How does a company adapt in a world gone green?

— -- It's not surprising that the pages of Joel Makower's latest book, Strategies for the Green Economy, are printed on paper made from 100% postconsumer, de-inked fiber. That's paper that has been used by consumers and collected through various recycling programs.

Makower, editor of Greenbiz.com, does what he preaches. He has spent the last 20 years advising companies on green strategies and marketing and has authored books such as The Green Consumer and The E-Factor: The Bottom Line Approach to Environmentally Responsible Business.

Makower has woven together a series of short, factoid-laden, wit-tinged chapters, which ramble through a variety of green-centric topics such as the many shades of green consumers to the lowdown on labels to the new "energy" companies. He provides insights into efforts by Coca-Cola and Levi Straus to Timberland, GE, and others that show us what they have done right and lessons learned.

And he poses a lot of questions along the way such as :

•How do you make sense of a world in which green hopes far outweigh green habits?

•Should you focus on what looks good to outsiders or what really matters in terms of your company's impacts and potential to create value?

•Do you cater to short-term expectations or dig in for the long-term, even if you have to take some financial hits along the way?

The green opportunities for businesses of all sizes are numerous, but it's a complex playing field that hasn't found its footing since the hoopla that surrounded the first Earth Day — 18 years ago.

Back then, "it seemed like a floodgate of greener products was about to open," Makower writes. "Large consumer product companies such as Procter & Gamble and Unilever were dipping their corporate toes into the green waters, with the expectation they would eventually dive in." Fully 26% of all household products introduced in 1990 boasted a green claim, according to the Marketing Intelligence Service, which tracks product launches. "We could smell change coming," Makower remembers.