10.15.2007 - 01:30pm ET

(CSRwire) October 15, 2007 - SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Co-op America brings their 5th Green Business conference to San Francisco, November 7-9, just prior to Green Festival, the nation's largest consumer green living event. The Green Business Conference offers a plethora of speakers, workshops, business-to-business networking, and much more to green business leaders nationwide who uphold the highest standards on social, environmental, and ethical issues.

Jeffrey Hollander, Seventh Generation CEO said, "When it comes to green business, this conference is as good as it gets...the best collection of green business leaders you'll meet anywhere."

At this conference green business leaders and entrepreurs will learn everything they need to know about growing and greening their businesses. Attendees will hear about the State of the Green Marketplace from The Hartman Group's COO Laurie Demeritt. The new report documents the current green consumer trends, the newest information on what consumers want and what it all means for green businesses (The Hartman Report on Sustainability: Understanding the Consumer Perspective.)

Business leaders will design an action plan to fight climate change with The Carbon Concierge, a project of Bainbridge Graduate Institute. They will learn valuable marketing and financing strategies from successful and experienced business leaders. All participants will have structured networking to meet and build connections with other business owners to form synergies and grow together.

Sundance Channel's The Green host Simran Sethi, will deliver a keynote on Telling the Stories of Green Businesses. She spoke about her involvement in the conference, "I believe that the Green Business Conference is the forum where we inspire and conspire, where we find inspiration from a strong green business community and conspire to create a more sustainable future."

This year's speakers include: Bryan Welch, Ogden Publications; Laurie Demeritt, The Hartman Group; Robert Chatwani, eBay/Project Good; Elliott Hoffman, New Voices for Business; Priya Haji, Word of Good/Project Good; Mark Finser, RSF Social Finance; Peter Liu, New Resource Bank; Alisa Gravitz, Co-op America; Greg Steltenpohl, Adina World Seat Beverages; James Kenefick, Working Excellence Management Consulting; Simran Sethi, The Green/Keep It Green; Adrienne Maree Brown, The Rukus Society; Eric Friedenwald-Fishman, Metropolitan Group; Joe Sibilia, CSRwire; and Jamais Cascio, Institute for the Future.

To view the full program schedule and learn how you can attend please visit www.coopamerica.biz or call 1-800-58GREEN.

What is a "Green Business?"

Green businesses operate in ways that solve, rather than cause, both environmental and social problems. These businesses adopt principles, policies and practices that improve the quality of life for their customers, their employees, communities, and the environment.

Here's what some of the attendees from past Green Business Conferences had to say:

"The Green Business Conference is an excellent exploration of how to get from 'now' to a just and sustainable world, and the role of business in that journey!" Kate Amon, Owner of Kate's Caring Gifts "People and Earth Friendly Gifts"

"I got so much from the conference. All your hard work and excellent planning made a huge statement and impact on me. It opened my eyes and beliefs… and helped me see the importance of the movements Co-op America and its members are trying to accomplish. Your conference brought a new sense of being and drive...and helped me learn more about what is truly important. Thank you." Steven D. Kimmell, Sustainability Services Consulting

Co-op America, is a nonprofit consumer education organization for environmentally wise purchasing and investing, located in Washington, DC with over 3,500 business members and 75,000 consumer members throughout the country. Co-op America is the publisher of the National Green Pages - which has over a million copies in circulation and the producer of the Green Festivals. The Green Festivals are in Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, DC and have over 60,000 people attend annually. The Co-op America Business Network is the largest and oldest national association of socially and environmentally responsible business in the nation. Contact Mr. Todd Larsen at toddlarsen@coopamerica.org to learn more about socially conscious and environmentally wise purchasing and investing. www.coopamerica.org and www.greenfestivals.org.

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