G2 Gallery’s Jolene Hanson and ‘The Green to Gold Business Playbook’ Co-Author P.J. Simmons

Jolene Hanson, curator, G2 Gallery

Jolene Hanson’s educational and professional background in photography made her a natural fit at the Los Angeles-based G2 Gallery. Hanson herself aimed to be a National Geographic photographer before her schooling turned her focus toward curating. Now, curating and directing at G2, she has come full circle, exhibiting a number of National Geographic and earth-focused collections.

Simply put, the gallery’s mission is, “supporting art and the environment.” Following each exhibition, the gallery donates all proceeds to environmental charities and causes, including California-based Heal the Bay, the Ballona Wetlands and Audubon California. Beyond the art’s environmental focus, the gallery itself tries to conserve whenever possible, including installing bamboo flooring and using no-VOC paint each time the walls are redone for a show.

“It’s been an evolution process at the gallery,” Hanson says. “We look at environmental issues or concepts that we want to address, we look at our organizations that we’re working with and we try to match things up. Once that perfect fit happens, it really works.”

P.J. Simmons, co-author, 'The Green to Gold Business Playbook'

P.J. Simmons has dedicated his career to enlightening others with environmental issues — taking them out of the “green box,” as he puts it, and into the mainstream. He has taken to co-founding the Corporate Eco Forum, a way for business leaders to collectively share their best green practices in a no-pressure environment. Collectively, the 80-some member businesses have a combined value of $3 trillion.

Simmons recently published The Green to Gold Business Playbook with co-author Dan Esty, a follow-up to the original Green to Gold book by Esty and Andrew Winston. The book makes a compelling case as to why companies should consider the environment at the forefront of their business strategies.

“Going green is not really a business panacea,” Simmons says. “It requires the same kind of strategic business approach that you would take with any kind of business decision.”

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