By Alexis Posternak – Co-Founder and CXO “TreeHomeMedia” California is an amazing place and The Ritz Carlton at Laguna Nigel really reminds you of that. Just a couple of hours from Los Angeles, The Ritz Carlton was the epicenter of a small but powerful event; the 2012 Fortune Brainstorm GREEN Conference which took place April 16th-18th. Since its beginnings in 2001, Fortune Brainstorm GREEN has been known for its interactive format which helps spread fresh ideas and build relationships among influential leaders. As Ford Motor Chairman Bill Ford put it: “It was, by far, the most interesting one I’ve ever attended.” Fortune’s partners, which include Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, NRDC, and the Environmental Defense Fund, provided great structural support to the event. Hot topics at the event included how new media is changing the game, when eco-cars will go mass market, fracking, and green money, while tracks like Leadership in an Age of Scarcity and Green Chemistry were packed and buzzing. On the other hand, companies like Microsoft, AMD, Toshiba, Sprint, and BMW, shared with us the powerful actions top companies are doing now to be more planet friendly! For example, Rob Walton, Chairman of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. shared how Wal-Mart is supporting more and more sustainable companies. There were also various companies showcasing their products and services at the event. Some that stood out were LitMotors with their alternative transportation concept vehicle was very cool and Vyykn Water’s distribution model to eliminate plastic bottles has a lot of potential. The speaker line up was impressive as well, so it was great that if you were not able to attend the event, you could still experience it on their online virtual conference. The event’s mobile application was also very helpful in helping you stay connected. Intel, Stonyfield, ONE.org, and Google were among the many great presentations;but one of my favorites was from Panthera President and CEO Alan Rabinowitzwho spoke about saving the wild cats, and shared with us the story about his encounter with a wild, endangered tiger in the jungle! A must watch for all nature lovers. On the non-business side, the food was amazing. Shout out to the chefs who were taking care of business as if they were on Iron Chef!Another treat was the performance by Rolling Stones keyboardist and Mother Nature Network co-founder Chuck Leavell. So after seeing all this, I asked the Managing Editor of Fortune, Andy Serwer who opened the conference, “Do you think you can green wash a brand all the way to Green for real?”. After doing a very cool freestyle rap, he answered my question and his answer was key! There really is a fortune to be made, and as Hunter Lovins, President of Natural Capitalism Solutions and a panel speaker, shared with Treeliving.com, “the green billionaires are being made right now”. As we’ve seen from the recent info graphic going around the web, 10 corporations dominate most of the products we consume, so what if we were to fully infiltrate and changed them from the inside out for good? When you really come to think about it, behind all these Fortune 500 corporations and all its formalities, you find people, and as Timothy Mohin, Director of Corporate Responsibility at AMD shared with Treeliving.com, it’s about “changing business from the inside out.” Which is the basis of his new book about tree huggers working at corporations. My only complaint is that the event was too short…sure some may say 3 days is a lot, but given the state of our planet, we should brainstorm green EVERYDAY but with an action component, since ideas without actions are useless. At TreeHomeMedia, we believe strongly in empowering and connecting people, and we felt the power of connection there. Even though it did not rain at this brainstorm, you could still smell the water in the breeze which filled every corner of the hotel and conference rooms. Soon this same air will fill every corporation and corner around the world. I don’t know about other attendees, but I am inspired to fucking change the world! I hope Shell, one of the events’ sponsors, got some great ideas and inspiration from the event too! Wink Wink Check out pictures and videos from the event by clicking on the article links and let me know your comments. What else can we do? What other information do we need? What are the best tools to shake things up even more? In the meantime, you can help change the world by learning, sharing, spreading, doing, singing, and dancing; yes sing and dance through life,because it’s Only Rock ‘n Roll but we like it and we like it green!

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