Its a Jungle Out There Greening Your Business, Greening Our World

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Its a Jungle Out ThereGreening Your Business,
Greening Our World
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What is sustainability?

• Sustainable Development is development that
  meets the needs of the present without
  compromising the ability of future generations to
  meet their own needs.
• - United Nations 1987

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Equitable Society
Economic Growth
Environmental Protection
Triple Bottom Line - - - - - - People, Planet,
Profit
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Oklahomas Economy, Ecology Equity

• www.OKSustainability.org

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www.SustainableGreenCountry.org
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What is sustainability?
Conservation
Vibrant Cities
Energy Efficiency
Healthy Rural Communities
Economic Parity
Clean Air, Water Land
Local Food
Environmental Education
Smart Growth
Renewable Energy
Strong Local Economies
Recycling
holistic healthcare
Public Transportation
Food Security
Social Justice
Healthy Buildings
Fair Trade
Walkable Communities
Carbon Sequestration
Biological Diversity
Sustainable Agriculture
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Greening Your BusinessGreening Our World
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Why Me?
With every living system on the earth in decline,
can we create profitable, expandable companies
that do not destroy, directly or indirectly, the
world around them? The answerstarts with one
simple but radical notion Business is not just a
reasonable agent for such change it is the only
mechanism powerful enough to reverse global
environmental and social degradation. --Dr.
Thomas Lovejoy, Smithsonian Institution Reviewing
The Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawken
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Why Now?

• Water shortages drought
• Worldwide food shortages topsoil depletion
• Climate change natural disasters
• Peak oil rising fuel prices
• Pollution environmental degradation
• Auto-immune diseases on the rise
• Rapid extinction of species
• Deforestation acid rain
• Mountaintop removal glacial melting

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Why Not?

• Conserve resources save
• Improved employee / client health
• Greater productivity less time off work
• Increased employee satisfaction--attract keep
  good employees
• Responsible to the community where you live
• Increased customer sales improved image
• Healthy planet, healthy children, healthy
  grandchildren

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Where to begin?
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Begin at the Beginning

• Management buy in highly desirable
• Form a Green Team of motivated employees
• Develop an environmental policy
• Write an action plan
• Kick-off the campaign
• Communicate your goals
• Set up monitoring systems
• Evaluate report your progress
• Identify barriers
• Revise your plan

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Green Checklist

• Waste Management
• Energy Use
• Air Quality
• Water Conservation
• Transportation
• Food Beverage

• Office Supplies Equipment
• Merchandise Manufacturing
• Green Building
• Community Connection
• Green Business Culture

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Waste Management

• Rethink, Reduce, Re-use, Recycle
• Waste Food - No pollution!!
• Cradle-to-Cradle
• Waste Audit (Midland Recycling
  midlandrecycling.net)
• Recycle EVERYTHING make it easy
• Offer recycling for employees / staff, too
• Reduce paper use strive for paper-free office
• Compost food waste
• Use washables, not throw-aways
• Cotton towels napkins, not paper towels
• Refillable ink cartridges
• Schools tour a waste facility recycler

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Energy Phase I(Low-hanging fruit)

• Switch now to compact fluorescents LEDs
• Activate sleep mode on computers
• Turn off computers monitors at night
• Eliminate phantom loads
• Motion sensors for lights
• Timers for appliances
• Use power at night / off-peak
• Programmable thermostat
• Set thermostat higher in summer lower in winter
• Purchase renewable energy from your utility

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Energy Phase II

• Complete an Energy Audit
• Guaranteed Watt Saver www.gwssi.com
• Insulate, caulk seal
• Energy Star appliances electronics
• Geothermal /or high SEER rating for A/C
• Passive solar principles
• Energy-efficient windows
• Maximize daylighting
• Daylight sensors for lights
• Solar thermal hot water
• Photovoltaics

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Air Quality

• Off-gassing of VOCs Volatile Organic Compounds
• Carpet underlay, adhesives, paint other
  finishes, wallcovering, ceiling tile, copiers,
  printers, art supplies, fiberglass insulation,
  wood furniture, cabinetry, cleaners, air
  fresheners, upholstery, particle board, MDF, OSB,
  plywood
• Moisture mold
• Dust mats
• Houseplants as filters
• Ventilation (dilution)
• Green cleaning products services
• Go organic (lawn care, pesticides, cleaners
  other chemicals)

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Water Conservation

• Faucet aerators
• Low-flow or dual-flush toilets waterless
  urinals
• Dishwasher, but only when full
• Dont irrigate or irrigate only when necessary
• Consider a graywater system
• Rethink lawns
• native plants xeriscape instead
• Pervious paving rain gardens
• Rainwater catchment

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Transportation

• Encourage bicycling walking
• Reward public transportation
• green-traveler.org
• Purchase carbon offsets
• nativeenergy.com
• Set up carpool / rideshare
• Allow or encourage telecommuting flex-time
• Teleconference instead of travel
• Limit air travel
• Fleet vehicles as small as possible
• Fleet fuel natural gas, propane or biofuels

