Hello, and welcome back to class. Our focus today is really a reminder that entrepreneurship is essentially about solving problems. And in the case of this course, those problems often relate to environmental, human health, or negative social impacts. So we'll start with a discussion of water. So 2.5 billion people around the world lack access to clean drinking water or adequate sanitation. And as you may know, these are really not environmental problems, they're human health, safety, economic, productivity issues instead. Now, you may ask, "How does this relate to the course?" One example is the idea of green development, green building, etc., that leads to cleaner water. Certainly within the building, but also responsible for the wastewater, and/or could relate to new technology, services developed to purify water, that could be transferred to address this problem as well. Next, on electricity, roughly 1.2 billion people lack access to electricity around the world. So when the sun goes down, lights are out, right? Not much ability for productive time/enjoyment or leisure. Unless of course, there are kerosene lamps indoors. But as you know, or we've discussed, those are not only a fire hazard, but also expensive, and very unhealthy to be reading, writing, working, talking around. The relationship between this course and this problem here would be innovations, such as micro or pico solar systems. Often backed by venture capital investors in the for-profit businesses, which are bringing light to some fraction of these 1.2 billion people. But many, many more that need to be served, not just with those type of products, but with others in the renewable energy and green building sector. Similar topic here: energy, but for cooking. 2.7 billion people use biomass for cooking, think wood or dried dung from animals. And this is linked to 3.5 million deaths per year from indoor air pollution. I'll also note that this disproportionately affects women in the family, who are often doing the cooking indoors. So, not have an environmental issue with the carbon and the particulate matter, you also have an equity issue, a gender issue, here as well. So again, tying it to the course, the idea is, can entrepreneurship in renewable energy or green building lead to products that offer cleaner and cheaper ways to cook indoors? Next, the focus on animals and habitat. The world is on track to lose 68% of all wild animals by 2020. And then relative to 1970, we've already lost 58%. That's a pretty depressing statistic. Part of our role here is to be stewards of natural resources and of other species on the planet. Doing a pretty bad job so far. And again, to tie this to the course, what are some of those reasons for this loss of wild animal populations? Part of it is a hunger for their habitat. For us to either develop new homes, new cities, etc., and/or it's to extract the resources in the ground, on the ground, trees, etc., to produce something we use in our building. Less throughput, minimizing virgin material, increasing the reuse of material, the use of recycled material, is just one example of how this big problem could be addressed. Many other solutions required, of course, but that's one example. Here, at the really invisible level, humans have created over 100,000 chemicals. In our bodies, these can mix to create over 3 billion potential combinations. I'll note that, at least in the US, typically less than 1% of those are thoroughly studied for potential negative human and environmental impacts before they are released broadly into the market. That is the opposite of what is called the precautionary principle, which is more often used in countries in the EU, as an example, in which case it is to thoroughly test the negative potential impacts of chemicals before they are released into various supply chains. Now, there's a great article in National Geographic on this topic called Pollution Within. I would encourage you to take a look at, if you want to be terrified, perhaps, of the different man-made chemicals probably lurking inside of your body right now. Think about that one for a second. Again, tying it to this course: just look around you, in your office, in your home. All the components of the building, primarily. Begin thinking about what is the origin for all of those subcomponents. We frequently don't know the answer. Partly because it's complex. The other part is that, often, companies don't want to communicate the details of what's in their products for business or proprietary, intellectual property related concerns. That makes it difficult to track. But the point is, as we become more aware of these negative, or at least poorly understood chemicals, we can begin saying to ourselves, or to our customers, "Look, we want to provide you with product for your next real estate project where we know we've screened all the components down to the chemical compound level. We know that based on x, y, z, trusted resource, that there are no negative environmental or human impacts." There are different "red lists" out there being created which track chemicals, or compounds, or metals, with known negative impacts. And the suggestion is, you -- product producer or building owner/developer -- you should not have any red list chemicals in your product and/or building. Finally, looking into the world's oceans. About 20% of the world's coral reefs are now dead. Only 45% are healthy, yet 25% of the world's fish live near them. So again, this is not a discussion, really, about snorkeling, or scuba diving, or fishing, so not recreation. Those are all important for personal reasons, for economic reasons, but this is also about maintaining important protein sources for hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people around the world. Again, tying it to the course, the greenhouse gas emissions from the building energy use, or from our power generating facilities, contribute to acidification -- the oceans waters becoming more acidic with more CO2 in the air -- which further contributes to coral reefs bleaching or dying. Another example would be water pollution that is derived from air pollution, which again is linked, oftentimes, to the kind of energy produced and the quantity of energy consumed. Some key conclusions from this lecture. First, the world is full of environmental health and social problems. These create opportunities for new businesses to solve them. Second, it is possible to do well and to do good at the same time in the same business. There's often no need to accept less or lower financial reward when pursuing a business or investment that also creates positive environmental or social outcomes. This is a big, I think, misperception out there, that these things cannot co-exist, that is to say, financial and environmental outcomes. No, certainly that can be the case. At the extreme, there is no business solution, it is purely a charitable non-profit or government solution required. But increasingly, there are many more opportunities where you can generate market rate return, that is, not a concessionary return, while also contributing to positive social or environmental outcomes. The last one. The mission aspect of businesses that solve problems, like those in these slides, can form a powerful vision that attracts and retains passionate and skilled team members. Finally, get out your your pen and paper. Questions for you to think about. Which of these problems resonates the most with you? Is that feeling strong enough to inspire you to create a new business around it? Second, which environmental or social problems were not discussed in these slides? And is there a way that renewable energy or green building products, projects, or services could be a part of that solution? Finally, do you see any conflict with trying to run a profitable business and also trying to make a positive environmental impact? If so, why do you think that? And then lastly, ask yourself that question again once you finish this course. Clearly, I hope your answer has changed, and if not, maybe take the course again, or hop in the forum, and let's do some Q&A. All right. We'll see you in the next video.
