Big Green Business: Think Efficiency
Big Green Business: Think Efficiency
There is a lot you can do within your own company to green it up! I detailed these things in my previous post. It's great if you have your own business and you are proactive enough to want to initiate some change.
What about those other companies...the companies that made you never want to work for anyone else. They have policies, red tape, employee handbooks, protocols, the 'legal' department. If I was the policy writer for one of these companies my head would probably pop off. All of those great ideas have to be filtered through all the muck, and I'm sure it seriously taps your energy.
The good thing about these companies is if they see someone else doing it they will probably think it's a good idea, especially if you can download some kind of 'white paper' about the whole thing. (I'm shuddering and thanking my lucky stars that I work for myself right now!). Let's review the major points of easy change and I'll lead you to a few online references that you can insert right into your PowerPoint Presentation. Then email it, don't print it. It's your first step to becoming green.
Fascinatingly enough, my favorite resource greenbiz.com just wrote an article entitle "Taking Green Initiatives to the Next Level"
I think they are stalking me! Read on:
An easy way is to donate some money. If you are going to donate money, please find out who you are donating it to and what they are going to do with the money. I know of several local non-profits that I wouldn't give a dime to after I met the people who worked there and after I researched where their money goes to.
If you want to do more than just write a check, create a program. One idea is to organize some volunteers, create a fundraiser and use the money you raise to clean up vacant lots and turn them into urban farms. Perhaps your fundraiser could be selling tickets to an Earth Day Networking Event, or you could sell fluorescent light bulbs, just make it something earth-friendly and get some kids to help.
Get some kind of green project going or contribute to one and tada! you are helping your community and giving your company some press. It's the best kind of PR. And if people see you actually working, not just rolling up your sleeves when the reporters show up, they will respect you a lot more because you are real.
Perhaps the best way of beginning a green project is looking at how others have done it. Here's an example of what Enterprise Rent-a-Car did from the greenbiz.com article:
I think that is great! I'm going to say this, and it's not anti-Enterprise, but anti-established practice— What on Earth took them 2 years to figure this out? I could see it taking maybe 6 months to mete out the details. As a collective, I think we all need to stop talking about doing something and just do it. Just go plant a tree or give your employees a "day off" by having them go plant some trees instead of coming into work. If you want some press, write an article about it. Stop having committee meetings talking about what color t-shirts the volunteers should wear.
We need to become more efficient, not just in the materials we use, but the way we think. If you want something to get done, do it. If you are waiting on 'Sally' to answer a question, call her on the phone and ask her in person instead of emailing her and waiting five days for it. If you are 'Sally', please just reply to your emails as soon as you get them!
Thinking efficiently not only saves time, energy and resources, but gets you in the mode of finding creative solutions. For example, if you look at the Great Depression and the people from that era you will see everyday miracles. People lived off of the animals they hunted like groundhogs, squirrel, and other animals we now call pests that most people wouldn't think of eating today. I'm sure you have an aunt, uncle or grandparent that still hordes everything that comes their way. We all know that they do this because at one point in their life they had to. They had to rewire their brain to reuse every piece of material that came their way, and that is how they survived.
To bring this idea back around to what we are facing in today's world, we have all grown used to using what we want when we want to. We have to actively change the way the think and operate in order for the 'green' movement to have a permanent effect on our country's culture. Part of this takes leadership and changing the current 'mob-mentality'. Part of it takes corporate role models. Another part takes standing up for what needs to be done and doing it, holding nothing back until the task is complete; no excuses; no giving up.
So, I've sold you? Right. Are you looking down here for the white papers? Here are some online resources that you can use to present to your company's policy makers or use to write up a ROI analysis.
Get an overview of the current conditions: The State of Green Business Report 2008
Find statistics to help out your green initiatives:
What the US government says: The Green Business Guide
Study the Good Guys: 100 Best Corporate Citizens
The Good: Global 100: Most Sustainable Corporations in the World
The Bad: Toxic 100
There is a lot you can do within your own company to green it up! I detailed these things in my previous post. It's great if you have your own business and you are proactive enough to want to initiate some change.
What about those other companies...the companies that made you never want to work for anyone else. They have policies, red tape, employee handbooks, protocols, the 'legal' department. If I was the policy writer for one of these companies my head would probably pop off. All of those great ideas have to be filtered through all the muck, and I'm sure it seriously taps your energy.
The good thing about these companies is if they see someone else doing it they will probably think it's a good idea, especially if you can download some kind of 'white paper' about the whole thing. (I'm shuddering and thanking my lucky stars that I work for myself right now!). Let's review the major points of easy change and I'll lead you to a few online references that you can insert right into your PowerPoint Presentation. Then email it, don't print it. It's your first step to becoming green.
