Five Best Online Resources For Greening Your Business
The information and tools you need to achieve a greener, more efficient and more successful business are at your fingertips online. Here are my favorite online resources for greening your business:
Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC): NRDC is ‘the Earth’s best defense’ and one of the nation’s most effective environmental action groups. In action since 1970 by a group of law students and attorneys , NRDC today has over 1.2 million members and is a resource of scientists, lawyers and activists who’s collective goal is to protect wild places. For businesses looking to go green and lessen their impact on precious natural resources, turn to NRDC’s Greening Your Business.
TreeHugger: A true green, up-to-the-minute source of environmental news, TreeHugger is one of the most influential environmental websites on the internet. There’s a daily blog journal (which I highly recommend adding to your RSS), videos, interviews, contests and the very in-depth How to Go Green Guides. Check out TreeHugger’s How to Green Your Work for great tips and resources.
US Green Building Council: Building and remodeling greener buildings is something that everyone can contribute to, even if you are not a green building professional. When you are ready to expand, renovate or start new construction, turn to the US Green Building Council to find experts, information and ideas that can help you cut emissions, conserve energy and work in healthier environments. USGBC’s links and resources will lead you to the information you need, online here.
GreenBiz: GreenBiz, part of Greener World Media, is green biz news that covers the globe and more than the latest scoop, GreenBiz has tips, a job board and a great green resource in Greening Your Business: A Primer for Small Companies where you’ll find tips to reduce waste, increase energy-efficiency, build better products and keep up the good environmental deeds over the long haul.
EnergyStar: There are plenty of tips at EnergyStar to go green at home but you might be surprised to find there is also a Small Business Guide to help Green Your Business. Find ways to incorporate renewable energy, lower your emissions, building energy-efficient and conserve natural resources like water and forests.
Sustainable Advice from Honest Tea’s TeaEO
Seth Goldman is the TeaEO of Honest Tea, one of the most successful organic bottled beverage companies which after just a decade of brewing up business has become a hot commodity in a very crowded industry. In February 2008, Honest Tea sold 40% to Coca-Cola for $43 million.
Behind the success of the USDA organic Honest Teas is a sustainable philosophy, but there’s a lot more to it says founder Seth Goldman and he’s sharing his secrets of sustainable success over at Green Biz:
More and more entrepreneurs are striving to strike such a balance between profit and principle, asking themselves, “Can I do the same in my company? Is my green dream really feasible?” Freelance writer and fair trade entrepreneur April Thompson spoke with Goldman recently to tap the leader for his secrets to start-up success.
Find out what it takes to be green from the get go: Seth Goldman’s Ten Great Tips for Socially Responsible Startups.
Free e-waste Recycling with USPS
I don’t have too many unused electronics kicking around but I definitely have a few, like my “old” cell phone. It’s actually less than 4 years old but has become obsolete - doesn’t hold a charge and the company no longer makes replacement batteries for this oh-so-outdated model.
The sales rep who sold me my new phone suggested I place the old one in their collection bin to be donated to women who are escaping domestic abuse situations. My thought on that was what good is giving a phone that doesn’t work to someone in a dangerous situation? So the phone is sitting in a bag with all its outdated, unusable parts.
There are several reputable e-waste recycling programs popping up making it easier to get electronics recycled responsibly. One promising initiative is through the US Postal Service’s “Mail Back” program which has started in 1,500 post offices. Postage-paid envelopes can be found in post offices in 10 US cities, including Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles and San Diego.
Thursday at One Vote Matters let me know about LifeHacker’s post on the new “Mail Back” program (thanks, Thursday!). Lifehacker’s also got a great bunch of resources for recycling that you can find in the post there. With a little digging, I discovered that the “Mail Back” program is sponsored by Clover Technologies:
Clover Technologies Group, will recycle, remanufacture and remarket inkjet cartridges, laser cartridges and small electronics. If the refuse can’t be refurbished and resold, its component parts are reused to refurbish other items, or the parts are broken down further and the materials are recycled. Clover Technologies Group has a “zero waste to landfill” policy: it does everything it can to avoid contributing any materials to the nation’s landfills. - BusinessWeek
Sounds like a great initiative that will make it easier to keep the work desk (and drawers) clutter free and keep electronics out of landfills.
