Sustainability : Featured Stories

Green has always been a popular color in the business world. It's the color of money, after all. But green has new meaning to Ohio's corporate community. It means saving the earth, and what's good for the planet can be good for the bottom line as well.

About one third of the food we eat is either directly or indirectly tied to honeybee crop pollination. Bees are under attack, however, by both manmade and natural forces. To help save them, Ohio beekeepers are breeding stronger queens that can withstand the stress our human lifestyles are placing on them.

Thousands of Ohioans are flocking to the farm, the farmers market and to restaurants to support locally grown produce. It's a bona fide movement, taking place all over the state � where a local farmer is just around the corner.

While the image of farmer Brown milking a cow from a stool may linger in the imagination, old Bessie today is more likely to make her way through a sophisticated milking parlor wearing an electronic collar -- not a bell. And while the image of farmer Brown may be one of a humble man in overalls, his world today is one of college degrees, self-steering combines, and use of Twitter and Facebook as a way to connect with other farmers and a hungry population.

Ohio has a monumental stake in what happens to Lake Erie. Invasive species, algal blooms, chemical runoff and climate change all have the potential to stagger the economic engine that generates thousands of Ohio jobs. Since 1978, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has turned to Ohio State University -- which operates one of 30 Sea Grant College Programs around the country -- for some of the answers to Erie's most pressing problems. hiVelocity asked Program Director Dr. Jeffrey M. Reutter about the role the OSU Sea Grant Program plays in Ohio's economy.

Green jobs. Everybody is for them, it seems. But try to define a green job, and the term becomes elusive. To get a better handle on what green jobs are and where they might have the most impact on Ohio's economy, hiVelocity spoke to leading economist Edward W. (Ned) Hill, Distinguished Scholar of Economic Development and dean of Cleveland State University's Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs.