GREEN BUSINESS VIEWS

Posts Tagged ‘eco consultant’

Amidst a multi-national and international global economy, there is something to be said for buying from a business within a modest proximity of your operation.   Transportation costs are a hidden cost that is offset by reduced wages in another area, but what is the real impact of buying from low wage countries?  We are presently in a recession, and that recession has been made worse by rampant unemployment that has not been seen since the Great Depression.  A little common sense appreciation of our economic woes should bring us back to an old concept that deserves to be resurrected.  That concept is “Buy American.”

This is not easy, because every store and many of the most available products come from China, India, Mexico, and Taiwan.  We have, quite frankly, exported a lot of our manufacturing to countries who are more than happy to do the work and send it back to us.  Therefore, we have become more of a service and business nation that has less and less exportable goods, except for farm products and minerals.  It remains to be seen if what we still have to export will sustain us as we continue to become more of a debtor nation year after ignorant year.

With the rise of a new and Greener theme of Green Supply Chain, the government and business should realize that transporting goods across the globe and over thousands of miles is contrary to the environmental good.  Every mile of transportation requires energy, and the great majority of that energy comes from fossil fuels.  Simply stated, all that transportation adds millions of tons of carbon dioxide to the air.  Therefore, saving money by importing and transporting goods could be causing more carbon dioxide than if we made these items locally.

The other tragedy is that imported goods have left us without the diversity of employment that we used to enjoy.  When the financial sector failed, we lacked the stability to sustain our economy because the financial sector was such a huge portion of all our national economy.   Banking, the stock market, and real estate should not be our dominant businesses.  Diversity is a stabilizing factor for any economy.  Money is no good to any nation that lacks the basic commodities necessary for life.  Without the staples needed for daily life, inflation is the only expectation that people can expect because money is meaningless without some commodity that it can purchase.  Therefore, simple economics tells us that we must encourage the industries that produce products and employ people.

The many-fold benefits that we get back are the lowering of transportation costs, less CO2 emissions, and we will see more jobs that will drive the economy and pay taxes to reduce our national debt (hopefully).   Buying locally, has an unfortunate bypass value.  If you can’t find it locally, there is the expected allowance to buy it from “wherever.”   In the drive to reduce the global climate change issue of carbon dioxide emissions, we need to encourage and incentivize new businesses to produce things in America.

Now, let me add that there will be those suffering from the “Not in my back yard” (NiMBY) syndrome.  They do not want to despoil there community with manufacturing companies.  But wait a minute.  If this is a global issue, why is it okay to send these nasty programs to Mexico, India, China, or South America?  Instead of solving the problem and making it work right, is it okay to make these things outside of the U.S. and buy them back once they have been sanitized?

I support “Buy America,” and as hard as it is, I make the effort to find something that I can purchase that is made in the U.S.  The current status is a trend that is hard to reverse and will cost us more to accomplish than we might like.  But, there are some things that are just the right thing to do.  We cannot be purists about this matter, but we should be better than we have been.  Buy American and start the turning of the tide because the market is determined by the buyers, not the sellers.  If we create a demand, business will respond.  It may be with an American car.  And yes, I have bought a foreign car in my life, but that is something that I regret as I see American auto workers struggling with unemployment.  We have all bought the cheaper and more innovative products from other countries, but this is a habit that can be changes simply by looking a little harder at the tag and for the American option.

I believe that a Green world also means a Green America.  That Green America puts a preference and emphasis on buying locally, and buying American.  This concept is echoed by the EPA in their “Environmentally Preferred Purchasing” that asks that we buy from companies that promote Green principles.  Unfortunately, we can no longer tell which company is Green and which one is a Green pretender.  There is no standard, no auditing, and no certification of 98% of all businesses in our country.  Without a standard, Greenwashing and Green hype has flourished, and as the American consumer figures this out, their disappointment will be profound.  The sheer fact that more than 96% of all Green products on the shelves are Greenwashed, according to TerraPass, is shocking and stupid.  Isn’t it time that we got honest about environmental commitments?

The Green Business League is the largest certification program for Green businesses offering a an audited and certified Green business certification.  With more than 250 Certified Green Consultants nationwide, the Green Business League is a leader in what has been a poorly led effort.  Going Green as a business has often fallen prey to niche promotion, “Easy Green” websites offering their logo for a fee, and businesses who prefer the price of Greenwashing over Green certification.  Find a Certified Green Consultant in your community who will assist any business in a well-constructed process of Green business certification through the adoption of Green Practices.  The business need not own the building, as required by LEED, because Green Practices deal with the operation and how to run a Green program.

It is fair to say that earning a Green Business certification has a cost.  The investment can be small or large depending on how many challenges a company may face to become an authentic Green business.  I would put the Greening effort in a similar monetary category as buying a piece of needed machinery for the company.  The rationale is that the machine is needed to make the company run better, it will save time, and reduce the work load for everyone.  These are somewhat intangible benefits except that they show up on in a better operation and in savings to the companies bottom line.  In other words, Going Green is an investment that has a predictable return.  More and more, we are learning that Green is not just an expense that takes an unfriendly bite out of the cash flow.  Going Green has real and lasting benefits that may be hard to measure but can be seen as a boost to the company’s overall profitability.