What to do with a $600 Federal Tax Rebate?
Tom over at The 501(c) Files sent over a meme about the upcoming federal rebates with a couple of interesting questions:
- If you could do whatever you wanted, how would YOU spend your $600?
- Is that the same or different from how you actually plan spend it?
If I could do anything I wanted to do with an extra $600, there are two places I would put it. First, I’d give to at least a portion of it to Green For All. This is one of the most important initiatives in the US right now with its mission to help build a green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty. Donations to Green For All are matched dollar for dollar by an extraordinary $1 million Challenge Grant so every dollar donated goes twice as far towards the Green For All initiatives.
I would also consider putting some of it into a trip for myself to New Orleans, which would of course be timed around the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival but with plenty of time to do some Habitat for Humanity work. A volunteer vacation with really good music and food sounds perfect to me.
What would I really do with the money? Probably put it in my savings account and await YET ANOTHER email from my bank letting me know that the feds have ONCE AGAIN dropped the interest rates. I am sympathetic to the people who have fallen prey to predatory lenders. A lot of what has happened in the US mortgage market is criminal. However, a lot of it could have been avoided if consumers and the government took more responsibility for their credit and spending. None of us are perfect, myself included, but I’m definitely getting a little fed up with the situation.
What would others do? Part of this meme is tagging other bloggers to answer the same question so my turn to tag: Ren at Accounting Solver, Thursday at One Vote Matters, Darlene at Interview Chatter, Dan at Property Crossroads and Blain at Talk Stock Trading. You are all tagged!
In Galapagos, Business is Delicate Balance
Ecotourism is big business but one that is not always as green as it may seem. Real ecotourism isn’t just about visiting beautiful natural places - it is much more complex and affects ecology, economy and cultural aspects of the tourist destinations.
One of the pioneers of responsible tourism has just been recognized by the Municipality of Puerto Ayora (the biggest town in the Galapagos Islands) for commitment to the preservation and conservation of the Galapagos archipelago and commitment to the welfare of the Galapagos community. Sven Lindblad, of Lindblad Expeditions, received the conservation award this week and announced a new initiative to further the sustainable commitment of his ecotourism business.
Linblad Expeditions has been bringing tours to the Galapagos since 1967, and working as an example of sustainable tourism in the region. Part of the Linblad experience was access to education about the unique natural wonder of the Galapagos - visitors gained insight into conservation efforts. The company also started the Galapagos Conservation Fund raising over $4 million to protect the Galapagos National Park and Marine Reserve. Linblad has also invested in social initiatives like FUNDECA (Fundacion de Artesanos Ecuatorianos) an initiative to support local artisans.
While many of us daydream of romantic lifestyles like heading a tourism company in one of the world’s most unique natural areas, the reality is that doing it with the earth in mind is a serious undertaking. Lindblad Expeditions has managed to build a business based on environmental stewardship - a feat that is rooted in real-world issues. Read more about how Lindblad balances business and environment at GreenBiz, Sven Lindblad Receives Major Conservation Award
Harvard Trades Tuition for Public Service
If you are thinking about law school, Harvard has just announced an incentive that might make it more feasible. The Harvard Law School will waive tuition for third year students who work in the public-interest for nonprofits or the government for five years, according to the New York Times.
The initiative is meant to encourage students to pursue work that isn’t just about making the money to pay back big student loans. The Times reported that, in recent years, only about 10-12% of Harvard Law graduates in recent years went to work for a nonprofit or the government, opting instead to join law firms where income was in the six figures - understandable considering that law students can leave Harvard with student debt also in the six figures.
So if you’re headed down the legal path, remember that the earth needs good lawyers, too, and Harvard will cut you a deal if you defend it. Of course, Harvard’s not the only game in town, here’s the top 10 Environmental Law programs in the US (from US News & World Report):
- Vermont Law School
- Lewis and Clark Law School
- Pace University Law School (NY)
- University of Maryland Law School
- Georgetown University Law School
- New York University Law School
- University of California–Berkeley (Boalt Law)
- Stanford University Law School
- George Washington Law School
- Yale Law School
Via New York Times
Bear Stearns Crisis May Pinch Clean Tech
An article in GreenBiz news today warns that the Bear Stearns Crisis Could Curb Clean Tech Growth, an industry sector that has been experiencing an investment boom and been on a steady, fast increase. Near the end of 2007, clean tech venture investment hit $2.6 billion up from $590 million in 2000 and with an increase of individual deals from 63 in 2000 to over 160 in 2007.
The ever-expanding credit crisis in the US is rippling through the global economy and GreenBiz reported that “As share prices around the world continued to fall sharply in the wake of the weekend collapse of U.S. investment bank Bear Stearns, experts on Monday warned that clean tech projects could soon find it significantly harder to raise project financing as a result.”
However, the experts assembled in the UK last Monday gave a positive long term outlook for clean tech and noted that the current market conditions pose a short term problem.
“Clean tech is not recession-proof,” said Justin Adams, director of technical strategy, venturing and innovation at BP. “But the drivers behind current interest in the sector are enduring and will remain with us whether we go through a shallow or deep recession — there remains a huge upside to clean tech investments.”
At GreenBiz, Experts Warn Bear Stearns Crisis Could Curb Clean Tech Growth
Intel Tops EPAs Green Power Partnership
The EPA’s Green Power Partnership encourages businesses to seek out renewable energy sources, reduce the environmental impacts of electricity use and support the development of new renewable generation capacity nationwide. Intel Corporation is the national leader in this voluntary program with a purchase of 1.3 billion “green” kilowatt-hours per year, according to Sustainable Business.
These purchases surpassed the goals set by EPA’s Green Power Partnership and equal the avoided carbon dioxide emissions of more than 570 million gallons of gasoline each year or the equivalent amount of electricity needed to power nearly 670,000 average American homes annually.
PepsiCo, the U.S. Air Force, Wells Fargo & Company and Whole Foods round out the top 5 EPA Green Power Partners with purchases in biogas, biomass, geothermal, solar and wind.
Among the renewable energy and REC suppliers chosen by the top 5 companies are Austin Energy, Community Energy, On-site Generation, PNM, Renewable Choice Energy, Sterling Planet, 3Degrees, Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Bonneville Power Administration, Colorado Springs Utilities, Georgia Power, Minnkota Power Cooperative, Oklahoma Gas & Electric, Rocky Mountain Generation Cooperative and TransAlta Energy Marketing.
WalMart’s CEO: We Are Not Green
It’s almost impossible to avoid hearing the words Wal-Mart and green together these days. The corporation has made significant green strides over the past few years with President and CEO Lee Scott Jr. at the helm. But at the recent ECO:nomics Conference in California the leader of the mega-retailer’s green turnaround made it clear that the waste reducing, energy conserving steps taken by Wal-Mart are business decisions.
“We are not green,” he told conference attendees.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Scott spoke about Wal-Mart’s efforts to reduce, cardboard, packaging and the amount of plastic in bottled water. However…
The impetus for the company in doing all this isn’t just to please environmentalists, he said, but more to save money.“ It really is about how you take cost out, which is waste,” he said. The savings by taking out wasted material helps keep prices low for Wal-Mart’s customers, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck. Indeed, Mr. Scott – in remarks to reporters after his talk – said the current economic slump is prodding Wal-Mart even more to undertake its waste-reduction program. “When is a better time?,” he said. - WSJ
Read the full article and see video of Scott at ECO:nomics here.
