Google Maps (with the participation and permission of the business, of course.) This is a win for the small business, the end user looking for a solid referral, and certainly, in some way, Google.

If promoting small business doesn't meet your definition of doing good, consider:

• Free AdWords advertising for non-profits through Google Grants
• The business world-leading solar installation at the Google campus (see BoingBoing)
• How Googlers and non-Googlers like the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum have teamed up to use Maps to track Darfur and the genocide tragedies of the region (also see StopGenocideNow.org)
• Google releasing a version of the Apps suite for non-profits and educators
• Google planning to go Carbon Neutral by next year (see Shiny Shiny)...

...and of course, the legendary treatment of its employees, from work-life balance to the fabled amenities to a stipend for buying a hybrid, all well-document on the Fortune 100 Best Companies To Work For list and even on Oprah...

...and underlying it all, Google.org, the philanthropic arm which, lead by the legendary Dr. Larry Brilliant and endowed by Google cash and equity, is focused on public health, climate change, and global development, and supporting or launching great programs from the Acumen Fund (supporting entrepreneurial pursuits against poverty) to RechargeIT.org, which targets auto emissions.

(Equal Opportunity: Yahoo! For Good is a great program for using Yahoo tools to make a positive impact. No one could say it simpler or better than that!)

Critics point to privacy concerns, click fraud, or other standard criticisms, but that's not what this is about; they may also scoff that any company with Google's cash position could do such good things.

To which we say, to all other huge companies with lots of money, "Great, so do it like Google does it."

Disclaimer: The Optimist Company doesn't reflect Google's position and in no way are they connected; the only things they have is a vision that companies can make money while doing good. Even though The Optimist isn't about journalistic integrity (which I respect as a trained journalist) and instead simply celebrating companies that make money while doing good, this bears mentioning, because I can't go much further without mentioning Google.

Al Gore and Live Earth

Trying to keep things apolitical around The Optimist Company will not be easy given highly charged public opinions on topics like the environment and business' role in the community. At one point only a few years ago mentioning Al Gore may have been as politically charged as we could get.

But now that Gore has distanced himself from politics (a stance that, obviously, could change at any given moment in the next 6-9 months) and turned to building private ventures like Current TV and employing his own soaring Q Rating to making the topic of Global Warming both celebrity-cool and about as politically agnostic as it can get, it seems safe to plug MSN's archive of July 7's Live Earth "Concerts for a Climate in Crisis," staged around the world by master promoter Kevin Walls and emceed by Gore himself. Check out Optimist favorites Jack Johnson in Australia, Lenny Kravitz in Brazil and the star-studded London lineup.

Also, checkout this month's fantastic Fast Company profile by Ellen McGirt on the "brand makeover" of the formerly droll pol. Al Gore.

Love An Inconvenient Truth or dismiss it as propaganda, but you must at least grant Gore some serious marketing credibility for his ability to make the global climate a talkable topic.