Business and reality are often disconnected.
What’s that you say? You’ve been taught in business school that business is reality? That if business were not based on reality that it wouldn’t be able to survive – much less make a profit?
I’m here to tell you today that business, as it is run today, is a problem.
And I’ll also tell you that business, as it will be run tomorrow, will be the solution.
Now let me give you my credentials – My name is A. Caleb Hartley. I have been an environmentalist for as long as I can remember, and I have ranged from disillusionment (I can’t do enough, so I won’t do anything) to near addiction (I’ll do everything in my power regardless of the cost). I have a bachelors degree in Aviation Management with a minor in general business, as well as an MBA in entrepreneurship, so no – I am not going to preach to business people as a person with no business background. My blog, environmentastic!, talks about all the good things happening in the environment today – but it doesn’t ignore the bad.
In fact, environmentastic! is almost entirely based on the idea and the belief that environmental change will not – cannot – happen by trying to change people’s lifestyle expectations; but that the most effective way to bring about true environmental improvement is to change the products that people use to meet their lifestyle expectations. With that in mind, the following are the top ten simple things you can do to help the environment as you enter the work force and begin your strategy for world domination:
Most offices use styrofoam cups for their coffee containers. Since these cups are disposable, it’s possible to be incredibly wasteful and throw away several of these cups per day – how many cups of coffee do you drink each day? Additionally, these cups never degrade. Every single styrofoam cup ever made still exists. Think about that.
Since we’re on a coffee track right now, try to find coffee that is shade grown, organic, and fair trade. Coffee is one of the most environmentally destructive products in existence – buying organic, fair trade and shade grown minimizes the impact your coffee has both on the earth and on the farmers who grow it.
Obviously, you should buy recycled paper for printers, fax machines, and copiers that has the highest percentage of post consumer content you can find. You should also ensure that employees have easy access to a container for used paper to be recycled. Consider placing recycle bins at every desk and making the “normal” trash can a community receptacle. Additionally – print on and copy on both sides of the page! This alone will cut your paper use in half!
We all have to get to work somehow – if it’s at all possible, perhaps your company can cover the cost for its employees to use public transportation! This keeps cars off the road – lowering traffic, pollution, and your employees’ stress levels! The might even get things done during the ride to and from work! ;)
Saving energy means less pollution from power plants – and lower utility bills for your company! Consider motion sensing lights in the restrooms (the lights will be off unless needed), turning off interior lights overnight (if possible), changing the thermostat temperature when the office is unoccupied (lower in the winter, higher in the summer), and having low-flow faucets installed to reduce water usage. One multi-function printer/fax/copier can do the job of multiple individual units while reducing the amount of energy used. These kinds of improvements go directly to the bottom line – no business-person can argue with that!
It used to be a necessity to travel to do business. These days, it’s almost passé! With technology advancing, you can “be there” without actually having to be there. Video conferencing and digital media makes it easier than ever to connect and negotiate with people around the world – without ever actually leaving the office. Every trip you don’t take keeps greenhouse gases out of our Earth’s atmosphere!
Find a way to get your whole company involved in raising funds for environmental or social groups in your community. Maybe you can have a weekly “dress-down” day – but only for people who bring in non-perishable food items for a local food pantry or pay three dollars that will be donated to your local Sierra Club chapter. You could raise money for a different charity each week!
If your company is not too big, consider limiting the number of industry magazine subscriptions and sharing one issue instead of each person having their own. Even if the subscription is free, it’s a waste to have so many when they’re not needed. According to Coop America, only 34% of magazines are even read – the other 66% leftover end up in landfills!
A “carbon footprint” is the amount of carbon released through an individual’s or company’s actions – such as purchases, travel, lifestyle, etc. A neat tool to help determine your own, individual carbon footprint can be found at The Nature Conservancy. There are companies that will help you determine your company’s carbon footprint – as well as ways to reduce it. Consider “Carbon Offsets” for yourself and your company as an interim solution while you try to reduce your footprint!
There are multitudes of cleaning supplies, cleaning services, landscape services, etc. that do not harm the environment. An additional benefit is that using products that aren’t full of chemicals may actually decrease the number of sick days your employees take – indirectly increasing productivity! Again – straight to the bottom line – what could be better?
This has been a bit of a long post, so I’ll end it here, but let me finish by saying that the best thing you can do for the environment is to keep your eyes and your mind open – look for ways to be more efficient with the natural capital your company uses, read about how businesses are trying to reconcile themselves to the environment (this topic is becoming more and more common today), and don’t give up! Even though the environment is a hot topic today (no pun intended), it’s still a new topic – especially in business. So don’t get frustrated if all of your grand plans aren’t immediately implemented – but don’t stop trying to improve things.
Your fresh view of the world of business is what will save business from itself – don’t forget that!
Namaste,
A. Caleb Hartley
What do you think about the above ideas? Do you have any of your own? Leave a comment about this post, and come on over to environmentastic!, where we are always discussing green good and bad, and become part of our green community!