UNEP Environmental Year Book Shows Emerging Green Economy
The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has released its Year Book 2008 and the findings point to a fast-emerging “green economy.”
“While climate change continues to alter the global environment, it is also changing the mind-sets and actions of corporate heads, financiers and entrepreneurs, according to UNEP. These important leaders of the private sector are increasingly recognizing climate change as a financial opportunity rather than a burden, hence driving the technological innovation that will provide a backbone for the emerging green economy. According to the Year Book, the world is experiencing new invention and imagination “on a scale perhaps not witnessed since the industrial revolution of more than two centuries ago.” - WRI
Key findings from the Year Book:
- Corporate Social Responsbility (CSR) reporting is on the rise - up from virtually zero in the late 1990s.
- Companies with strong environmental strategies are often more competitive.
- Disclosing carbon emissions has become the norm.
- Carbon markets are growing worldwide, worth over $30 billion.
B Corporations Setting the Benchmark Higher
Responsible, green and sustainable are just a few of the benchmarks that can distinguish a good company from good marketing. B Lab/B Corporation is a non-profit organization that sets the new standards for corporate social and environmental responsibility and certifies businesses as meeting or exceeding those criterion.
B Lab confirms that products or operations are truly green- and socially-minded. Since its inception in June 2007, B Lab has certified over 80 corporations across 20 distinct industries with market impact of $650 million, according to CSR.
What does it take to be B?
To become a B Corporation™, you have to do two things: First, meet comprehensive and transparent social and environmental standards via the B Rating System™. By meeting these standards, we set a benchmark which distinguishes “good companies” from “good marketing”. And we make it easier for consumers and investors to support these companies.
Second, amend your corporate governing documents to incorporate the interests of employees, community and the environment. By institutionalizing your values, you make it more likely that those values will survive new investors, new management, and even, someday, new owners.
In good company, some of the B Lab certified businesses include:
More on B Lab/B Corporation:
- What it takes to be a B Corporation Sustainable Life Media
- Greening Your Small Business Can Have a Big Impact Triple Pundit
- Make Money, Save the World New York Times
- New Certification Scheme Aims to Protect Socially Responsible Companies ENN
Totally Off Topic Bloggy News
This is pretty much totally off topic but it could fall under the follow your instincts, beat your own drum, don’t just keep doing what you’re doing because everybody else is, and let’s just say that, in the spirit of diversion, can apply to following your green business dreams.
There are a few blogs I read that have little to do with the environment and two of my favorites were recently honored at SXSW - which many a b5er attended BTW. Not that I needed any validation to justify these internet sidetracks from my work day but apparently there are a lot of people checking out these two great blogs and diggin’ them as well so you might like to check them out.
There’s Dooce, the website of a recovering Mormon, SAHM with great style and wit, took home four Bloggies including Best American weblog, Best-designed weblog, Weblog of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Award. Damn, girl. And she looks fabulous in the article over at Wired. But the best part (and most related to the follow your dream theme here) is the back story she posted on making lemons into lemonade.
Then there’s Confessions of a Pioneer Woman who is “plowing through life in the country one calf nut at a time” with great stories and amazing photographs of life in big sky country. She took home Best Writing of a weblog with posts like the ongoing true love story Black Heels to Tractor Wheels and, well, honestly everything she writes over there is worth reading. The Pioneer Woman Cooks, not for vegetarians but this weblog took home Best food weblog. Just one glance and you’ll start salivating. My next mission is to make this salad from TPWC.
So that’s the off topic Bloggy news, big congrats to all the Bloggies winners!
Kitchen Conference: A Creative Gathering for Companies That Do Good
I want to let you know about a great green business gathering coming up in April, the third annual Kitchen Conference - ‘a gathering of underdogs, mavericks and challenger brands – as well as industry leaders who have paved the way’.
