Save a planet, make a buck.

• Author: Cote, Mike
• Position: ON COLORADO - Corporate social responsibility - Editorial

Film buffs might say the scariest movie of 2006 was "Hostel" or "Saw III," movies that tout gratuitous violence. Horror flicks have gotten more explicit over the years, but the heart of their attraction remains the same: You confront death from a comfortable distance.

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But last year, an unlikely cinema icon competed with the slashers and serial killers: Al Gore.

The Man Who Would Be President presented an unflinching look at global warming that upped the ante: With each giant slab of ice plunging into the sea, this onscreen death was our own.

Makes you choke on your popcorn.

The key to reversing the disastrous effects we've created for our planet since the dawn of industry comes in the film's title: "An Inconvenient Truth."

No one argues about the need to curb our reliance on fossil fuels, cut back landfill waste and reduce energy consumption. But as long as it's "inconvenient," we won't budge much. Make it easy--and convince business it's profitable--and we have a chance.

Yes, we still live in a land of SUVs, but it's hard not to think environmentalism has gone mainstream. In a Time article earlier this year, Toyota was touted for striving to exterminate waste. The reward: increased profit.

"The best companies use the environment to do more than just stay competitive: They use it to crush the competition," Time said.

A more recent cover story in the magazine debated the benefits of buying organic versus buying local--the latter of which usually consumes far less fossil fuel during its trip to your table. That we're debating this issue at all underscores how much it's entered the national consciousness.

In Colorado, we have a new governor who pledged to promote renewable energy legislation, and numerous energy-related bills already have been introduced. Colorado could be positioned to become the nation's leader on this front.

It's not like we've suddenly become selfless. We're just finally realizing there's a market for saving the very planet we call our home. Last month, the cover of ColoradoBiz featured Colorado Xcel Energy chief Patricia Vincent to promote a story about businesses taking steps to make profit and planet co-exist.

The issue arrived just in time to coincide with Vincent's appearance at the second annual Sustainable Opportunities Summit in Denver, organized by CORE, a business trade association...