Green Business Awareness

By now we all know that washing our hands is an important part of disease prevention.  It has been all over the television, and yet there are still things that need to be understood about handwashing.   As this clip points out, the Ethyl alcohol can be dangerous if consumed.  Doesn’t this send a message about how Green we are when pushed a little.

Another note of interest is the bacterial soap is not any more effective than normal soap.  20 second of good handwashing is the best suggestion which is about the some length of time it takes to sing, “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”  There is further concern about bacterial soap and the very real ability of bacteria to morph and develop immunities to any threat.  This is why doctors do not like to over-prescribe antibiotics.  They know that bacteria have a very unnerving way to mutating to something that they continue to see as a threat.

So, let’s get down to the simple stuff.  Wash your hands like your mother told you.  Use normal soap and water, and don’t be hasty.  If you want a really great kind of soap that comes from a very Green process, look into castile soap.  It is most often made from natural olive oil, its good for the skin, and doesn’t pollute.

Here’s my pique with the H1N1 mania.  Yes, it is a problem, and it could turn into a pandemic; but we do not have to the Green protocol in our daily operation.  The best solution is a proactive cleaning program that does not include the dangerous products like bleach, ammonia, and alcohol.  When school or business encounters a spreading infection, they call out the shock troops who come in a spray, slather, and scrub with some really awful chemicals.  At that point, all Green consideration is thrown out the door.  The problem is that there are reasonable and very Green ways to disinfect.

A massive cleaning project also misses the obvious.  These diseases came in from the community and enter the school and business.  The very next day after a major sanitizing project, the facility will be re-infected.   One of the first areas to examine iw whether the cleaning service is Green Clean Certified.  If not, they are playing at Green.  Secondly, take a trip to the janitorial closet and prepare yourself for a shock of unGreen products that you will find.  Most janitorial services are merely token Green at best, and need to step up their game.

During the infection cycle, increase the frequency of cleaning.  This need not be a whole building cleaning, but the regular cleaning of the “High Touch” areas, like: doornobs, light switches, the copy machine panel, keyboards, and countertops.  If the service isn’t able to do this, assign a person in your building to spot clean the prime contact areas with a Green product.

Be sure to use a microfiber cleaning cloth that is able to clean surfaces batter than any other cloth.  Also, make sure that employees are told to stay home if they are sick.  In this age of computer mobility, it seems reasonable that an employee can do some needful work right from home.  Everyone has a cell phone and an Internet connection.  If you have done the right thing and installed the paperless system in your business operation, the work at home idea is feasible and practical.

Inoculations and vaccines are helpful to break the cycle of disease as well.  Most every virus spreads from person to person.  Bacterial infections can spread by indirect contact.  Therefore, if a segment of the society is immunized from the pending virus, it forms a kind of firebreak to the encroachment of the target disease.  So, N1H1 is not an uncommon threat.  36,000 people die from the flu every year according to the CDC.  H1N1 presents an aggressive and fast-moving disease that could be a literal pandemic.  So, let’s get back to the basics and realize that the first line of defense is good sanitation processes.

It may seem like a old idea, but it is still a good idea.  Innovation is a hundred times better than governmental solutions.  Proof of this has recently come across my desk as I reviewed the latest wind turbine ideas.  A Massachusetts company called FlowDesign has recreated the problematic large-bladed wind turbine concept.  This is proof of the fundamental idea that private industry needs encouragement rather than more regulation.

We might note that even the renown T Boone Pickens has all but abandon the great wind turbine project that he so heartily championed a year ago.  The good idea relied on the belief that these huge windmills would produce large amounts of “free energy.”  The cost of installation and the ongoing operational costs  made this project unfeasible.  The late-arriving realization is that they huge windmills are costly, unsightly, and not very efficient.

I had long said that the windmill solution is the problem child of the alternative energy sector because it has so many downsides.  Windmills can be noisy, visually unattractive, liability threats, and costly to install.  Also, they do not work in light wind and cannot operate in high winds.  This leaves a smaller window for energy production.  Lastly, we must consider the actual energy conversion.  Wind power, as much as we like the idea, is not as simple a solution as it sounds.

FlowDesign has adapted the traditional windmill to something that resembles jet engine technology.  The unit is smaller, allows wider wind speed margins, and is more efficient in energy production.  You have to ask, why we spent so many million (or billions) on a solution that seems like a flashback to the Dutch windmill era?

The same question can be applied to the GFL bulb that has minute amounts of mercury in the bulb.  We know that the disposal of millions of these bulbs creates yet another ecological hazard.   The better solution seems to be the LED lights that are nearly large scale application.  Organic LED adds greater reason to put this on the fast track for broad application.

Finally, I have to ask why are we still chasing ethanol from corn?  The logic is quickly lost as we realize that it takes food out the of the system to generate fuel for our cars.  The obvious genius of hydrogen power calls for a Manhattan-like project to make hydrogen cheap to produce.  Thinking of fuel from water is simply too good to bypass.

