Here you can find out more about the sustainability consulting service of Martin Kleene and Gregor Wöltje. We support companies on the road to sustainability, and we help sustainable companies to increase their market shares and tap new markets. On this page we will share with you how we do it, why we do it, and what we experience in our work. We look forward to your feedback, suggestions, tips and customer inquiries.

Welcome to Normal/Illinois, a typical American small town. With 1.000 i-MIEV electric cars Mitsubishi wants to change this "Anytown" to the new "EV-Town". "Welcome to the new normal" - a really charming idea.

Is ‘Occupy Wall Street‘ going to be the trigger for an ,American Spring‘? Resistance against the big business is growing every day. Union leaders and Hollywood stars like Tim Robbins and Michael Moore follow.

Yesterday, 12 000 protesters blocked the traffic around Wall Street. 700 were arrested on Brooklyn Bridge. The Police used riot sticks and pepper spray. Protesters hold up their camera phones and chorus: "The whole world is watching".

Many Americans are wondering how it is that their own media are reporting so little about the protests. Michael Moore: "A few Tea Party protesters would be enough for a big TV report, but the thousands in Wall Street are not seen."

How is America going to deal with those who describe themselves as ,We are the 99%‘ and since then are organizing via the web in many places?

While mass brands like H&M, C&A, Nike or Adidas still attract negative attention because of environmental or social issues and partially (had to) make big improvements, most of the high-end designer labels get off scot-free. On the contrary: Many consumers assume that luxury goods are inherently more sustainable than others, since they were more sophisticatedly produced and more durable. But is there any truth to this myth?

Already in 2007, WWF has found in his readable study ,Deeper Luxury‘ that most luxury brands are hardly sustainable. Four years later little has changed. Since last week, a new study by the Ethical Consumer Organization is at hand. In ,Style over substance‘, Designer labels are being checked against various sustainability criteria. On the accompanying interactive website, the results can be sorted according to the user‘s own priorities.

The result is staggering. No brand can score as a truly sustainable one. And even flagships such as Stella McCartney (no fur, no leather) or Vivienne Westwood (climate change activist) fell short of expectations.

Tomorrow is 'Moving Planet Day". Cycling, skating, running towards the switch to renewable energy. Events covering the subject within Germany can be found here. We'll have good weather – so go and get some fresh air!

Greenpeace turns 40 and receives a tv-spot as a birthday gift. The spot celebrates 40 years of victories by showing the reactions of the defeated. Very amusing!

Five years ago, the excellent documentary ,Who killed the electric car?‘ told the tragical story of GM‘s electric car, developed in 1996. Now it is time for „The Revenge of the Electric Car“. Again, a documentary. And also, one of those who had abolished the original EV1 at GM in the first place shows up again: Bob Lutz of GM is one of the main acts, and so is Nissan‘s CEO Carlos Ghosn, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, and Greg „Gadget“ Abbot, representing a host of thousands upon thousands of tinkerers who have converted their cars into electric cars on their own.

Meanwhile, the Spiegel is after the ,Power Phantom‘. More about that in My Little Electric Driver‘s Diary.

So now the last 60 watts light bulbs are out of the market. While some German politicians still try to lever out the EU light bulb ban, the filament fanatics are shifting their enemy image from energy saving lamps (mercury content, recycling problems, poor light quality) to the industry-favoured LED lamps (poor light quality, hazardous materials, electronic scrap). LEDs, however, are by now taking giant technological leaps. As so often in the world of green tech, the most important innovations come from small startups. One of them has even made it on this month‘s title of Wired magazine: the Switch bulb.

A fancy high performance LED that emanates a very bright and very pleasant light. In fact, it is so pleasant that it upstages the beloved light bulb at benchmark tests on every occasion. To ensure that they can do so over a long period of time, the LEDs are being cooled by a specific refrigerant, which, according to the manufacturer, is eco-friendly. The startup is financed by Vantagepoint, an investor who has already co-financed companies such as Tesla, Better Place and a multitude of further cleantech pioneers. Wired‘s readable lead story depicts the backgrounds of the novelty‘s development.

And it is not only the nerds who are over the moon with LEDs. The super nerds at Google are jumping on the bandwaggon, too and have just showcased an LED by Lighting Science, which is controllable via Android smartphones.

So, the only two things remaining for bulb lovers will be a bit of nostalgia and the appropriate book.

Under the name of Good-Wear, a new online shop for sustainable clothing just took off. The company was founded by the brothers Matti and Jan Pannenbäcker. Their initial thought: „We want to customize fair organic as well as affordable clothing to as many people as possible.“

Mainly, t-shirts, sweatshirts and bags from 100% organic cotton are being offered. Among them, quite a few Earth Positive products. The Pannenbäckers like to think of their company as a social business: „The precept of GOOD wear is to spread sustainable clothing! It does not serve as a basis to maximize profit. All profits are going to be reinvested within the meaning of the vision and are not going to be withdrawed from the company.“

Well then, Good speed!

More than 800 opinionleaders from around the world attended the TED Global Conference. Sustainable issues are an intergral part of the lecture program. But how ,green‘ is the TED event itself?

A positive feature is that a large part of the catering and many of the snacks offered during the conference are based on organic ingredients by now. Of course, waste separation is mandatory here. The TEDsters are requested not to use cups for drinking water, but to reuse their TED bottles. This year, apart from some technical stuff, the very popular "goodie bag" that each participant gets, contained a high-quality sports polo from Icebreaker that was made of pure merino wool. It carries conviction, not only as a very potent natural product, but also through its highly sustainable manufacturing process. The sewn-in "Baa code" allows the user to trace back a T-shirt to the respective merino farm from whence it came.

What comes as a negative surprise regarding an event as innovative and awareness-raising as this one, is that there is no option for the participants to carbon-neutralize the journey and attendance. Also, the choice of sponsors is to be considered as quite hearty: A company such as Shell as the main sponsor does not quite set a sustainable example. Plastic-laminated passes for participants, the ubiquitous Coca Cola products and tons of conventionally printed papers still show a significant lack of sustainable consistence. There‘s more to it than that, TEDsters!