The event is tied together by the common goal of participants to build successful businesses without compromising their values. It is a wonderful opportunity to get the latest consumer insight on sustainability, explore untraditional marketing tactics, network with peers and pioneers.
Some of the highlights include:
- In-depth consumer trend reviews
- Peer feedback
- Real world case studies
- Practical budget advice
- Ideas for brand extension
- Lively debate on important issues
Sounds very good, and last year’s event pulled speakers from leading sustainability-driven companies like Annie’s, Organic Valley, Pangea Organics, Dagoba and Nau. In attendance were experts from TreeHugger, Cool Hunting, RumbleFish and Kashi.
This year confirmed speakers are from Burt’s Bees, Method Home, Yolo Colorhouse, KEEN Footwear and more. It should be a fun, insightful event for anyone interested in a more sustainable economy and business market.
For the Paperless Office: Digital ID from Verisign
There are lots of easy ways to go paperless but when it comes to verified, signed documents the hard copy can be hard to beat. While there are many industries where a facsimile signature is okay, there are other times when it just doesn’t cut it.
One way to have the best of both worlds - paperless and official - is with a Digital ID from Verisign that allow you to sign documents digitally. The service costs $19.95 per year and with it you can digitally sign your email and receive encrypted email. Your Digital ID is bound to your unique email address. In addition to signing documents, the Digital ID can be used as a combined user ID and password on websites with restricted access.
For documents, the Digital ID allows you to encrypt, verify, sign and send documents without ever printing them out. Pretty green and efficient. The Digital ID for Secure email is available at VeriSign.
Via Planet Green
Eco-Friendly Insurance Policies on the Rise
Discounts on hybrid car coverage and extra funds to rebuild with sustainable materials are just two ways that the insurance industry is encouraging green mindedness from policy holders. The trend brings savings to the companies while boosting environmentally sound behavior by consumers.
Car insurance policies are shifting towards rewards for less driving and less fuel consumption. The industry is tapping “green” consumers for being eco-friendly, which also translates into less risky to insure. Hybrid drivers, for instance, are seen as more conscientious consumers and lower risk to insure.
Homeowners who suffer property loss can find extra funds to rebuild green, replace renewable energy systems or get a discount to insure an existing home built to green standards.
Read the full scoop at Insurance Goes Green and New Combatant Against Global Warming: Insurance Industry.
Via BusinessWeek
PG&E Funding Redwood Forest Restoration
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) seems to be on a very green-minded mission these days. In December, the California company announced it’s launch into wave power to help meet state renewable energy targets and last week announced a customer funded program to offset greenhouse gas emissions by restoring two California redwood forests.
Yes, this is the same PG&E that poisoned the water in Hinkley until Erin Brockovich stepped in to expose the environmental and social crimes, and Julia Roberts brought the fight to the big screen. It is hard to trust a corporation that has PG&E’s environmental and social track record.
Yet, here we are in 2008 and PG&E, like many other companies with questionable pasts, are tying their corporate identity to environmental stewardship.
PG&E’s ClimateSmart program will invest the money in restoration projects in the Garcia River Forest in Mendocino County and the Lompico Headwaters Forest in Santa Cruz County.
The “carbon offsets” are the first purchased by ClimateSmart, which allows PG&E customers to pay an extra fee to offset emissions from their electricity and gas usage.
More than 17,500 customers have enrolled in the program since it was launched in June, and the average residential customer pays less than $5 a month to participate. - San Francisco Gate
Supporting a forest restoration project involving some of the most majestic trees on the planet (to the tune of $2 million) is certainly not a bad thing. But money, in this case, is relative. PG&E has easily spent more than that on its newest greenwash-y ad campaign that is pouring over San Francisco in a deluge. Amanda Witherell over at GOOD Magazine has a great article on greenwashing that features some of PG&Es new advertising campaign in Green is the Color of Money. And letsgreenwashthiscity.org has the scoop on why PG&E is not green.