As we face en energy crisis in the foreseeable future, the government’s penchant for throwing money at pet projects, pork barrel dead ends, and faulty ideas should stop.  I advocate that the smart money should go to create tax incentives and funding for smart technology that will break the back of the the ugly issues threatening our livelihood on many levels.  The current administration has already eclipsed the spending mania of past presidents.  Congress has passed budgetary bills that had made our national debt a nightmare, and the public voice seems lost on those we voted into power.  This frustration should lead to a mid-term election change where Americans will speaks their mind.

What is needed is not more regulation, taxation, and misguided solutions; but the smart kind of solutions that will take our country to the leaders of the Green technology and innovation.  With the loss of manufacturing jobs and the large unemployment rate now hurting our economy, it is time to take a strong leadership position with great ideas that will make our country better, not poorer.  I sincerely hope that we see more innovation like the ideas coming from FloDesign.

Any company looking to radically improve their Green IQ should work toward their Green business certification by contacting the Green Business League.  If any firm wishes to send their in-house staff to Green Officer Training, consider an upcoming three day training event.  In other words, let’s take on the challenge as smart business and do not wait for legislation to make a needful task into a loathsome and expensive burden.

Presently, there is no universal standard for what makes a Green business.  In fact, there is a growing cacophony of niche groups trying to install their own version of a Green business certification regardless of the obvious misrepresentation.  City sponsored Green committees are now promoting Green programs that seem like good ideas but lack the scale for this challenge.  The Internet is filling up with Green business certification websites.  Corporations are launching Green programs that are patched together by ad hoc committees.  And, we hear of Green programs promoted by TV, radio, and a variety of commercial Green initiatives.

There are plenty of Green business seminars, a bevy of Green business books, and tons of articles filling our newspapers and magazines.  Yet, what is missing?   There is a need for a national, cohesive and comprehensive Green business model that will literally transcend all the rabble of good Green ideas.  Green business, in case you might have missed the difference, is not the same as building a Green building or buying someone’s Green product.  A Green business is how any business operates, and whether the business owns the building is not critical.

What are the ten best ideas for a Green business?  This will not be your average regurgitation of all-too-familiar Green ideas.  Rather, I feel that it is important to look beyond the superficial elements and talks about what should really matter, as any business hopes to install a Green program in its operation.

First, the Green business program must be holistic.  The present venue of Green programs are unfortunates niched into segments that are worthy but not a complete program.  Even sustainability programs lack the full view, since sustainability is primarily about how we manage our resources.  Other areas of health, pollution, and conservation are outside of a pure sustainable model.

Second, the Green business program must be nationally advanced.  Frankly, as meritorious as local programs are, the diversity of Green applications cannot work well in a national market.  The importance of a broad-based program that carries the same standard nationally is the only way to build a Green business certification that holds up when questioned.

Third, the Green Business program must have an achievement scale.  The Green Business League has a 100 point system for achievement.  While points can be acquired in a variety of ways, there is an infinite combination of Green Practices that allow any kind of business to participate in the program.

Fourth, the Green Business certification must be audited.  Without some validation of the Green Practices, the system is wide open to all kinds of abuse and misrepresentation.  Website certifications are notorious for selling their certifications without any true audit of performance.

Fifth, the Green business should be strenuous.  We find that Greenwashing is a near universal practice in the market right now, and standards must be more than superficial or even artificial.

Sixth, Green business certification must be progressive.  No one should think that a one-time fix is a forever solution.  It is not enough make an effort today and forget about the challenge for the other 364 days in the year.  Worse yet, there are businesses that ignore the fact that this is a subject that must be visited no less than once a year.

Seventh, installing a Green business program should not be an amateur effort.   The sheer size and scope of a true Green project is larger than a volunteer or single employee can master.  One of the realizations is that the planning for a Green business requires training like that found in the GBL Green Officer Training.

Eighth, Going Green need not be a negative investment.  Good planning for nearly any company has numerous benefits beyond the public relations or marketing value.  The Return on Investment can make Greening a business more profitable because the company is more efficient and has less waste.

Ninth, avoid the Easy Green programs that promise a Green certification that is too easy.  This invites abuse, which means that your company will be linked to companies that have little to no Green value.  This is a serious issue that deserves a serious response that is not found in the Easy Green programs.

Tenth, a Green business should make it a priority to buy goods and services from other Green businesses.  When asking your consumers to buy Green, there is an ethical obligation to bring similar requirements to the purchasing department.

These ten principles provide the starting point for the kind of Green Certification that should be sought for your company.  The real work lies in the adoption of Green Practices.  In the Green Business League system, every installed Green Practice has a point value.  Once validated via an audit by a Certified Green Consultant, the integrity of the process can be respected and honorably promoted to the public.  Anything less hurts the environmental cause, in that token efforts can be misrepresented as a serious Green effort.

