Go Green 2009

Last evening I stopped by Good Stuff Eatery to try out a burger after networking at an event behind Capitol Hill.  I thought of it as a spruced up Five Guys, where all you get is burgers and fries..  their specialty.

Anyway, I placed my order and waited for it.  A short while later, I got a great cheese burger and receipt that came with a 6 cent charge.

It was labeled “Enviro Charge”.  What’s this about?

So… I asked Top Chef’s Spike Mendelson about it.  He happened to be there.  He said it was less than 1% of the charge and that it covered their use of recycled materials.

My Receipt with an Enviro Charge

The reason he had it on receipt instead of pricing it into the food was that he wanted to make sure that people saw what they were paying for.  He said it was pretty common out west.  And if you were anti… Earth, he’d refund it back.

Pretty common out west?  That was the only part I didn’t like.  Not a bad idea frankly.  A gentle reminder to give a hand in preserving this world, who couldn’t use that?  And less than a percent of the overall costs, it certainly makes sense to me.  Every little bit helps and we want to make sure doing our part.

For 2009, we will finally move our servers to a reputable carbon neutral hosting company and reduce the use of paper by getting rid of paper proposals & invoices out of the business entirely.  We are almost there.  We just have a few clients to convince that paying online is far better for them, and subsequently better the environment, than expecting us to invoice them through snail mail.  I mean really, shuffling paper across the country to do business sounds almost as antiquated as say…  the phone book.   Looking forward to seeing less of this paper stuff in ‘09.

The only question left, is what are you going to do in 2009 to help preserve this planet?  That’s seems like a big question but really it isn’t.  Just start with something small and go from there.  See you in 2009.

Green tips for every day life!

Green Profits

Being environmentally conscious (and generally, socially conscious) has become fashionable.  And as with all fashion, it has become expensive.  Somewhere between Carbon Credits and Green Roofs, we lost track of the basics.  When I was a wee lad in Elementary school, you didn’t have to go broke and smell of patchouli to save the world. On the contrary, it meant being frugal and being conscious of your actions.  On this first article in our “Green Business” category, I want to explore a few green tips that are not only socially conscious, they also increase your “Green visibility” and will not break the bank.  For now, I start with bringing it back to the basics: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. And you may even save  a few pennies in the process.

1. Ditch Styrofoam

I walk in a meeting, at some ungodly hour like 10 am.  Happily, the person at the desk is nice enough to offer a very welcome cup of coffee.  They come out with a styrofoam cup and packets of sugar and cream. Oh, and one of those plastic stirrer things.  And I’m thinking: Styrofoam? Really?!  Whether there’s any basis to my bias is yet to be determined, and there’s still some debate about the paper vs. styrofoam cup thing, but it is accepted in many circles that styrofoam is just plain bad, with health effects as well as environmental.  I don’t know why but styrofoam still persists. 

2. Ditch the paper and plastic, too

Now consider the alternative: I get a reusable mug with a spoon and a sugar and cream server if I wanted sugar/cream.  Now I think happy thoughts.  I think they care about the environment. I think they think of their work place as something more than a factory.  I think they care about their employees and probably have a rec. room. Chance are the coffee tastes better too.   I get kind of confused when I go to lunch, and they ask whether the food is “for here” or carry-out…only to serve it in the same disposable plastics when I’m eating in.

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