Via TreeHugger Via San Francisco Gate
Stirring it Up With Stonyfield CE-Yo
Stonyfield Farm CE-Yo Gary Hirshberg built one of the most successful socially and environmentally responsible organic yogurt companies. His latest contribution to the world of green business is Stirring it Up: How to Make Money and Save the World, a call to action to business leaders “to realize their power to effect change in the marketplace—’the power of one’—while proving that environmental commitment makes for a healthier planet and a healthier bottom line.”
Hirshberg uses his 25 years’ experience growing Stonyfield Farm as well as the examples of like-minded companies, such as Newman’s Own, Patagonia, Wal-Mart and Timberland, to illustrate how business and the environment can benefit each other.
An inspiring book for business owners and managers as well as anyone interested in saving the environment, Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World demonstrates how companies can work to save the planet, while achieving greater profits and satisfaction, and how we can all use the power of conscious consumption to encourage green corporate behavior.
Available at Amazon Stirring it Up: How to Make Money and Save the World
Reduce Costs & Energy Consumption with a free PC Power Saving Plan & Calculator
Info-Tech Research Group and Greener Computing have two tools available online that can help your business lower energy consumption and save money. The free research report PC Power Saving Plans Reduce Costs & Environmental Impact can help you learn about techniques for advanced power management.
This research report, made available specially to GreenerComputing readers by the Info-Tech Research Group, looks at the history of PC power management, offers an overview of the capabilities of the Windows OS and third-party power management software, and presents the possible pitfalls of implementing a power management plan as well as an action plan.
The other resource is the PC Power Saving Plan Calculator:
This tool measures the approximate payback period for advanced scheduling software, and gives IT an idea of how much energy and money can be saved by implementing a PC Power Saving Plan. It also illustrates the mass of C02 emissions averted, and the equivalent number of cars taken off the road by implementing a PC Power Saving Plan.
The full report and the calculator are both available at Info-Tech.
eBay’s MicroPlace Making a difference with Microfinance
Microfinance, making small loans, gained tremendous recognition when microcredit pioneer Muhammad Yunus earned a 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his initiatives at Grameen Bank. Now, thanks to an initiative at eBay, individual investors can also help fight global poverty.
A former Grameen Bank employee named Tracey Pettengill Turner has teamed up with eBay to create MicroPlace, a website dedicated to connecting investors with borrowers around the world.
How it works:
You purchase investments on MicroPlace from security issuers, who are responsible for making interest and principal payments to you. Security issuers use your funds to support loans to lending organizations, who then use those funds to provide loans to borrowers. As loans are repaid, security issuers are able to provide you with a financial return. Borrowers use their loans to start or expand small businesses. Profits from these businesses help them repay their loans, send their children to school, and improve their families’ living conditions.
According to SocialFunds.com, “Microfinance is the offering of very small loans, typically ranging from $25 to $500, to people in developing markets to grow their businesses. MFIs usually operate in areas that don’t have access to traditional banking services. The repayment rate for microfinance loans is extremely high.”
Announcing the Greener By Design Conference
Here’s an event I’m putting on my calendar…
GreenBiz.com and The Global Executive have teamed up to present the first Greener by Design Conference for strategies, tools and markets for product innovation. The event will be held June 12-13 in Alexandria, Virginia.
The focus is on green product design — how companies, both large and small, are harnessing environmental thinking to create innovative products and packaging. The lineup of presenters and speakers includes: BASF, Clorox, DeLoach Vineyards, Dupont, General Electric, Nike, Procter & Gamble, TerraCycle and Xerox, among many others.
Joel Makeover of Greener World Media and the conference co-chair, says of the event “We’ll dive down from the 50,000-foot level to see how leading companies are doing innovative things on the ground.”
To register, go to www.greenerbydesign.com or call 800-516-4265