Green Business Awareness

Does it seem that we are suffering from Green overload as more and more environmental balls are being tossed our way?   Going Green can feel like a game of Green bombardment with ideas that are tossed your way from dozens of angles.  The feeling is not rare since there are hundreds of big and thousands of smaller Green ideas that really deserve our attention.  In the face of an emerging and complicated subject, it helps to have some straight-forward advice.  As someone heavily engaged in the overwhelming duties of your work and life, most of us are not ready for yet another wave of responsibility and pressing deadlines

Knowing where to start allows us to get into the game and gradually make progress.  While environmentalism is a substantial subject, knowing where to start and how to make basic progress is immensely helpful.   So, let’s start with a definition about the meaning of Green.   As a little research will show, the best definition of Green is “Health Impact.”  No matter what else we do to make the world better, it seems like a false start to neglect the health issues of those that are within the reach of our influence.

If Green is primarily about health, then what part seems universal to all of us?  No one controls what you eat, what you drink, or how often you exercise; but can we not control what we breathe?   This universal connection does provide a common area for universal participation.  Even the EPA has stated that Americans spend 90% of their time indoors, and the indoor air is 500-600% worse than the outside air.  That is why I propose that the obvious starting point for Going Green is the indoor air quality.

While many will think that Greening their business requires a major overhaul of the building, the fact is that Going Green may require a series of improved Green practices and changes in everyday options.  Cleaning products often emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs).  Furniture made from plywood or particleboard may give off formaldehyde gas.  The addition of live green plants will remove some bad elements from the air while adding much needed oxygen that will improve employee productivity.  These are examples of low cost ways to improve any facility that will help improve the company’s environmental program.

Sustainable issues create yet another level of issues that are not primarily health related, but deals with how a company manages its use of resources or adds to the waste disposal system.  However, this is the next level of environmentalism rather than the entry point for a Green business program.

The EPA also points out that businesses in America are losing $60 billion a year in lost productivity due to bad indoor air quality.  These are invisible and passive costs that should be considered for any company.  You will not find them on the ledger of accounts or in the annual report.  They are as much a part of the cost of operation as the aging of the equipment.   Therefore, making Green improvements will always improve company operation and will also show up as a more profitable company at year’s end.

Like other complex subjects, taking a company Green is not an amatuer-level commitment.  The task requires a trained and professional approach that comes only from a Certified Green Consultant.  Not only do these Green consultants know what Green is and how it is done, they also are capable of an independent assessment and certification of any kind of business.  Certified Green Consultants work with the Green Business League to provide the best Green business certification in the country.

Was it really a shock when you heard that cities in Spain, like Barcelona, not only had some of the worst air in the world, but also contained at least five drugs.  n The Superior Council of Scientific Investigations, a government institute, said on its website that in addition to cocaine, it found trace amounts of amphetamines, opiates, cannabinoids and lysergic acid -a relative of LSD - in air-quality control stations in various Spanish cities.

There was no real threat from the minute amount of these drugs in the air, but this example does show the real concern for the amazing amalgam of ingredients found in the air.  We all share the air, and we breath in more air than food that we eat or water that we drink.  The air, with all that is in it, goes into our lungs where we absorb more than oxygen.  We are also ingesting a share of everything in the air.   Finally, we know that what you breathe can make you sick or open the door to various chronic illnesses.

The EPA has said that indoor air quality is 5 to 6 times worse than outside air, and we are now learning that indoor air quality is linked to a wide variety to diseases.   It seems that we are able to resist disease for the majority of our life because of our normal well-being and immune system.  Disease is always at our collective doorstep, but stays there only as long as we are able to resist it.

Disease is “Opportunistic” meaning that it waits for the time when our immune system leaves open the door for it to come in.  It is not just a matter of being exposed to germs or bacteria.  It is the point in your life when you are a good target for the diseases that have been floating around for years.  So, in many ways, disease is not just bad luck.  It is also connect to how beat up your immune system is over time.  Indoor air quality is a big, big part of disease immunity leading to such more serious issues as Sick Building Syndrome and Building Related Illness.

Get you Green Business Certification and IAQ review from a Certified Green Consultant.   This is part of the Green business certification through the Green Business League program.   They set a standard an area that badly needs a serious approach to the subject.  The current diversion from real commitment is found in websites offering a signed pledge and a payment of several hundred dollars.  This is a fool’s errand.  The Green Business League uses a field force of Certified Green Consultants and a 100 point system of Green Practices applicable to any kind of business.

Believing that the best and most fundamental of the concept of Green is the health impact in areas that we have influence, the next basic question is “Where do we start our journey to Green?”  This, I believe, starts with the areas most proximate to each of us and spreads out as far as we might have the capacity to influence.  There will inevitably be things that I cannot change, but other person of similar passion could accomplish if they see their duty as well.

Is is obvious that our health, other than was is God-given, is supported by three basic elements.  These are the food that we eat, the water that we drink and the air that we breathe.   While these subject do not represent all that is Green, it does give us a starting point.  What is common to all of us and therefore within our grasp to change is the air that we breathe.  Food and water are more a private concern, but we all share the air, for good or bad.

The Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is the obviously that a cause common to us all and has more influence in our lives than we might imagine.  The unfortunate souls of Love Canal years ago found that the polluted ground, water, and air took a horrible toll in death, birth defects, and untimely deaths.  This ugly piece or our recent history bears record of what we can do to ourselves by neglect and ignorance.  These stories are repeated many times over in America and around the world.  The problem was told in stark reality in the story of Erin Brockovich.  There is nothing more fundamental to us that our health, and this eventually extends from our centerpoint to reach everyone else in the world.

Every Certified Green Consultant is taught the true meaning of Green, where it it starts, and how it is accomplished.  In a world presently driven by necessity to embrace an environmentally friendly lifestyle, knowing the clear answers to these complex issues is incredibly important.  Knowing the definition, starting point, process, and milestones of Going Green offers clarity and a path to an issue that threats our world and our way of life.

It is time to be the ambassadors of environmentalism rather than the spectators to the event.  Governments are not the more efficient or effective way to solve a problem that have come to us as a haunting ghost of our past abuses.  As seen in the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, the abuses and negligences of our past do come back to visit us with condemnation, even as our virtues come back bless us time and again.

While there is more to do to satisfy the environmental issues that need redress in our homes and our businesses, we must find a starting point or else suffer from confusion and misdirection in our efforts.  Time will bring the issue of Indoor Air Quality back to us in the ghosts of employee illness, productivity lost, and increasing environmental lawsuits that will destroy more than a few unlucky businesses.

The good news is that Going Green will not only preserve our health and help the world as a whole, the efficiencies that are now part of the process will save a company thousands upon thousands of dollars.  The Green Business League offers the smart path to Green business certification, and the assistance of a Certified Green Consultant is an invaluable resource.  They know the true meaning of Green, where it starts, how it is accomplished, and when certification is accomplished.