If you improve the indoor air quality, you will also improve employee performance and reduce health claims.   If you install a paperless system, your whole company will speed up performance, and more work will be produced by fewer workers.  Employee cost savings is not a small advantage as everyone is looking to keep expenses down.  Get smart with you energy use, and your electric and fuel bills will go down.  As rates goes up (and they will), the efficiencies that you now embrace will become more impressive as rates go up.  Get involved in source reduction and other sustainable efforts, and you’ll trim out the excesses that will also fatten the bottom line.

Could Going Green actually save a company $10,000, $25,000, or $50,000 a year?  The answer is an absolute “Yes.”  This does not happen because a company sets up a Green committee that has no training on the subject.  These kind of savings come from taking a wise and professional approach to the subject.  Certified Green Consultants offer the expertise that most companies need to install a Green program that will bring about a thoughtful Greening program that includes the kind of savings that help a company in more ways then social responsibility in a world struggling with environmental issues.

Another intangible is the marketing value of being a Certified Green Business.  As the Green market matures, the ability to stand out as something more than a self-appointed Green company has limited credibility in this market.  It is possible to “Fake Green” by buying a Green logo online without any serious commitment or audit routine.   It is common sense to Go Green and do it with a bona fide certification program like the one offered by the Green Business League.

It may not affect your bottom line, but the environment is now under stress.  Unresolved, the impact of environmental hardships will be seen throughout society.  There is also a universal price that we all pay because of the ignorance or neglect of social duties.  Essentially, we cannot ignore this duty unless we want it to grow into a hurricane of devastation that hits everyone with some harm.

There is a price to be paid to Go Green, but we are now finding that there is also a PAY BACK for the investment that need not take years to realize.  Smart Green Consultants know how to make Going Green pay off in just one to two years.  The money that you are able to keep in your corporate pocket will make your business leaner and faster.  It will give your company the ability to promote itself as an authentically Green Business.  Your company wins, your employees win, the consumers win, and the environment wins.  When thoughtfully and professionally addressed, there is no losers in a Greener world.

Be warned that doing any good thing badly rarely pays off, and often causes real embarrassment.   Buying a Green business credential online line falls in the same category as cyber porn.   It isn’t real, and it isn’t right.  A website can be set up in a week, and offering a flimsy imitation to the public that claims to be as good as the real thing.  When it is all said and done, you just can’t beat the real thing.

Green business is often different from what most think.  In many cases, Green business is the best way to promote or market a business.  By touting a Green virtue within the company, the promoters wish to convince the world that they are a Green business worthy of your business.  Part of the problem is that there is no real definition for “Green Business.”   Therefore, the phrase can be configured to mean nearly anything with a Green attachment.  This is what can honestly be called “Token Green,” which means doing the least possible to be included in the Green business definition.  An authentically Green business embraces the environmental issues more fully bringing Green practices to every part of their honestly Green business.

As mentioned before in various articles, a business may also be “Green by Proxy” meaning that there is little real change in their daily operation expect the purchasing of solutions created by others.   Buying Green cleaning products is one example.  Purchasing carbon credits is another way to borrow a solution from someone else without making real change in the operation creating carbon emissions.   It might be nice to give money to some worthy environmental cause, but that will not create a Green business either.

This kind of shallowness is part and parcel of the newness that we all have the many various on environmental issues faced by all people on this earth.  We’ve even invented a new word for those who over-hype the Green virtues of their product or services.  It is called Greenwashing.   As the world matures, a company claiming to be a Green business will need more than a good marketing department.  They will want to have an integration of Green practices throughout the operation and certification by an independent firm like the Green Business League.

To be a Green business, the expectation is that Green is more than a layer of veneer or hasty covering to disguise the true nature of the business.  It comes down to Green practices at nearly every level of the company’s various programs or departments.  In fact, it reaches to each and every one of the company’s employees.  A training program like the “Green Awareness” program can be offered to any company by a Certified Green Consultant to make sure that everyone is on the same page of this important issue.

Combine this training with an ongoing program of Greening up the operation of the company with the help of a Certified Green Consultant, and it is reasonable to expect that the environmental issue is far more than a hollow claim by the company trying to impress an increasingly astute public.

There are three distinct areas of Greening today.  There are Green products, Green buildings, and green practices.  Each piece of this simple puzzle has its value and plays an important role in the environmental process.  Though slow in coming, we are seeing more an more Green products come to the stores and the Internet.  Unfortunately, not all of them are as Green as they suggest in their marketing.  That is, however, yet another issue for another day.

Green buildings as valuable to the overall picture.  For a long time, building requirements dealt with safety and local regulations.  Now, there is the inclusion of building materials that will not add to the health issues and will help the sustainability of our resources.   And this is a good thing to see, but we cannot neglect the human factor that is desperately needed if we are going to succeed against the all-too-imposing environmental issues.