Since the beginning, we have understood that there is a great deal of leeway given to those who tout their products or services.  This has likely been around from the earliest times when merchants came to town to sell their wares.  And, the public is not ignorant about the hype process that precedes the sale of nearly everything.  We are not pleased with the snake oil salesman, but frankly we like to be charmed by what he has to say.  Recently, a show called “Pitchmen” relates how people get an idea to market where we learn that how you present is frankly more important than the product itself.

Greenwashing at its best is hype or overexaggeration of the benefits of the product.  At its worse, greenwashing is a premeditated and intentional desire to mislead people knowing that the product or service is not as represented.   Wikipedia defines Greenwashing as “Greenwash (a portmanteau of green and whitewash) is a term used to describe the practice of companies disingenuously spinning their products and policies as environmentally friendly, such as by presenting cost cuts as reductions in use of resources.”  This might pass as a form of “Business as Usual” in the advertising marketplace except that the underlying issue of health impact and environmental concerns make this misrepresentation worse than innocent deception.

How is Green washing done?  Let me offer 10 ways a product or service is Greenwashed:

1- Green Misdirection:  Ignore the real issue and divert attention to the “other things” that are better.  For example, Fiji bottled water operates out of a LEED silver certified building, though they transport the water more than 4000 to the US, put it in plastic bottles, and ship it again throughout the country.

2- Green by Proxy:  Do what Clorox did, since bleach is not a Green product, they bought out Greenworks and now they hail their Green contribution.  Green by Proxy is buying someone else’s Green solution without really changing the way you operate.

3- The Green Dumb Down:  Why not produce the every same product that has been diluted or slightly altered and slap a Green label on it?   Dilution of harmful ingredients does not make a product Green.

4- Charitably Green:  Tout the fact that a few pennies from every purchase (of an otherwise non-Green product) will be given to a Green charity.

5- Token Green:  This process is defined as doing the minimum that can be done to make something Green.  So, a hotel can put in CFL bulbs and declare that they are Green although there is so much more than could and should be done.

6- Green by Discovery:  No change is required with this method.  The company discovers that there is already something Green about their product or service.  There is no Green commitment except for the realization that they tripped over an idea already in existence.

7- Green Pretenders:  There are more than a few products that blatantly misrepresent the products, poorly label, or confuse the buyers to produce sales even though the product is not Green by any reasonable standard.

8- Radically Green:  Some Green products are sold just for the environmental wackos (sorry, but its true).  The overhype is not on the product, but on the necessity to buy the product.

9- Mean Green:  Hate runs two ways.  Villianizing the opposition is kind of like the Mac vs PC commercials where the purpose is to denigrate the competition to make your product seem better.

10- Meaningless Green:  Some Green claims are not relevant to the subject.  So, does it matter that the package says, “No Heavy Metals,” “CFC-free,” or “No Bleach Added”?  These ingredients are either already banded or may mask other ingredient still in the product.

When a project called TerraChoice did a survey of 1018 products making 1753 environmental claims, they found that only one product made truthful claims.  The rest fudged, lied, and deceived the public with one or more of their environmental claims.

By the way, consumers should know (but generally don’t) that EPA registration does not mean a product is safe.  Terms like “Green,” Eco-Friendly” and “Earth Friendly” are not regulated terms.  Many companies actually make up their Green certification through a foundation that they privately fund.  And, everyone should know that labels may not contian fully disclosure of all the ingredients in the product.  There is simply a lot of room to fuel the Greenwashing mania.

This all leads to a difficult question, “Who can you believe?”  The ability to contact your local Certified Green Consultant is probably a smart choice for several reasons.  First of all, they can help guide your company through the maze of choices that are in front of us each day.  Secondly, they are part of a product-independent program under the Green Business League.  The pitfall of Going Green is not doing it right.  It is all to easy to follow a mistaken Green path that will come back to harm your reputation later on.  So, if you are going to Go Green, be sure to follow an “Authentic Green” path that will show that your business, product, or service is the real deal.

Here’s an interesting thought about Going Green as a business.  I believe that the upcoming period that I have termed “The Green Equalization” will drive a new generation of “Authentically Green.”   There will be a maturing of the Green expectations of consumers and vital services that will reject the superficial approach to Green that many companies now have.  This generation will want more of a Due Diligence to support the Green claims of a firm rather than willingly accepting the marketing claims of a product or service.

This “Authentic Green” is not easily obtained, however.  Most of the environmental emphasis has been on the marketing side of nearly every business while paying little of any attention to the purchasing side of the operation.   This dichotomy of commitment will eventually become a glaring SNAFU.  This is where the Green Supply Chain issue enters into the picture.  More and more conferences and industry articles are making a point of the fact that if a business wants to “Sell Green,” it should also commit to “Buying Green” as well.

