Green Business Awareness

Sustainability Officer

One of the interesting concerns of the latest executive order (EO13514) is the call for improvement of the “fleet” in the overall sustainability plan for government agencies.  I strongly feel that this order is a basic template for what is going to be a growing mandate for all businesses.  I would compare this notice to the proverbial “Handwriting on the Wall” that warns each and every business of what is certainly about to fall on businesses everywhere.

What I find also interesting in the approximate 10 point outline of sustainable issues in this order, is the lack of suggestions to take a fleet into a more sustainable operation.  However, I have seen and heard a great number of ideas tossed about.  So, let me list for you the most likely items that will be included under the topic of a Green fleet program:

1. Maintenance and Tune Ups:  The administration continues to believe that well-tuned vehicles and properly inflated tires will cut billions of gallons of fuel from the general consumption.  Not many experts agree with the over-expectations of this tactic, but they do concede some savings will be realized.
2. GPS and Tracking Systems: The UPS and Fedex models have been an amazing lesson in efficiency and innovation.  The ability to better plan routes, consolidate deliveries, and localize vehicles for maximum affect is something that GPS, the Internet, and computerized services now offer.
3. Light and Smaller Trucks:  Efficiency is the basic rule here.  Therefore, the replacement vehicles need to be scaled to the demand.  This calls for flexibility and better strategies for vehicle use.
4. Washing Options:  Car washes are an example of heavy water use.  Newer facilities are recovering and recycling wash water, and using better techniques for washing vehicles with minimum water use.
5. Company cars:  The review of company car use is probably going to eventually fall under scrutiny as well.  It has tax implications as well as a lack of oversight.
6. Logistics and Carriers:  Trucking materials from coast to coast may be a poor investment.  Common carriers can consolidate shipping orders and move them to strategically located warehouses that fulfill orders.  Long distance hauling might be better handled by these logistic programs that minimize transportation and handling costs.
7. Alternative Fuels:  Ethanol and bio-diesel will be a positive option for Greener fleets.  We are left to speculate at battery and hydrogen powered vehicles that will hopefully make it to market.

As I have said many times before, sustainable businesses are often taking a piecemeal or patchwork approach to Going Green.  The need for a comprehensive approach to the Green or Sustainable business requires a more comprehensive plan.  It appears that the administration agrees with me, because one of the 10 points of this executive order was the requirement to install a Certified Sustainability Officer (CSO) or Green Officer (CGO) who is charged with producing a plan and submitting that plan to the Department of Energy (DOE) and Council of Environmental Quality (CEQ).  I take from this that every business will need a Sustainability or Green Officer and they will be required to have a Sustainability plan that will be annually scrutinized.

In light of the glaring realities that will eventually shine on all corporations and businesses, I suggest that now is the right time to get started with training and installing a Sustainability or Green Officer for your company.  Sustainability officer training can be best obtained at www.SustainabilityOfficerTraining.com.  If you wish to outsource this duty, we suggest the affordable services of a Certified Green Consultant working with the Green Business League.

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.

There is one trend that seems to have enduring value. The environment is not an easily resolved concern, and climate change is an emerging issue that has long term implications.   Yet, there are those who seem to have hesitation about the true impact of these issues on their business.  Rather than embracing this as an opportunity, the default position is to go toward a “Token Green” or “Easy Green” status.  The lesson yet to be learned is that Going Green as a business shows leadership, integrity, and public concern. These are aspects of public perspective that can be faked, but not for long.

Token Green refers to the rather universal tactic of doing only the minimum required to thereafter dub themselves a Green business.  Such timid efforts to represent a Green business on the most superficial efforts will eventually fall prey to the same embarrassment as the “Emperor’s New Clothes.”  It is adverse marketing to make claims as a Green business when the commitment level is about the same effort as planning the last company picnic. We are all familiar with the saged remark, “If its worth doing, its worth doing right!”  This is definitely true of the environmental issues of our day.  No business should claim to be a Green business using token Green tactics.  The need for an authentic Green business certification is the smart choice to curb abuse and misrepresentation by any good business.