Green practices seem to the the last, but frankly, most important part of the puzzle.  It does us little good to have Green products and Green businesses if we do not include Green practices.  This is an important reality check for each of us.  All too often we hear about a kind of proxy Green where people believe that they are being environmental because they buy some Green products or have some Green applications in their facility.  The problem is that this requires little commitment from each of us except to buy or install what is offered.

Think also the the small percentage of people who have a “Proxy Green” approach to the whole issue because they own a building that can be built new or improved with environmentally-friendly building products.  There really aren’t that many compared to the number of businesses in any city, state, or country that do not own their own building.  Yet, it seems that nearly 100% of the focus in on buying Green products and building Green buildings.  Are all the rest of us who collectively make an enormous impact on this world excluded from participation in this issue because we are excluded from these two aspect of environmental response?

Conversely, Green practices are universal.  All of us can adopt Green practices into the daily routine of our families, workplace, or general duties.  If only we knew more about Green practices, that is.  After CFL bulbs, programmable thermostats, tuning up the car, and recycling our trash; what else is there?  In fact, there are hundreds of simple and practical steps that we all could take if we were better informed.  To actually take advantage of all these options, the process can be intimidating.  That is where the connection to a Certified Green Consultant is important.  They know how to incorporate hundreds of simple and cost savings solutions into any home or business.

Locate a Certified Green Consultant in your community at the Green Consultant Directory.  If your business would like to be a certified Green business, you should visit the Green Business League and find out more.  Going Green is not an amateur sport.  To to it well and comprehensively, the assistance of a professional Green consultant is extremely helpful.   In the end, the goal is to get everyone to do their “Fair Share” in this global crisis issue.   The more people that we enlist in the program, the better our world becomes.  So, while we may support the increased volume of Green products and the growth of Green buildings, the most crucial issue of all is the universal participation of people everywhere in Green practices.

One of the worst feelings in the world is the day a civil lawsuit lands at the doorstep of a business.  Like the diagnosis of cancer, everything is thereafter controlled by the pending threat that embroils every part of our life.   A lawsuit is never kind, and it is almost never a fair presentation of the facts.  It is filled with accusations, horrendous claims, and what seems to be intentionally one-sided lies.   Of course, the is the final section where the “Relief” that is sought from the court is so immense as to be heart stopping.  Reading a lawsuit feels like hearing about a deadly diagnosis from a hateful doctor who hopes that you’ll die a particularly painful death.

With this in mind, it should be no surprise that there is now more attorneys studying environmental law than every before in history.  Like tremors before an earthquake, it should come as no surprise that we are seeing a serious rise in environmental lawsuits and an expected surge of new environmental regulations.   Ready or not, we are about to see the enforcement of environmental laws like never before.  For this reason, Going Green is a proactive aspect that should not be ignored.  Businesses are deemed to have deep pockets, and that makes them excellent targets for litigation.  If a business would like to keep the profits that they have struggled to make over the years, it must take positive steps to reduce and eliminate potential liability issues.

Indoor Air Quality is one of those blindsided type issues that most people will never see coming until it hits them hard from behind.   Remember that people spend 90% of their time indoors according to the EPA.   This is day after day and year after year.   Over a 40 year working career, employees have endured prolonged exposure to the recycled air that frankly seems like an invisible, toxic cloud that they cannot escape.   This exposure to poor indoor air quality is yet another liability to the company.

Over the years, doctors have linked more and more chronic diseases to exposure to chemicals in the air.   I am sure that you remember the battle over “second-hand smoke.”  Evidence was clear that non-smokers had impressively higher occurrence of lung cancer when exposed to second-hand smoke in the workplace.  This can by way of civil litigation.  Asbestos was yet another ingredient that caused lung disease proven in courts time and again.   You can find other dangerous ingredients in the workplace as well.  There is benzene, formaldehyde, pesticides, cleaning chemicals containing volatile organic compounds, and bad levels of carbon dioxide to name only a few of the bad things found in most businesses.

That “New Smell” of fresh paint, new furniture, glue from the carpet, as well as stains and varnish are not good at all.  they are often volatile organic compounds that will make you ill or dizzy with overexposure.  When you walk into a room cleaned by bleach, do you think that it smell clean and sanitary?  You should also know that it is bad for you.  If you doubt me, try taking a strong whiff our of a bleach bottle.  It will be a rough experience.  Ammonia is not different, but we typically see these cleaning products as healthy when they are actually harmful to us.  The danger is lost in the fact that they are used in diluted and small quantities.  Try eating just a very small quantity of arsenic over a period of time and you will kill yourself.

One of the very real benefits of Going Green is the provision of a healthy workplace and the mitigation of a lawsuit arising from an employee made sick at the workplace.  A six month check up by a Certified Green Consultant is one of the best ways create a paper trail of a health office.   Earning your Green Business Certification may be the prime motivator for improving the office.   Going Green will often provide substantial savings in the budget.  It will likely improve the overall performance of worker and well as their health.  One of the other important benefits to the positive defense when an environmental lawsuit comes your way.  Green Business League encourages businesses to be proactive.  Since Going Green starts with the Indoor air quality, Greening your business will inevitably add to the health and productivity of employees and reduce potential environmental litigation exposure.