While the souring economy has many large businesses struggling to clean up their balance sheets, some types of smaller business are thriving, due in large part to their eco-qualities.  For example, second-hand and consignment stores are seeing record business, as fashion-conscious shoppers strive to scratch that designer itch for less.

In addition to saving customers money, thrift stores provide them with a significant carbon cut by eliminating the load associated with creating and shipping new articles of clothing. The stores themselves also tend to have a much reduced climate burden because they occupy much smaller physical plants than your usual big box store.

While the recession is expected to increase levels of junk food consumption, green food and drink start-ups have shown no fear in bringing products to market. TRU Organic Spirits, for example, aims to plant a tree for every bottle of vodka sold. It's a humble-sounding goal, but with a mature tree removing 50 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year, all those vodka tonics could add up.

Innovative, small-scale, sustainability-focused business like these are one of the larger economy's best bets to gather momentum as larger, monolithic corporations struggle to meet the demands of a rapidly-changing marketplace.