Ethically, businesses need to practice what they preach (or market).  The obvious lack of Green Ethics is seen in a very overt fashion when the businesses ask people to buy their Green product or service, when they do not do the same in their own operation.  This brings us to the concept of “Green Practices” heralded by the Green Business League as the solution for all businesses to embrace.  In simple terms, the Green emphasis in your marketing department needs to be seen in the other practices of your business’ operation, and that includes your purchasing department or protocols.

Going Green is not just a way to sell your goods or services, it is a commitment to a collective crisis faced by mankind everywhere.  While we need not be anti-business to be serious about the environment, there is often a gaping hole in what we are bring to this table in this matter.  Even the EPA has come out with its “Environmentally Preferred Purchasing” guidelines which mirrors a good part of the Green Supply Chain idea.  It seem obvious where all this is going which is a maturity to environmentally-committed firms to “Walk the walk as well as Talk the talk.”

Installing Green practices in any size business is not just about the building.  It is primarily about the operation, programming, or daily practices.   It does not matter if you own, rent, or lease.  Any business that sees the future needs to start into a thorough process of Greening the business from front to back.  Frankly, this is more work than most people think because it takes more involvement than changing out your lighting with CFL bulb.   This requires the assistance of a Certified Green Consultant who is someone who not only know hows to take a business Green, but can credit the business with the assigned points for each Green practice adopted.  At 100 points, the business will earn its Green Business Certification which is something to that be legitimately promoted.  A Certified Green Consultant is an outsourced advisor who can work with your company to develop a program that is “Authentically Green” because there are real Green practices in place and certification by an independent source.

A Certified Green Consultant will also assist in the Green Supply Chain process by Greening up the purchasing processes.  Why struggle with something that can be done so much better by the experts?  By the way, these Green Consultant’s work with a “Zero Cost Consulting” model that will easily recover more than the cost of their service.  This is because there are great efficiencies to Going Green now that were not available before.  There seems no reason that any business cannot honestly Go Green now, and the process can be a big cost savings as well as a reputable marketing credential.

In terms of certifications, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is well-recognized and a good idea that applies to new construction and existing building renovation.  Therefore, it is fair to say that their primary market is building owners.  Roughly speaking, the LEED certification will add about 30% to the real cost of construction or renovation.   This is counterbalanced by the extrapolation of the projected savings of these improvements over a period of 10 to 20 years.

In the belief that the building dramatically figures into both the Green health impact and the sustainable equation of resource management, it is a good idea to have buildings that are constructed by better materials and that require less energy to operate.

Depending on the number of points achieved, the building can attain Platinum (52 - 69 points), Gold (39 - 51 points), Silver (33 - 38 points) or LEED certified (26 - 32 points) status.  Of course, the compliance required to get the higher levels of certification add to the cost of LEED certification.  In hard economic times when banks are much more tight-fisted, the extra burden of the LEED certification is an idea facing hard times.  More than a few LEED projects have fallen out due to money restraints.

Green Business League offers the “Green Business Certification” that is not tied to the building, and there is good reason for this.  The vast majority of businesses in America (and elsewhere) do not own the building that they are in.   They rent or lease the facility which is often a portion of the building.   Some businesses actually operate out the owner’s home or property, which is a very Green idea.   Not being building owners, they are not allowed to participate in the environmental solution offer by LEED.

The Green Business League considers the “Green Practices” or operation of the building as the primary criteria for Green business certification.   It helps to have a Green building, but Green practices is viewed as a call for universal participation in the environmental process that is desperately needed.  You see, living in a garage does not make you a car.   Standing in a forest does not make you a tree.   Neither does working in a LEED building make your company Green.   Environmentalism is everyone’s duty, and the operation of the  business is a further commitment to the environment.   Whether you business is in a Green building or not, the ability to have a Green operation that has adopted “Green Practices” brings a new and valuable solution to all levels of business regardless of size or real estate assets.

There is a need for everyone to do their Fair Share in the face of an environmental crisis.   It is not the singular responsibility of manufacturer or building owners.   This problem will not be solved by the few, but the many who see that modification of our lifestyle is the preferable solution to the loss of our lifestyle.   Using a simple-to-accomplish system of 100 points and the assistance of trained Certified Green Consultants, the Green Business League is building a national and international network of Green Businesses that will also provide a marketplace where Green Businesses will be encouraged to support other Green businesses.   It is an idea that has come of age and needs to be part of the fabric of a new and Greener generation.

The environmental movement is still young, and there are a deviant rush to find an easy way to “Go Green.”  I believe that reality will eventually arrive on the scene and the Green pretenders and greenwashers will be scrutinized in a way that will not allow them to survive the serious light of day in a new and Green economy.