Fascinatingly enough, my favorite resource greenbiz.com just wrote an article entitle "Taking Green Initiatives to the Next Level"
I think they are stalking me! Read on:
Most experts urge companies to start their green strategy with 'low hanging fruit' projects, such as replacing light bulbs, launching recycling programs or choosing more energy efficient technology. These early efforts don't cost much to implement, get employees engaged with green ideals and deliver quick results.They have listed the basics that are easy. So what can turn your company from loving green to being green? Since there are no standards, I'll just say what, in my mind, makes a company green. The first step to being green is 'greening' your workplace with the simple low cost solutions. The second step would be to help others be green or to initiate some real change within your community.
An easy way is to donate some money. If you are going to donate money, please find out who you are donating it to and what they are going to do with the money. I know of several local non-profits that I wouldn't give a dime to after I met the people who worked there and after I researched where their money goes to.
If you want to do more than just write a check, create a program. One idea is to organize some volunteers, create a fundraiser and use the money you raise to clean up vacant lots and turn them into urban farms. Perhaps your fundraiser could be selling tickets to an Earth Day Networking Event, or you could sell fluorescent light bulbs, just make it something earth-friendly and get some kids to help.
Get some kind of green project going or contribute to one and tada! you are helping your community and giving your company some press. It's the best kind of PR. And if people see you actually working, not just rolling up your sleeves when the reporters show up, they will respect you a lot more because you are real.
Perhaps the best way of beginning a green project is looking at how others have done it. Here's an example of what Enterprise Rent-a-Car did from the greenbiz.com article:
Enterprise began its journey just two years ago with its 50 Million Tree pledge to commemorate its 50th anniversary. Through a public/private partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, Enterprise launched an initiative through the Arbor Day Foundation to plant 50 million trees over the next 50 years — a gift worth more than $50 million dollars.
I think that is great! I'm going to say this, and it's not anti-Enterprise, but anti-established practice— What on Earth took them 2 years to figure this out? I could see it taking maybe 6 months to mete out the details. As a collective, I think we all need to stop talking about doing something and just do it. Just go plant a tree or give your employees a "day off" by having them go plant some trees instead of coming into work. If you want some press, write an article about it. Stop having committee meetings talking about what color t-shirts the volunteers should wear.
We need to become more efficient, not just in the materials we use, but the way we think. If you want something to get done, do it. If you are waiting on 'Sally' to answer a question, call her on the phone and ask her in person instead of emailing her and waiting five days for it. If you are 'Sally', please just reply to your emails as soon as you get them!
Thinking efficiently not only saves time, energy and resources, but gets you in the mode of finding creative solutions. For example, if you look at the Great Depression and the people from that era you will see everyday miracles. People lived off of the animals they hunted like groundhogs, squirrel, and other animals we now call pests that most people wouldn't think of eating today. I'm sure you have an aunt, uncle or grandparent that still hordes everything that comes their way. We all know that they do this because at one point in their life they had to. They had to rewire their brain to reuse every piece of material that came their way, and that is how they survived.
To bring this idea back around to what we are facing in today's world, we have all grown used to using what we want when we want to. We have to actively change the way the think and operate in order for the 'green' movement to have a permanent effect on our country's culture. Part of this takes leadership and changing the current 'mob-mentality'. Part of it takes corporate role models. Another part takes standing up for what needs to be done and doing it, holding nothing back until the task is complete; no excuses; no giving up.
So, I've sold you? Right. Are you looking down here for the white papers? Here are some online resources that you can use to present to your company's policy makers or use to write up a ROI analysis.
Get an overview of the current conditions: The State of Green Business Report 2008
Find statistics to help out your green initiatives:
What the US government says: The Green Business Guide
Study the Good Guys: 100 Best Corporate Citizens
The Good: Global 100: Most Sustainable Corporations in the World
The Bad: Toxic 100
posted by Mary at
3:27 PM
2 Comments:
Great points. A proactive office will always be more efficient than one that wastes hours around a conference room table--planning, printing, debating, blah--until a good idea is lost in a sea of bureaucracy. Of course, a plan of action is a good first step--but I can always get behind less talking, more doing.
Hi d.c.
Less talking, more doing...reminds me of my old elementary gymnasium.
There were two sides of the gym. One side had a sign that said Talk Less, Play More. The other side said Talk More, Play Less.
Would you rather Talk or Play???
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