Speaker: Green Decision Makers Should Be Local
Prior entrepreneurial experience isn't necessary to start a green, sustainable business in your community. That was the message Wednesday night from Omar Freilla, the guest speaker at a forum called "Shaping a Local Green Economy" hosted by Clark University.
Freilla, the coordinator of Green Worker Cooperatives, which aims to create green jobs and clean up the South Bronx in New York, had no prior business experience before starting a company that resells discarded building materials. He said the biggest mistake communities make when ramping up to go green is overlooking the existing green infrastructure in place.
"Here in Worcester there are a lot of local initiatives that exist," he said. "Those local projects are the foundations and those local projects deserve the support."
About 200 attendees, from local undergrads and volunteers from grassroots organizations to city officials and business owners, filled Clark's Tilton Hall for more than two hours to discuss how Worcester can build a local, green economy.
Freilla proposed a simple solution: make sure the decision makers behind the corporations and businesses in the community also live in the community. That will reinforce the environmental decisions that are made.
"Narrowing the distance between the impact and the people making the decisions, that's what will make it green," he said.
Watch as Omar Freilla speaks about how the South Bronx community responded to his initial green business venture:
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