Easy Green comes from the new and novel offerings that allow a business to gain a Green business logo from an amateur operation.  As a child, who hasn’t bought a plastic badge and pretended to be the sheriff?   What child hasn’t put on the shoes and clothes of their parents pretending to be “all grown up.”   Who of us hasn’t bought a watch or piece of jewelry thinking that these items have improved the opinion of others about who we are?  Buying your way into a program is not the same as earning your way to pubic respect.   Therefore, it seems basic intelligence to avoid the Easy Green programs and elect for something that has obvious merit.

The obvious choice for any business is to work toward an “Authentically Green Business.”  This authentic status means that Green is not superficial nor a one-time effort.  Such authenticity starts with the understanding that Green is progressive.  A serious program does not happen once or in sporadic efforts. It is a kind of behavior modification effort that pervades the total business operation.  The effort is not a token or an easy buy in.  The value is found in the willingness to demonstrate a whole-hearted commitment to become an authentically Green business.

The marketing aspect of an authentically Green business is obvious.  The Green business certification can be validated by audits, national standards, and an ongoing program of operational improvement.  The one program that offers this level of Green business certification that reflects a full scale commitment comes from the Green Business League.  This program provides professional guidance and nationally recognized through more than 250 Certified Green Consultants.   Using a 100 point systems that is accomplished by the adoption of a variety of Green Practices to literally earn a Green business certification that is audited and honest.  That is something worthy of marketing and promoting to the consuming public.

Marketing, as we have been told, comes from an understanding of branding.  Building your company’s public reputation on Token Green or Easy Green efforts is an incredible mistake.  Knowing that there is a way to implement a Green program that can be validated and certified is the starting point for the Green marketing that will follow.  Once the foundation of the marketing plan is in place, a public relations campaign has the legs needed to gain public support and loyalty.

The present environmental issues are haunted by several preconceived beliefs that unfortunately hinder the wide-spread acceptance of a more evolved process now in market today.  These prevailing concerns are that Going Green is both inconvenient and a larger bite into available dollars.  These threats are often pushed aside because of the greater challenge of saving the world from environmental disaster and the anticipated calculation of savings realized over the next fifteen to twenty years.  These reasons were enough of a rationale for the environmentally-concerned, but it did not convince the rest of America to change their lifestyles.

Let’s consider another prevalent issue, which is the natural penchant we all have for convenience.  The last few generations have passed through an extended period of throw-away possessions and single use everything.  Convenience has become as integral part of our lifestyle as red meat.  We have left behind a period of time when we casually adopted the concept of “planned obsolescence.” Conservation, recycling, or stewardship were not common words.  We were literally “Consumers,” and everyone liked it just that way.

Here’s the ugly, present truth!  Our lives are no longer about convenience, but now require that we do what is the right thing to do in a world predicted to expand to a population of nine billion people.  Our habits are no longer about convenience in a world that now calculates “what is left” of our worldwide resources.  And, our future is not longer about convenience, as we find that our trash and polluted waste threatens to return to us in very unfriendly ways.  Life, in all its many variations, is now about stewardship and doing the right thing.

People and business everywhere are now facing a lifestyle renovation that will either be voluntary, or be mandated by regulations if we cannot change on our own.  Change is now a great deal more than a political slogan.  It is where we are in this point of world history, and those who cannot change will eventually bemoan the fact that government will happily and awkwardly enforce.

My report, however has some very good news.  Change may be the new rule as this generation willingly adopts the new patterns of a more environmental lifestyle, but costs are no longer a real barrier to anyone.  We are now learning that Going Green actually brings new efficiencies that will increase the bottom line of a home or business.  The return on investment need not be a 15-20 year calculation, but can be a 1-2 year reward.  For example, a 25% savings on electric can be a big help to almost any budget, and that is easy to accomplish with proper guidance.  Green businesses need not change much of what they do in life; but if they take this change seriously, it is possible to realize a 30-40% energy savings.  The fact is that Going Green can save money in your office supplies, manpower costs, water, and heating bills to name a few ideas.  A professional Green renovation can save not merely hundreds of dollars, but thousands of dollars each and every year.

