Sure, there are lots of green opportunities ahead, but there are also the business realities. It’s still a cut-throat world out there, and only the strong will thrive.

That’s the dollars-and-cents warning raised in the new book on sustainable business practices, Getting Green Done. And, as is popular with book publishers these days, there’s a long subtitle that helps underscore its message: Hard Truths From the Front Lines of the Sustainability Revolution.

Author Auden Schendler highlights what business owners already know: It’s tough to translate warm and fuzzy “you should do this to save the planet” lectures into bottom-line success.

In his book, Schendler reviews some case studies of industrial sustainability experiments that may serve as morality tales for every entrepreneur eyeing the green market place. He offers some insights that sales and marketing departments will have to overcome when they target classy, image-conscious customers, such as their reluctance to purchase money-saving products like compact fluorescent lights.

Schendler is all for moving to a sustainable economy. But he’s realistic and argues that the major media, the environmental community, and public figures like former Vice President Al Gore, need to face the reality that protecting the planet is not going to be easy, quick or cheap.

The author also offers an interesting spin on the phenomenon of “greenwashing,” where companies adopt green claims that may not jive with environmental realities. He warmly supports greenwashing because it invites public scrutiny of these marketing claims and ultimately, this scrutiny forces product designers to address the shortcomings. In the end, the products will really be greener, he says.

Click here for the book’s Web site.

Tags: economy, green opportunities, green products, greenwashing, sustainable