Getting Started

[Diamond Website Conversion]

In today’s world, being environmentally conscious is increasingly popular both for consumers and businesses. This trend is great because the entire planet will benefit; consumers will benefit, and as a business, you can benefit. By greening your small business, you can appeal to a new demographic, while helping the Earth. Though greening your business may seem like a huge task, breaking it down into small do-able tasks (like changing just one light blub to an LED or fluorescent blub) your business will be green before you know it.

What got you interested in going green?

What goals would you like to accomplish in making your business more environmentally friendly?

[Marty]

I guess the most startling thing for me was reading that if every small business in America replaced just one regular light bulb to a fluorescent bulb that the energy saved would be equivalent to taking 312,000 cars off the road.....WOW!

[Hope]

I remember reading a similar fact a couple of years ago about airlines removing one stuffed olive from every First-Class meal. I'll have to find the link again, it was incredibly interesting. I guess that the "law of large numbers" has some great practical applications! Even if one part of the equation is small (like changing a lightbulb) if you multiply it by a huge quantity (the number of small businesses in America), the end product is also large (312,000 cars). I liked that illustrative point.

I guess I'm something of a planet-minded person. I get copy paper that is at least 30% PCW, and I've been trying to take a reusable coffee mug around with me everywhere.

[Anne]

As a child of the 70's I grew up with government sponsored messages about turning out the lights upon leaving a room.(Go to Cuba today and you'll see similar messages on billboards.)
So here we are today - starting afresh. It is neat to see that now the call to action is more of a collaboration of government and grass-roots efforts. Have high hopes this book will provide insight on bridging this gap.
Thinking of the 6/9 blogpost on DiamondWebsiteConversion.com, business partners we select may also be a part of our greening process.

[Laura]

Personally, I know there is so much that I can do to make my business more environmentally friendly. I have been resistant to think about these issues consciously because it's just one more thing I have to worry about in my hectic life.

My values are environmentally friendly, but I have some terrible habits that I need to work through. For example, I always leave my desktop on because it backs up remotely in the middle of the night. I need to find a way to back up my computer during the day that works for me. I don't like to back up while I'm working because it makes my computer horribly slow.

[Marty]

This is where working from home has it's advantages - I agree with you on how slow my computer gets when I try to work & back up at the same time UGG! I can't stand it! So I back mine up during dinner time & then since I work late at night most nights I can shut it off without a problem - but If I was in an office I'm not sure what I'd do... I guess try for lunch time....

[Laura]

@Marty - I work from home as well so I've thought about setting the backup to start when my work day officially ends. Then I can shut down the computer before going to bed.

[Shelby]

I agree "green" sensibilities are not only good for the Earth, they're also good for business. If we all make a small contribution it affects the whole. Small businesses that are making the right choice to lower their impact are also helping change the public's perception of how and where change can take place. It makes sense to start now that we are in a time of rising energy costs and increasing consumer demand for "green" solution. It's the smart choice!