We have all heard the recent predictions of our energy future.  We are regrettably being told to expect 100%, 200%, and even 300% increases in the cost of energy. This fact will magnify the savings of what is done to improve our consumption today.  So, the best question is, “What is holding us back?”  It is most likely our mistaken beliefs that becoming a Green business is a sacrifice that we must make without a solid reason for making the sacrifices needful at this time.  But, this type of thinking is a throwback to an era when Green was relatively new and immature.

A Certified Green Consultant has been trained to do more than guide a business in the adoption of Green practices and the certification of Green businesses.  They also know how to create strong savings and beef up the profits of a Green motivated company.  These savings are magnified many times over as years pass and prices go up.  This is a basic theme with the Green Business League compared to other “Greening” program using website promotions, self-assessment, and simple “Buy-In” memberships.  Going Green is no longer the venue of amateurs because doing it badly is both costly and inconvenient.  An authentically Green business is the kind of program that pays the best dividends to those install Green practices the right way.

Sustainable Business.  Admittedly, one of my big issues in this industry is the misuse and lack of definition of the terms that we use.  The word sustainable is a little better understood, but nonetheless badly used words in the grand dictionary of environmental terms.  To start the process, it may be best to provide a terse definition for sustainability, and that is “Resource Management.”

The most popular definition of sustainability can be traced to a 1987 UN conference. It defined sustainable developments as those that “meet present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs“(WECD, 1987).  Robert Gillman, editor of the In Context magazine, extends this goal oriented definition by stating “sustainability refers to a very old and simple concept (The Golden Rule)…do onto future generations as you would have them do onto you.”

This parallels the Great Law of the Iroquois Indians that stated, “In every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the seventh generation… even if it requires having skin as thick as the bark of a pine.”   This belief parallels the concept of sustainability in a generation that had more than enough natural resources at their disposal.   It should never be about how much we have to spend, but how well we spend it.  The concept of stewardship infers that we really don’t own things but are temporary caretakers of whatever we presently control.

The sustainable business is frankly an important aspect of the overall picture since industry, business, or commerce uses a lot of resources with enough capital to be waste.  A sense of expediency prevails in this community that creates a a “Whatever it takes” mentality.  This needs to change, and it is changing albeit far too slow for the environmental crisis that we face.  Therefore, the sustainable business model means a more responsible company that does not allow expedience to rule when given the choice between waste and conservation of our resources.

We know that the recycling mantra is, “Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle;” but the depth of application goes well beyond the trash container behind the building.  It happens at every level of the business process.  It involves energy, water, and waste management.  It is a call to step into the modern era of business opportunity with a truly “Paperless Office.”  It considers more than the marketing department boasting of Green merits, and promotes the Green purchasing processes of the company.

Does it come as a surprise that a “Sustainable Company” may not be a “Green Company?”  Going Green is primarily about the “Health Impact” of the business, which starts with the Indoor Air Quality and considers the numerous issues that impact the indoor air and all that we do to essentially poison it.

Eventually, it becomes obvious that when we understand the depth and extend of the environmental issues, our present skill set, knowledge base, and limited activities are not enough to properly solve the problem.  It is at this point that the astute business will seek out a Certified Green Consultant who can act as an outsourced Green Adviser to any company.  If properly trained, the Certified Green Consultant will add another fantastic value to the company he or she serves.  Going Green will literally save a growing business thousands upon thousands of dollars in ways most can’t imagine.  Going Green is more than a health issue, even as being sustainable is more than preservation of resources.  To the smart company, it is a huge money savings that pays sizable dividends year after year.

In a growing marketplace of web-based Green certifications that require only a fee of several hundred dollars and a promise to Go Green, the Green Business League offers a Green Business certification that is “Earned, and not Bought.”   Do not be lured by shallow and hollow certification options.  Only the Green Business League offers a program represents a honest program of Green Business certification.