What is Green Enterprise Toronto?

GET believes that Greater Toronto can become a sustainable city region by supporting its local, green mid-size and small businesses. Through market research, consumer awareness campaigns and building the capacity of locally-owned businesses, GET is the necessary catalyst to make this vision a reality.

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GEO coming soon!

Message from the New Managing Director

I would like to take this  opportunity to introduce myself,  discuss the future of GET and, of course, wish you all a very Happy and Green New Year!
 
I'm Tim Rudkins, the new Managing Director of GET. I have personally been a member of GET for three years and have always regarded the organization as a natural affiliation for any progressive business or association.  I see a green business community as one that is clean, lean and sustainable, ecologically and economically, far into the future. And I believe that to facilitate the transition to a green business community, businesses of all sizes and markets must be provided with fair and equitable access to the best tools, networks and resources available within both the private and public sectors.     
 
Thanks to the incredible hard work and dedication of Chris Lowry, Leslie Domenico and all the members of the steering committee, GET is well positioned to take the next step in greening Ontario’s business community, and so I would like to introduce you to: Green Enterprise Ontario (GEO), the future of GET.  In the New Year we will begin the implementation of a province-wide network of GEO offices, working in every major city and town within the province.
 

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ISO 14001: Creating a Path Toward Sustainability

Are you looking for the best system that will track, measure, explain your greening efforts and show that you walk the talk? This session is designed to help you create your own Environmental Management System conforming to ISO 14001(the Canadian and International standard).

For info on upcoming workshops, contact our office at 416-644-1012 more

Business Leaders On Video, Free Online

Great speakers on video! Catch up with the GET Smart Speakers series at your fingertips. www.torontocorporatevideo.com/get

New titles monthly including the stories of Morgan Solar, NOW, MEC, Autoshare, Junxion Strategies and more... more

What do you mean by green?

Green filters, certification, screening criteria, eye of the green needle -- how do you know if you're green enough?

A new article by GET Network Director Chris Lowry aims to help us sort out this shady question. more

Small firms can go green, too - there's lots of help out there

GET and BALLE featured in the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, and on TV!

GET is in the news lately. You can see a short documentary about us on Candice Batista's "A Greener Toronto" program on Rogers TV episode from Oct. 13

The Rogers TV piece talks about how we can enable to new Canadians in Toronto's diverse communities to vote with their dollars for local, green and fair commerce. more

Going green feels Ecstatic

GET featured in the Toronto Star more

The Business of Greening Your Business:
A Practical, Profitable Solution

article by Chris Lowry

Most companies today know they should be environmentally responsible. They have heard that they can save money by reducing energy use waste. They may also face pressure from some of their stakeholders: customers, employees, associations, suppliers, neighbours, the community and family – especially today’s kids. As well, governments issue regulations that are getting increasingly stringent, while offering enticing incentives (the carrot and stick approach). more

So Much Fun You'll Stay 'Til Tuesday

Our annual holiday party was packed and jumpin' at the Gladstone, with mellow jazz trumpet from the Jake Wilkinson trio, excellent Gladstone hospitality and the radical chocolate offerings of Chocosol. The sold-out crowd included an impressive gathering of local luminaries such as Rob Grand (Grassroots), Alice Klein (NOW), Tonya and Mark Surman (CSI and Mozilla), and George Smitherman. The event was a chance to celebrate the emergence of GET as a regional green business alliance under the leadership of Founder Chris Lowry, and to welcome our new Executive Director, Tim Rudkins. Welcome aboard Tim!

The best holiday party of the season! Photos at
www.flickr.com/photos/yvonnebambrick/sets/72157622805815293/ more

GET Testimonials

"GET is one of the premiere promoters of progressive economic development in North America. Grounded in the ideas of Jane Jacobs -- to create an economy that is locally owned, diversified, and community-friendly – GET is helping Toronto realize its full potential, and inoculating the city from the coming risks of energy insecurity and climate change. In less than 2 years, GET has established itself as a powerful, place-based alliance of independent businesses and customers that is impressively aligning the concepts of people, planet, and profits. Toronto residents, businesspeople, politicians, and civic leaders should feel blessed to have an organization like GET, and give it the support it needs to thrive and grow."
—Michael H. Shuman, Author of The Small-Mart Revolution

"Thank you so much for inviting me to your wonderful talk. I was so delighted to witness such an awesome project going on in my own backyard. Toronto is a place that I am passionate about. You grabbed my attention the minute you started to describe what you loved about Toronto, mainly the fact that you are fascinated by ALL the city has to offer."
— Annette Grewal, Universarium Project

"I would like to thank you for your excellent presentation. My business philosophy is based on the triple-bottom line, and we have worked to implement the three P's (Planet, People, Profit) as as much as we can. Passionate entrepreneurship works according to a spiral where one can constantly evolve upwards, by maybe spinning around one's axis a few times until one gets each thing right... and when one does get it right, one moves higher (in quality output, work satisfaction, enhanced creativity, sustainability, contribution to community, team spirit, and profits).... How exciting it is to create and help evolve a business, and how much more exciting it is to create and help evolve a business that works in alignment with one's values. I look forward to becoming a member of GET, and I look forward to participating in future events."
— Saeed Rouhani, Camros Organic Eatery more

The Story of Stuff

Why is the local living economy part of the solution? Here is a 20-minute animated story that looks at what makes the consumer society tick, and points in the direction of the values that we celebrate. more