Green Infrastructure and opportunities for Entrepreneurs

There it is no doubt that our generation and the next generations are going to have to pay the high prices for the destruction the human being has caused to planet earth. Unfortunately we are facing – or will have to face- problems that some years ago we did not thought we were going to have to face, such as the climate change and water shortages, just to mention a pair. However and although in a slow way, we have been waking up and understanding that we have to act and find efficient solutions that are able to counteract all this new events and one of the solutions we have found it in the same nature that we have been killing and damaging for years. In this article I will write about green infrastructure and how it can provide more effective solutions than the grey infrastructure.

As the cities have been growing, destroying their natural resources resources and increasing the industrial processes, men have been developing grey infrastructure solutions such as sewerage systems and water treatment plants. In order to do this important economical resources have been invested not only when it was being constructed but also years later for its maintenance and in order to assure it is sufficient for the population growth.

With Green Infrastructure, we have found other type of solution. Many of the problems that were solved in a costly manner with grey infrastructure, the nature was able to solve them with lower costs. The economical logic behind this is to maintain the nature capacity so that we do not need to substitute it for human technological solutions which are much more limited and expensive. The ecosystem has the capacity to provide high value services such as drinking water, fertile soil and carbon storage.

Having this in mind many cities and regions have been changing, implementing solutions such as rainwater recollection systems, rain gardens, permeable pavements and sidewalks, green parking lots, green roofs, greenways, among others. Communities have been changing and understanding that this type of solutions are much more cost effective.

With this change in the way people think many opportunities for entrepreneurs have been created. Many new businesses may be born in the development and implementation of this type of solutions; that in addition of being friendly with the environment are also profitable. This is the reason why I invite all the people that are searching for new businesses and opportunities to develop in this field. Day after day people and communities are going to change and understand the importance of this subject and more than a trend it will become the reality of the new cities, sustained by the different green solutions entrepreneurs offer.

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