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Food Beverage

• Buy Fresh Buy Local BuyFreshBuyLocalOK.com
• Farmers Market (time off)
• Oklahoma Food Co-op
• Farm-to-School
• Filtered water, if necessary, not bottled!!
• Organic
• Fair Trade
• Decrease packaging
• Reduce meat consumption
• Kitchen on-site
• Washable plates, cups, mugs, tableware
• Washable napkins towels
• Compost food waste
• Edible landscaping, garden (Biophilia)
• Community school gardens

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Office Supplies Equipment

• Buy 100 post-consumer content recycled
  unbleached paper produced with wind energy
• Use staple-free staplers
• Upgrade instead of replace
• Share equipment
• Buy Energy Star
• Less-toxic copy / print ink
• Recycle electronics properly
• Life Cycle Analysis
• Buy environmentally-friendly toilet paper
• Buy equipment that can be easily disassembled for
  its parts

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Merchandise Manufacturing

• Reusable bags (or none at all)
• Carry green products label them as such
• Close the loop by selling recycled goods
• Take back the items you sell at the end of their
  usefulness
• Recycle, but up-cycle, not down-cycle
• Support your local economy first
• Reduce packaging
• Learn about the life-cycle of your merchandise
  take responsibility for it

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Green Building

• Rent? Negotiate sustainable building management
  into lease
• Renovation of existing building is usually the
  greenest choice
• LEED - Leadership in Energy and Environmental
  Design
• Integrate green into design, dont add-on
  afterward
• Smaller is better
• Divert demolition construction waste from
  waste-stream
• Think energy conservation first
• Passive solar orientation, building overhangs
  shading
• Indoor air quality ventilation
• Cool roofs, vegetative roofs, radiant barriers
• Recycled, re-used re-purposed materials
• Restorative ? ? Regenerative

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Community Connection

• Work where you live live where you work
• Favor local trade work to promote
  relocalization
• BALLE livingeconomies.org
• relocalize.net
• Support green organizations events

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Green Business Culture

• Advertise your green-ness
• But dont greenwash
• Triple Bottom Line People, Planet, Profit
• Embrace innovation change
• Make green a core value
• Business attire only when necessary
• Waste food
• Biomimicry
• Keep evaluating your footprint
• Grow your business organically
• Input from employees, customers clients
• Put pressure on suppliers
• Socially responsible investing options
  socialfunds.com
• Abandon the industrial paradigm

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Overcoming Challenges

• Communication

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Overcoming Challenges

• Resistance

• Education
• Lunch Learn
• Films
• Speakers
• Conferences workshops
• Incentives
• Contests
• Money!
• Coercion

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Films

• The Power of Community
• The Future of Food
• Two Angry Moms
• The End of Suburbia
• An Inconvenient Truth
• The Corporation
• Kilowatt Ours
• Blue Vinyl

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Books

• The Ecology of Commerce A Declaration of
  Sustainability
• by Paul Hawkin
• True Green _at_ Work 100 Ways You Can Make the
  Environment Your Business
• by Kim McKay Jenny Bonnin
• Deep Economy The Wealth of Communities and the
  Durable Future
• by Bill McKibben
• Natural Capitalism Creating the Next Industrial
  Revolution
• by Paul Hawkin
• Cradle to Cradle Remaking the Way We Make Things
• by William McDonough Michael Braungart
• Green to Gold How Smart Companies Use
  Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value,
  and Build Competitive Advantage
• by Daniel Esty Andrew Winston
• Fostering Sustainable Behavior An Introduction
  to Community-Based Social Marketing
• by Doug McKenzie-Mohr William Smith
• Making a Living While Making a Difference
  Conscious Careers in an Era of Independence
• by Melissa Everett
• Earth in Mind On Education, Environment, and the
  Human Prospect
• by David Orr

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Websites

• myfootprint.org
• carbonfootprint.com
• 3degreesinc.com/carbon_calculator
• climatepositive.org
• epa.gov/climatechange
• sustainableindustries.com/resources
• deq.state.ok.us/CSDnew/sbap.htm
• dsireusa.org
• epa.gov/watersense
• pharosproject.net
• healthyschools.org
• chps.net
• usgbc.org

• conservatree.com
• earth911.org
• postcarbon.org
• nativeenergy.com
• reduce.org
• mbdc.com
• greenguard.org
• greenseal.org
• epa.gov/wastewise
• epa.gov/iaq
• epa.gov/iaq/schools/links.html
• lungusa.org

• energystar.gov/index.cfm?cproducts.pr_tax_credits
  
• treehugger.com/files/2006/12/how_to_green_your_wor
  k.php
• deq.state.mi.us/documents/deq-ess-p2-recycle-green
  ingyouroffice.pdf

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Overcoming Challenges

• Navigating confusing certifications

www.greenerchoices.org
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In our every deliberation, we must consider the
impact of our decisions on the next seven
generations. - Great Law of the Iroquois
Confederacy
We have the capacity ability to create a
remarkably different economy, one that can
restore ecosystems and protect the environment
while bringing forth innovation, prosperity,
meaningful work, and true security. - Paul
Hawken, The Ecology of Commerce
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So where will YOU begin?
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Sustainable Green Country www.SustainableGreenCoun
try.org

• Leslie Moyer
• Vice President
• unschooler_at_atlasok.com
• 918-633-8820