With a Green MBA You Can Help Protect the Environment

impact to the global environment, which includes man, animals, plants, the land, the sea, and the air, if only today’s operating processes were tailored to be less ecologically damaging.

If your thoughts fall in the second category and a career in big business is a part of your career plan, you might want to explore the business schools that offer what is often called a green MBA. A green MBA (Masters in Business Administration) is more formally called a sustainable MBA.

Some business schools specialize in green MBA programs and others include the option as part of a business program that offers the more traditional approach, too.

When studying for a green MBA, the student will learn to consider business operations from a concept known as the Triple Bottom Line. The Triple Bottom Line includes social sustainability and environment as well as economic impact of business operations.

Adding the awareness of social and environmental impact to business operations in the green MBA degree program presents problems for traditional business studies, which are developed on the premise that the only duty a business has is to generate profits for its shareholders.

Advocates of the green MBA school of thought consider this a narrow-minded approach to business that has destructive side effects, many of which we are now experiencing as global warming.

A green MBA degree has become rather trendy and actually draws criticism from some social activists and environmentalists. Their concern is that some businesses hire people who hold a green MBA degree, claiming their presence on the staff makes the company a sustainable, or green, company when, in fact, the only sustainable activity they employ is the hiring of the green MBA graduate.

This process of hiring a green MBA graduate while maintaining traditional business practices, which are actually destructive to social and environmental health, is called corporate greenwashing.

If the battle between profits and the health of the planet is one you feel strongly about, you may be a very good candidate for a green MBA program.