There’s a great article in Newsweek that discusses how the worldwide economic downturn is affecting some of the more egregious polluters in the world. (As is turns out, so claims the article, some of the worst polluters in the world are the first companies to have their services dismissed by those they supply.) To that end, residents of heavily polluted areas in Russia, China and other places are witnessing nature rebounding first-hand as these companies close their doors. More importantly, the writers talk about how some governments (that aren’t exactly known for their concern for the environment) are looking at this recession as an opportunity to change their industrial infrastructure.

On the heels of reading that article, I received a press release this morning from Frost & Sullivan about a webinar the group is having which will discuss taking advantage of the recession to create new, more energy-efficient utilities in Europe. The idea is that while the lowered cost of electricity is taking a bite out of utilities’ profits in the short term, upgrading later (when things like electricity costs have recovered) will be more expensive because costs will then be up across the board.

Both the Newsweek article and webinar touch on a point that we’ve been hearing a lot about lately: Using the recession as a motivator to go green. I can’t count the number of times I’ve come across an article or heard someone talking about the subject.

But we all know the adage that talk is cheap. So, what are you (or your company or firm) doing to take advantage of this recession for the future? Or, what have you seen others doing during this time?